In 2026, after nearly 90 years, the Institute of Design came under new management. This website is an archive of the impactful and inspirational work produced by the ID community before that transition.

László Moholy-Nagy opened the New Bauhaus in Chicago in 1937, treating design as a discipline that was teachable, testable, and consequential. Nine decades on, its scope had widened from the things people use to the systems they depend on: hospitals, government agencies, classrooms, supply chains, digital platforms. Along the way, ID community members developed the published research, methods, and frameworks that designers rely on every day.

Chief among them is human-centered design: close attention to how people actually live, and advocacy for what that research reveals. It shaped designers who are comfortable with complexity and ambiguity: curious, rigorous, inclusive, and stubbornly optimistic about design's ability to change the systems that shape our lives.

To every one of them, who taught, studied, built, critiqued, and stayed late in the studio: thank you, and keep designing.

institute
of desiGn
Search
Past Event

In Conversation with Carole Segal: A Design Pioneer

February 19, 2026
6:00-8:00pm CST
Institute of Design (ID) at Illinois Tech
3137 South Federal Street
Chicago, IL 60616
Portrait of Carole Segal with ID modules

Celebrating the trailblazing work of design leader Carole Segal, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Crate & Barrel. In-person at the Institute of Design in Chicago only.

Join Us in Celebration

A limited number of paid tickets* are available to enjoy a conversation between Carole Segal, co-founder of Crate & Barrel, and her friend Eric Larson, co-founder, chairman, and co-CEO of Tilia Holdings.

Expect tales of Carole’s experiences as a design leader with lively anecdotes about individuals ranging from Mies van der Rohe to Julia Child, from the "Dark Ages" of women in business to supporting ID's Equitable Healthcare Lab.

In advance of Women’s History Month, the Institute of Design is proud to host and celebrate an influential Chicagoan—one whose experience with design has mirrored design’s own evolution from images and objects to systems and experiences—and one who has been an important trailblazer for women in design.

*Proceeds will support scholarships at ID.

About Carole Segal
Carole Segal co-founded Crate & Barrel in 1962, transforming how Americans think about home design by making European-inspired, functional design accessible to everyone. Beyond building a retail phenomenon from a single Chicago storefront, Carole has devoted herself to strengthening the city’s civic and cultural life. As president of the Segal Family Foundation, a life trustee of Illinois Institute of Technology, and a board member of institutions including Rush University Medical Center, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, and WBEZ-Chicago Public Media, she practices what she calls “venture philanthropy”—supporting young medical investigators and backing the institutions that shape Chicago’s future.

Register