Brentano’s corporate headquarters in Wheeling, IL.
Iris Wang always knew she wanted to be an artist; what she didn’t know was what shape that career path would take. Beginning with a modest eight patterns in 1990, she and her husband, E-Kwan Chen, set out upon an endeaver to open their own textile company, with Chen in charge of the administrative tasks—ranging from shipping to singlehandedly making up the “customer service” department—and Wang in charge of sourcing textile mills and bringing her designs to life. Twenty years later, they are celebrating their “Platinum”
2010 is off to a great start, primariliy due to a series of steps over the past several years. In February of 2008, Brentano moved to their present day corporate headquarters in Wheeling, IL, just northwest of Chicago. This move from their previous location, which consisted of three separate buildings, allowed the company to unite their team under one substantially larger roof. In late 2009, the design department moved into their newly constructed environmentally-
When asked about the journey from those eight patterns to Brentano’s present-day success, Wang is humble, saying she never imagined such an opportunity, and that it is in large part due to the clients for supporting the line, and to the sales force for believing in the company. While Wang has an understanding of Brentano’s place in the interior design industry, she also says “I feel this is just a start,” she says, “like we have been learning how to do it.” She says it’s been 20 years of a gaining experience, and she looks forward to learning more and continuing to go further in the years to come.
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
