Welcome to Epstein... Christine Hart!

We are pleased to welcome Christine Hart, our new Associate Project Manager, to Epsteins Interiors Department!

Christine studied interior design at the International Academy of Design & Technology (IADT) Chicago. She actually went back to school to obtain this degree after doing marketing and planning at Panasonic for seven years.

I walked into school on the first day and had an epiphany: I found my people! Christine has always loved the arts, regularly painting and playing with pottery. She said interior design was the best way to combine her passion of fine arts with her personality. I am so lucky to work in an industry with projects and clients that are interesting and different every day, and with some of the most talented people.

While at IADT, Christine spent a lot of time participating in the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) as the student liaison. From there, she joined the IIDA professional board for several years as the Chicago City Center Director, where she organized and planned nine social, networking and charity events. Most notably was the creation of and planning for the annual IIDA STITCH event in its earliest years. This was a fun industry event where designers partnered with manufacturers and used their product materials to create a garment that was then modeled in a fabulous fashion show. The event raised between $25-$35,000 each year for local charities such as Snow City Arts and Center on Halstead.

Prior to joining Epstein, Christine worked at Gensler for the past four years and at VOA for the four years prior to that. She has also spent significant time at SCB, Partners by Design and TVS. She says she is excited to have joined the Epstein Interiors team and looks forward to continuing to learn and grow with them.

Christine grew up in Plymouth, Michigan and went to Canton High School. Her school was on a campus with three buildings that housed two high schools (Plymouth Canton and Plymouth Salem). Her graduating class was over 1,000 people and, to this day, she still meets people for the first time, often in Chicago, that were in her class. Being in such a large school gave Christine the opportunity to take some interesting classes, like pottery and print and jewelry making.

Outside of work, Christine spends her time flying trapeze (and other circus disciplines like acro, aerial cradle and duo trapeze), rock climbing, biking and skydiving (she is only a few jumps away from her A license, which she is hoping to get before the end of this season). She performs in the Triton Troupers Circus in the spring for four shows over a three-day period, doing mostly partners stunts. She also performs in flying trapeze shows multiple times a year with TSNY Chicago.

Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, climbing rocks or flipping around on a flying trapeze bar are my favorite ways to spend my free time, Christine said. Some people have suggested that I have adrenaline rush issues; I think I just have the most fun doing really cool stuff. Fair enough.

What else should we know about Christine? She has three children; a 7-year-old and two 5-year-olds, who attend a Spanish immersion program at their elementary school. Before long, Christine says she is going to have three little people plotting hijinks in Spanish and she will have no idea what is going on. They also share their moms love of rock climbing and hiking, and they spend a lot of time going on adventure and exploring the outdoors.

Once again, welcome to Epstein! Were thrilled to have you with us.