Daniel Hellman: The Chairman
Daniel Hellman (BSM04), a classical guitar performance major at Northwestern, was working in the music business with Columbia Artist Management in New York City when he and his childhood friend Eric Chang, a New York University finance and marketing grad, reminisced about their summers making furniture in Hellman’s parents’ garage. Before long, Hellman and Chang had rented a workspace in New York for $450 a month and started entering their furniture in competitions, where they were recognized for their creativity and sophisticated designs. They quit their full-time jobs, launched Hellman-Chang and hired their first employees in 2006. Their furniture can now be found in some of the finest hotels, high-profile corporate offices, on TV and film sets and in designer showrooms from New York to San Francisco. A set of Hellman-Chang side tables will set you back up to $3,500 each, and coffee tables run between $7,000 and $10,000. The self-taught duo has won several awards. In Home & Design magazine’s top 100 designs of the decade in 2009 the editors called Hellman-Chang’s Z Side Table one of the “classics of tomorrow.” — Christina Rosales (J11)