Presenting Coffee Talk: a weekly roundtable led by the city's best doers curated by Presence Agency.

Every Wednesday at 1pm we'll be sipping Stumptown Coffee in the lobby while we chat with some of our favorite people in town about what they're doing.

Our installment on January 29th features Claire Henry, cultural engineer of Ace Hotel Chicago

Claire came to Ace Hotel after a long line of creative endeavors. She received a BFA in fashion design in 2012. Afterward, she co-founded co.lab, an experimental art and design collective with her best friend. They designed costumes for dancers, staged disruptive, time-based installations, produced a guerilla fashion line and temporarily moved to Nashville to create a NYE set for a band. She later attended SAIC where I received an MA in Visual & Critical Studies. After which, she worked for Volume Gallery while also working as a commercial wardrobe and prop stylist. As the cultural engineer for Ace Hotel Chicago, Claire manages programming, partnerships and events.