Charles Sparks

Charles Sparks is the founder, president and ceo of Charles Sparks Co. (Westchester, Ill.), the internationally recognized space planning, interior design and visual communications consulting firm specializing in design for retail business. His 30 years in design span consumer products, architectural and interior design, identity and printed collateral materials.

A product of the Art Institute of Chicago (from which he holds a bachelor of fine arts, in conjunction with the University of Chicago), Sparks founded his firm in 1989, following his departure from Hambrecht Terrell Intl. (HTI) – a forefather to today's FRCH Design – where he was president and corporate creative director.

He has designed for a diverse range of retailers, consumer brand names and institutions, including Neiman Marcus, Duty Free Galleria, Saks Fifth Avenue, Marshall Field's, Bloomingdale's, Harrods, Target, Hallmark and Philip Morris, as well as for New York's Museum of Modern Art, the San Diego Zoo, The Field Museum of Chicago, the St. Louis Art Museum and his alma mater, Chicago's Art Institute. His work is represented throughout North America, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Singapore.

His design for the Neiman Marcus store in The Shops at Willow Bend (Plano, Texas) was voted Best New Department Store in 2002 by the National Association of Store Fixture Manufacturers. His newest project, for Neiman Marcus in Coral Gables, Fla., is featured on page 30, VM+SD, April 2003.

Balance – the balance between the coasts. I'm influenced by both extremes.

As a drummer in a band.

Nobody will help a drummer carry his equipment (meta-phorically speaking).

Ironically, I detest shopping and can think of no one who wouldn't be just another diversion in what is already a time-consuming experience.

…drawing.

I have a tendency to overthink things.

I collect everything. Lots of books. Each new project spawns a new drive to gather.

Binder clips. I have them on everything.

I recently saw Colette in Paris, and admired its cohesiveness of merchandise and environment. For the most part, though, I don't like any stores. I think museums, like the Musée d'Orsay in Paris or the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain, are far more interesting.

The Prada store in SoHo, because it's so exciting it doesn't work. I don't think that a business needs to be irresponsible while building its brand.

I think a focus on materials helps to move us toward simplification, or finding the essence of a space. The power of color, materials, texture and light as media can be as meaningful as any building in the way it shapes our perceptions. A design can often start with a material.