Chemistry in Place
1712 E. Capitol Drive
Neighborhood: Shorewood
Founded: 2004
Owner: Patricia Algiers
Employees: 10
Industry: Commercial interior design
How do you fit the mood or personality of a business with design?
Algiers: “We observe as much about the company as possible. We ask a whole series of questions trying to get at what they do, why they’re different than anyone else, who they are in terms of their personality, who their clients are, how employees interact, how they dress—are they casual, are they formal?”
Why is location important, and why did you choose Shorewood for your business?
Algiers: “Very much a part of a company’s brand is where the company is located. I’ve got a real estate background as well as a design background, and I use that background to help clients choose a location that really resonates to who and what that client does.
“I chose (Shorewood) because I live in this area and because it was easy for everyone who works here to get here, parking was free. We could walk to coffee shops, walk to places for lunch, walk to places after work.”
Did Chemistry in Place grow in 2016?
Algiers: “We had a 15 percent increase in revenue from 2015 to 2016.
“2016 was a year of a great deal of change and what that change has done, it keeps us feeling like we have our finger on the pulse and it keeps us current and relevant and ready to tackle the next problem.”
What are your words to live by?
Algiers: “Make every day count.”
What’s new at your company?
Algiers: “We constantly rearrange the furniture and the ingredients for teams in it. What we’ve done in the last year is we have an English phone booth. So everybody who comes in our office gets their picture taken in the phone booth, we post it to Facebook, and then we print the picture and put it on our wall.
“(County Executive) Chris Abele just named May 15, 2017, Pat Algiers day because of my work with the (Shorewood) Ghost Train. I’m on the public art committee. Our office does a lot of work pro bono for the village and the ghost train. We want to have a special run every Halloween.
“We did a map of existing and proposed locations for placemaking. We’re working to come up with a number of ideas and then test the ideas with the donor base to see which one of the ideas would have the most favorable response so we could raise the money again. Shorewood is the most densely populated area of the state. If people walk to all these things, they can walk by and appreciate all the various placemaking installations.”
