founder's bios

It all started when...

In 1990 Leonardo Paradiso was breaking in his new hire, John Lindsay, then a nineteen year old college student. At the same time Leonardo’s son, Alessandro left a promising job with one of Chicago’s up and coming architectural firms to join the family business, restoring rental properties in the Lakeview neighborhood. John Lindsay and Alessandro Paradiso became co-workers and fast friends.

For the next twenty years they maintained their friendship and mutual mentorship. Alessandro gave John access to his vast design library, and John shared his woodworking facilities with Alessandro. In 2010 John and Alessandro joined forces to become co-designers of a New Breed of furniture.

Alessandro Paradiso

Alessandro Paradiso was born in Monte Falcone Italy, the year was 1963, the first of three children into a family that embodied the prototypical American dream. Alex’s parents were classic immigrant stock. Thanks to tireless work, and a head for real estate, despite not having a high school education, Leonardo built himself a respectable rental empire in the neighborhood of Lakeview, where John was to one day live and work with the Paradiso family through his college years. Alex’s childhood was spent working along side his father, offering him invaluable construction experience, while he excelled as a student, first in the public schools, later to earn a scholarship to the fighting Illini, then to finish his graduate work at UIC in Chicago. Alex was blessed with his father’s solid work ethic and a desire to excel in the world of education and architecture, further than his father could ever imagine.

John Lindsay

John Lindsay was born in Deerfield Il, the year was 1970, the last of seven children into a family that embodied all aspects of American culture. John’s parents were made in the Leave it to Beaver mold, with a mother who was a consummate house wife and home maker, and a World War Two veteran and former Jazz drummer as a father who hung up his sticks to follow a career in advertising and sales ala Mad Men. His siblings, up to twenty years his senior, represented nearly every possible American demographic, from hippies, to holy rollers, to yuppies, to artists. Growing up in suburban Deerfield in a safe neighborhood with excellent schools afforded John a happy childhood, but eventually a kind of discontent emerged, he questioned wether there was something more. John Lindsay was born with an unfortunate condition that made him allergic to suburban bliss. He found himself afflicted with the dreamer’s curse and the craftsman gift.