SAL GRAZIANO | SENIOR DESIGNER
What’s the most impressive thing about Sal Graziano?
It could be the long list of award-winning furniture designs he’s amassed since cofounding Qdesign
with his longtime business partner Mark Stenftenagel
in 1995. Or it could be his selection as a University of Notre Dame student intern to join a prestigious automotive design group for a high-profile project to develop a full-scale concept car in Detroit.
Then again, it might be his exceptional ability to draw, which he attributes to the coaching and enoucragement of an uncle who had that gift and taught it to young Sal when he was in the 6th grade. “He taught me how to draw with perspective – how to draw with a vanishing point,” remembers Sal. “It was a skill that really gave me the confidence to express myself and visually communicate ideas. I think that was a turning point for me – to move from a doodler, to something dynamic and story-telling. That skill still works for me today whether it’s an interior environment or an object.”
Perhaps the most impressive thing about Sal is his clearly articulated and straightforward philosophy of design, shaped over more than three decades in the profession since leaving graduate school at the University of Illinois-Champaign: “It’s the parameters that drive the solution,” he says. “Designing in a vacuum is impossible. There has to be a problem and within that problem there have to be parameters. Each problem is unique. No two problems are identical. You really need the guidelines – the guardrails – to come up with the best possible solution.”
But if you ask Sal to come up with the most impressive thing about him, it’s none of the above. Nor is it his collection of stylish cars, or his beautifully tended gardens, or his watercolor paintings. It’s a title that he’s proudly added to that of Qdesign principal and Whitney, Inc., Director of Design. Sal’s new title is Daddy, since he and his wife Jeannette brought 3-year-old Mia Maria Pierina Graziano into their family.
You should see his face light up when he talks about her. It’s VERY impressive.
