About Us

A mix of side hustle, entrepreneurial spirit & passion for sustainability ignited the creation of Icon Modern, started by Rocky Levy & Aaron Tvrdy, in 2007. Our origins lie in the creative reuse of materials: diverting urban trees designated for landfill and handcrafting them into unique pieces of furniture.

Furniture with a story and a mission.

And what started with 2 guys and a mission has grown into a full-service custom fabrication company specializing in commercial furniture and architectural elements. Our vast capabilities in wood, steel and other materials combined with our team of A&D experts offer designers a collaborative, seamless experience to create something truly unique.

With an emphasis on handcrafting our products locally, we source all of our materials within a 100-mile radius of our shop in Chicago, IL. Our vast capabilities, sustainable materials, and in-house services have enabled Icon Modern to become one of the leading custom fabricators in the Midwest.

Secret Talent? Does knowing every word to Digital Undergrounds's The Humpty Dance count?

Favorite material we work with and why? Urban Elm, it is a great under the radar urban wood. No two trees are ever the same but Elm is particularly unique from tree to tree.

Zombie apocalypse, what’s the first thing you grab before you run? Bulldozer, I don’t want to run.

Aaron Tvrdy Owner & Operations

Favorite material we work with and why? Steel, love that it can be powdercoated with any color!

Favorite pop culture icon? Little Sebastian

Favorite City? Florence, Italy! The food, architecture and history are second to none.

Nicole Humphrey Sales Operations + Quoting Manager

Favorite material we work with and why?
Urban wood. Trees are just as intelligent as humans and animals, just in completely different ways that we are still learning about. Each tree has its own story just like each of us do.

And I love that we are able to give these trees new life, in another form. Its what made me fall in love with Icon Modern's work and daydream about working here!

Allison Stegich Sales + Marketing Director

Favorite City? Breckenridge, CO – great drinks, great music and of course the SNOW!!

Secret Talent? Mad skills on the go-cart track, I refuse to lose.

New skill you want to learn? I have always wanted to learn to play the guitar. Oh wait, were you asking about a professional/work skill?

Jeff Shuey Director of Project Management

Favorite material we work with and why? Any material with a story, whether it’s wood from a parkway tree or a car hood from a 1960’s Cadillac – everything we use has something to say.

Secret Talent? I can usually tell the make of a car from hearing it start.

Cocktail of Choice? Gin it to win it

Rocky Levy Owner & Sales/Marketing

Favorite City? Bern, Switzerland

New skill you want to learn? I want to learn how to make pastries.

Favorite project you have worked on while at IM and why? I really enjoyed working on the new Caterpillar office. It was a lot of fun to work with found objects and create some truly unique pieces.

Carla Cortbawi Design and Drafting

Favorite material we work with and why? Spalted Maple. Cause its cool as hell!

New skill you want to learn? To play guitar.

Favorite City? Del Mar, CA

Mike Graziano General Manager/Finance

Cocktail of Choice? A margarita, in any form

Favorite City? Lisbon

Favorite material we work with and why? Urban live edge Walnut; I love the movement and uniqueness of each slab

Meagan O'Keefe Project Manager

Secret talent?
Currently? Fully disassembling and restoring all of the mortise lock sets in our 121-year-old farmhouse.

Favorite pop culture icon?
I'm in my Bluey era, with two littles it’s a very popular show at home and it’s not just for kids. Favorite of all time? Roald Dahl. Wow, I guess I am just a big kid!

Katie Esche Senior Project Estimator

Favorite project you have worked on while at IM and why? Jump Trading NYC because the job itself included so many different materials, from stone, steel, veneer, and solid wood within the different styles of furniture.

Secret Talent? Jack of all trades, master of none… some.

Tim Boiko Logistics Manager

Favorite thing about Icon Modern? The attention to detail, talented team and top notch snack game.

Favorite pop culture icon? Its a hard tie between Mr. Rogers and Ted Lasso

Favorite city? Positano, Italy. One of the most beautiful and delicious places I’ve been.

Jake Gazlay Senior Project Manager

Favorite project you have worked on while at IM and why?
Hands down has to be the United Airlines Project at the Willis Tower. We created at table that had a real 757 Airplane wheel assembly inside of it, and one side of the office looked like you were actually inside of an aircraft. Amazingly done!

Darius Clacks Logistics Assistant

What’s your favorite thing about Icon Modern? The very talented group of people we work with. The people I work with are like family.

Two words that best describe you? Determined and helpful...always willing to help others.

Skill you would like to learn? Welding

Dave Julian Logistics + Shipping

To start your next project
contact Nicole Humphrey

Our Values

TRUST WITH OUR CLIENTS

We are committed to building trust with our clients, forming authentic relationships through collaboration & delivering consistent, reliable service. We do this by listening intently to designers’ needs, remaining flexible to make a client’s vision a reality and going the extra mile to ensure their project is a success.

CULTIVATING NEW IDEAS

We embrace new ideas and cultivate a culture of opportunity & ingenuity to remain at the forefront of our industry, offering our clients the most innovative custom solutions.

SUSTAINABILITY & COMMUNITY

We ensure sustainability is weaved into everything that we do. We are committed to connecting with the environment and community around us, telling stories through our ever-evolving custom products that are handcrafted to last a lifetime.

History

Big ideas & inspiration are often hidden in the everyday things that we do. For Rocky Levy that was coming across a 2007 newspaper article in the Chicago Tribune that highlighted the thousands of trees being cut down in the city due to disease. Having worked in the commercial furniture industry for several years, a seed of an idea was planted: creating sustainable furniture out of local urban trees.

As luck would have it, he met an architect who had a similar passion for designing spaces with sustainability in mind, Aaron Tvrdy. Together, they worked with local craftsmen to fabricate urban wood tables for local businesses, leading to projects with brand names like Starbucks, Whole Foods and Twitter. What started out of a garage has grown into a 10,000 sq. foot office and showroom in the West Loop of Chicago.

Sourcing unique, sustainable materials serves as the foundation for Icon Modern. Our passion for sustainability is what enables us to offer one-of-a-kind furniture & architectural elements to our clients!

Throwback! Newbies to entrepreneurship.

Rocky and Aaron today

Icon Modern showroom in Chicago, IL

Follow Us @iconmodern

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