Variant Collaborative

What Variant Collaborative does

Variant Collaborative is a privately held, full-service interior design firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, founded in 2017 by co-founders Ashley Raynor and Danielle Vevea. The firm operates across three primary verticals: restaurants and hospitality venues, luxury collegiate living developments, and retail/workplace projects. Its service portfolio spans a structured five-phase design process—Pre-Design, Active Design (concept, schematic, design development), Construction Documentation, Construction Administration, and Procurement & Staging—augmented by two complementary service lines: Experiential Branding (visual identity systems, brand standards packages, environmental graphics) and Custom Artwork Curation & Fabrication.

The firm's project portfolio includes notable hospitality work such as the Michelin-starred Feld restaurant in Chicago, Aba (a collaboration with Lettuce Entertain You) in Austin, Edie's All Day Cafe, Tiger Lily, and Watershed. In the collegiate living sector, it maintains an ongoing relationship with developer LV Collective, delivering projects such as Whistler (Atlanta), Rambler (Columbus), and Sweetwater (Gainesville), with additional developments underway or planned in Tempe, Ann Arbor, College Park, College Station, and West Lafayette. Retail and workplace clients include Mira Couture, Roca Tile, The Auxiliary co-working space, and Grow Forward. The firm has accumulated multiple industry awards including NEWH Top ID Winner (2024), Gold Key Awards Finalist (2023, 2024, 2025), HD Awards Finalist (2024), and ASID Design Excellence First Place Restaurant (2023).

Revenue is generated through project-based professional services fees, with pricing quoted per project scope, complexity, and deliverables; no standard pricing tiers are publicly disclosed. The firm operates on a direct sales model, engaging enterprise clients—property developers, restaurant operators, and commercial real estate owners—through portfolio-based outreach and industry referrals. Variant Collaborative is privately held with no disclosed external investment, no parent company, and no subsidiaries. It currently operates with approximately 10 identified team members and serves markets across the Midwest, Southeast, Southwest, Florida, and Northeast United States.

Name

Variant Collaborative

Legal name

Variant Collaborative

Website

https://variantco.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Variant Collaborative is a Chicago-based interior design firm founded in 2017 that delivers full-service design, experiential branding, and custom artwork for hospitality venues, luxury student housing, retail, and workplace clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Interior Design Services: Full-service interior design for hospitality, collegiate living, retail, and workplace projects. Revenue generated through project-based design fees spanning concept development through construction administration.
2. Experiential Branding Services: Brand strategy, visual identity development, and graphic design services. Creates memorable branded experiences with standards packages for consistent implementation.
3. Custom Artwork and Procurement: Custom artwork creation and furniture procurement/staging services. Art tailored to project-specific goals with curated packages and custom fabrication.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Variant Collaborative is a full-service interior design firm that provides hospitality, luxury collegiate living, retail, and workplace interior design services delivered through a five-phase project process (pre-design, active design, construction documentation, construction administration, and procurement/staging). The firm also offers integrated experiential branding and custom artwork curation and fabrication services that are bundled with its design engagements.

Product overview

Variant Collaborative is a full-service hospitality and commercial interior design firm offering a comprehensive portfolio of design services and completed projects. The firm's core service is interior design across multiple verticals, supported by Experiential Branding and Custom Artwork services. Their project portfolio spans three main categories: (1) Restaurants including Feld (Michelin-starred), Aba Austin, Tiger Lily, Edie's, Watershed Concept, and Pizza Concept; (2) Luxury Collegiate Living featuring multiple Rambler properties (Columbus, Tempe, Ann Arbor, UMD, College Station, Riverfront), Whistler Atlanta, Sweetwater Gainesville, Here Pittsburgh, and Nine31 University Gainesville; and (3) Retail + Workplace projects including Roca, Auxiliary, Mira Couture, Grow Forward, F&B Retail Concept, and Culpepper Office. The design process encompasses five phases from Pre-Design through Construction Administration and Procurement & Staging, providing end-to-end project oversight.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Interior Design Services Full-service interior design spanning five phases — Pre-Design, Active Design (Concept, Schematic Design, Design Development), Construction Documentation, Construction Administration, and Procurement & Staging — for hospitality, collegiate living, retail, and workplace clients.
• Experiential Branding Comprehensive brand strategy and visual identity development for company positioning, including standards packages for consistent implementation across print, digital, and environmental platforms. Designed for hospitality and commercial clients that require cohesive brand expression across physical spaces.
• Custom Artwork Aesthetically focused artwork tailored to each project's specific goals, including curated art packages and custom artwork pieces, with color palette coordination and concept-specific fabrication.

Quantifiable outcome

• Michelin-starred restaurant design for Feld
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Lettuce Entertain You (LEYE)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with Lettuce Entertain You restaurant group for the second location of Aba Mediterranean restaurant in Austin, TX. Worked with Restaurateur Marc Jacobs, Designer Avril Zayas, and Architect John Cinelli to bring the Chicago restaurant concept to Austin. This is a key strategic relationship for expanding hospitality projects with major restaurant operators.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Rockwell Group: Large, established architecture and design firm with deep hospitality, restaurant, hotel, and theater portfolio. Operates in the same experiential design space but at much greater scale and breadth than Variant.
• Baskervill: Hospitality-focused interior design and branding firm of larger scale with integrated brand strategy. Comparable integrated design + branding model across hotels, restaurants, and commercial interiors.
• Yabu Pushelberg: Internationally recognized luxury hospitality and residential design firm. Comparable integrated interior + branding offering but at significantly larger scale and global footprint.
• BBGM (formerly DesignGroup): Full-service architecture and interior design firm specializing in hospitality and multifamily/student housing. Highly comparable vertical mix including the same collegiate living and hospitality clients Variant serves.

Direct peers

• Meyer Davis Studio: Luxury hospitality, residential, and commercial design studio with integrated branding and custom furnishings capabilities. Comparable integrated service stack and award-recognized hospitality portfolio.
• AvroKO: Hospitality-focused interior design and brand strategy firm with restaurants, hotels, and residential projects. Directly comparable to Variant in combining interior design with branding/identity services for premium hospitality clients.
• BHDM Design: Commercial and hospitality interior design firm of similar boutique scale with integrated brand strategy services. Comparable service stack and client mix spanning workplaces, hospitality, and multifamily.
• Studio Munge: Hospitality and restaurant interior design firm with experiential, immersive concepts. Similar focus on hospitality-driven interiors and award-recognized project portfolio.
• Parts and Labor Design: Restaurant and hospitality interior design studio known for experiential, narrative-driven spaces. Closely aligned with Variant's hospitality-led portfolio and Chicago presence.

Emerging players

• Studio K Creative: Boutique hospitality and restaurant interior design studio with comparable project scale and client profile to Variant. Competes for similar premium hospitality clients in similar markets.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/variantcodesign
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/variant-co

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Variant Collaborative