CoCo Ree Lemery is a curious creator and creative force based in Chicago. A former Design Director turned academic, she has designed best-selling products for top retailers—pieces now found in millions of homes. Her work has earned recognition from the NYCxDesign Awards, A’ Design Awards, and Pinnacle Awards. Today, CoCo continues to consult for leading brands, offering expert-led product teardowns, sustainability strategy, and holistic approaches to developing high-impact, best-selling designs.

With a flexible, place-based approach and an obsession with the objects that shape our daily lives, CoCo maintains an active studio practice that challenges ideas of planned obsolescence, information, and function. She is the founder of Studio Kloak, an award-winning Chicago-based design studio focused on sustainable function, education, and material experimentation. For this work, she was named Best Independent Designer of the Year by Interior Design magazine and received the Social Impact Award from Adorno and WantedDesign.

CoCo is currently a tenure-track Professor of Industrial Design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A dedicated educator, CoCo teaches across the United States, leading workshops, courses, and lectures at institutions including Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Colorado College, Hope College, University of Wisconsin, North Central College, Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD), the University of Chicago, Purdue University, and California State University in Long Beach.

With extensive expertise in the design industry, CoCo is frequently featured in expert interviews with prominent outlets such as Business Insider, CNBC, Fast Company, and the Washington Post. For additional press inquiries, contact us here.

Student resources can be found here: Design 101