Entrepreneurial Superstars

Company: Chiasso Inc.

Location: Chicago

Business Began: 1984

Start-Up Cost: $500,000

1996 Sales: $2 million

1997 Projections: $2.5 million plus

When is a stapler not a stapler? When it's also a work of art, like the home and office accessories sold in Keven and Nicholas Wilder's six Chiasso stores in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City and Boston.

Just because an item is functional doesn't mean it has to be a visual bore, believe Keven (below) and husband Nicholas, both 48. She's a frustrated artist and former lawyer; he's a frustrated designer and real estate developer and consultant. Inspired by New York City's Museum of Modern Art gift store, they came up with the idea for a specialty store selling aesthetically appealing home and office accessories. Chiasso (which means uproar or sensation in Italian) was the result.

Offering sleek, contemporary designs ranging from the stark (brushed aluminum wall clocks and CD holders) to the whimsical (Alexander Calder-inspired serving tongs and a string-bean-shaped letter opener), Chiasso is living up to its name. "Sometimes customers go on and on about how much they love the store, and they don't necessarily know you're the owner," Keven says. "[Hearing that is] tremendously rewarding."

This article was originally published in the April 1997 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Entrepreneurial Superstars.