In a world filled with bustling, cozy, Starbucks-inspired coffee shops with tons of personality and little functionality, Lou Vidaillet saw a need. Something a little more right side than left side of the brain. Something a little more professional, but with flair.
The plain white walls and clearly light movable furniture doesn’t make it difficult to imagine the room full of the artsy type dressed in swanky black clothes sipping red wine and meandering through the space; lingering in front of modern artwork. It makes sense as to why Chisum Pierce pitches to artists Topics Gallery instead of Topics coffee shop. But at its core Pierce is in charge of art at a coffee shop, but he isn’t going to fall in to the cookie cutter “low end” feel he thinks plagues the coffee shop world.
Pierce got to talking to Vidaillet about the idea for Topics after Vidaillet needed some pointers on how to run a successful fundraiser. Vidaillet set up offices for large companies across the U.S. and had recently come up with an idea for a mobile work environment for those not tied to an office. Pierce was more interested in making it a place for conversation and community and thought a good way to do that would be the artwork.
Pierce already had a grip on the art world and started off the walls of the coffee shop/community space with a high level of artistic credibility. He planned to keep it that way.
“[I] started it with a very high level of integrity. Who I would show was very important in the beginning,” he said.
He was able to reach out to his personal network for the beginning showings and so far he admits it has been pretty easy to get people to submit their work. Now his job is to keep it at a level so that artists are proud to show their work at Topics.
Pierce, a 30-something with a history in the art world, is in charge of keeping Topics anesthetically pleasing and conversation-starting.
Perhaps his affinity for his own artistic medium is why for the month of May large prints of sleeping babies swaddled in colorful blankets set in thick black and white frames line the wall. The prints are the work of Lisa Green of Baby G photography, a definite contrast to the streaky Chicago flag that adorned the space just weeks ago. That’s also his job. To keep it interesting, new and fresh.
Topics is quietly bustling. With patrons bent over laptops, typing away at work reports or homework from time to time interrupted by the release of steam from the espresso machine. There is not a shortage of people with work to do. Especially since Topics is located at 2122 N. Halsted St., in the middle of an upper-middle class neighborhood full of not only young business people but also students at DePaul University.
“What are you going to do with the decoration? What’s the feel of the place going to be? I don’t know if Lou really even thought about what the direction of that was going to be,” Pierce said.
 Vidaillet agreed he hadn’t, but now sees the benefit clearly when people who have never met each other stop, look at a piece of art and start a conversation over it.
It’s the addition of Pierce that just might save Topics from falling in to the “just another coffee shop” category in a neighborhood overrun with Starbucks and the locally quaint spot.
Topics doesn’t speak to someone who wants to curl up with a book and a large chai and park themselves for hours and hours of content coziness. But you might just end up in the Topics zone-getting work done.
It’s for the guy who sauntered in with his laptop for his morning cup of coffee, fell in to the zone, lost track of time and ended up ordering a Topics roast beef sandwich for lunch. It’s for those who are busy, but may need a little inspiration. It’s for those who need to concentrate and for those who need a flexible work environment with just the right amount of flair. For the girl at the table next to me who exclaimed, “I can’t spend a vacation just sitting on the beach” and then gets back to furiously typing on her Apple laptop. And Lincoln Park has plenty of those.
There is the practical side of Topics that has private workspace that people can reserve on an hourly, daily or even monthly basis. They also have large meeting rooms and phones as well as printers, faxes and other document services, but to anyone who doesn’t need those or doesn’t already know about them it just looks like a quiet professional coffee shop.
“The goal being you can create this convenient affordable and flexible mobile work environment where creatives and professionals can come together and open dialogue,” said Vidaillet.
For Pierce, the art is not just a way to start conversations inside of Topics — it’s a way to start a community around the new Lincoln Park spot; featuring poetry jams, study sessions, hack-a-thons, live sets of musicians and last but certainly not least art shows. He’s going to be reaching out to DePaul students for art.
“One of my goals with this art space is to keep it local and regional artists…. I really wanted to focus on the area,” he said. “We want their [the artist’s] circles of friends and their networks to come and see the spaces as well. The whole place is about collaboration and starting conversations.”
And before I had even halfway finished with my oatmeal cookie latte two men at a bench across from me struck up a conversation. One had stickers adorning his map for events like South by Southwest, the website the Laughing Squid and of course a new Topics sticker while the other was talking about his new start-up developing an app for doctors. By the time I had finished my oatmeal cookie latte they had exchanged business cards. And voila-community.
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