Inspired by Family Tradition

In order to establish ourselves, and earn a spot in your home, we at Tedesco~Rosa would like to explain where we come from, how we are inspired by family tradition, and why it is so important for us to create what we do.

Let’s start from the top: who is Tedesco~Rosa? Is there one notorious figure that commanded titular presence? On the contrary, Tedesco~Rosa was curated into the name it takes today as more of a homage to family tradition.

Rosella and Rosalie 

Both Greg and Amee, co-founders of the Dining Lab, had grandmothers with names relating to Rose — Rosella and Rosalie, respectively. Greg’s grandmother’s maiden name was Tedesco, and she was a first-generation immigrant from Sicily, Italy.

Tedesco~Rosa was inspired by the family traditions both grandmothers taught Greg and Amee .Most significant was quality family time around the dinner table. Weekly Sunday dinner, birthday parties and card games.

Family + Urban Inspiration

The year is 2007 and we are beginning to feel crowded in our lovely, yet urban-sized Chicago apartment. We made the decision to move to Louisville, Kentucky in order to be closer to family, and to begin a family of our own.

We wanted to live in an area where we could reminisce about living in the Lakeview, Lincoln Park and Ukrainian Village neighborhoods. The tree-lined streets of Cherokee Triangle, within the Highlands neighborhood, were the perfect choice.

Our Italianate home, built in 1872, was completely gutted and renovated upon our move. The home has gorgeous natural features, such as high ceilings and plentiful windows.

The combination of glorious interior design to play around with combined with strong family tradition inspired us to experiment with designing a custom dining room table; one that would coordinate with the finishes and features of the home.

Dining Lab in our Kitchen

When it came to the design components, we began to focus on the hardwood floors and metal hardware on the kitchen carriage doors. These features led to increased experimentation with styles, colors, angles, parts — you name it.

The success of our custom table combined with our strong family values led us to the idea of crafting a dining room furniture company. Greg and Amee’s love for contemporary design was called into play and mixed with influences from Italian design to complement and enhance the feel of a modern kitchen.

Each dining piece maintains a coordinated balance of wood and metal. The workshop in which the experimenting took place happened to be our very own kitchen. The four month process, that hosted these accumulations in our kitchen, is what inspired the second part of our title, Dining Lab. 

At Tedesco~Rosa Dining Lab, we feel deeply inspired by our personal story and family traditions every day. We love creating furniture that will make you feel equally as energized and uplifted.