Photo courtesy of Patrick Albergo and Rochester Magazine
At 29 years old, St. alumna Jody Kingrey ’40 forged a new chapter in mid-century interior design.
Kingrey, known as Joanne growing up in Rochester, Minnesota, graduated from St. Kate's with a degree in art history. After college, she co-founded the furniture design store Baldwin Kingrey in Chicago alongside her friends Kitty Baldwin Weese and Harry Weese.
In embracing imported Nordic design, Baldwin Kingrey became a groundbreaking home furnishing store. "Baldwin Kingrey started the whole Scandinavian design craze in this country,” said Kingrey's son, John Albergo, in the January 2024 edition of . “They were IKEA before IKEA."
Kingrey and the Weeses established one of the first U.S. stores to sell furniture and objects designed by architects, championing the belief that good design should be accessible to everyone. With exclusive rights to sell renowned Finnish architect Alvar Aalto's furniture designs, Baldwin Kingrey became a hub for modernist treasures. From imported pieces to exhibits featuring Europe's top designers, Baldwin Kingrey captured the attention of Chicago’s design-conscious community.
Following the success of Baldwin Kingrey, Kingrey embarked on a 45-year solo career with her own design firm, Jody Kingrey Inc. Despite the challenges of running her own one-woman business, including raising three children, Kingrey's expertise extended beyond furniture to textiles, fabrics, and color schemes. Her impact through her design work remains visible, and Albergo recalls that she took on high-profile Chicago clients such as the city’s ground-breaking Rehabilitation Institute, Harris Trust Bank, Aon Center, and the home of Ed Levi, then-president of the University of Chicago Law School.
“If she had a fault in her professional life, it’s that she did not charge many of these people enough,” said Albergo. “Many designers with high-profile clients like these get rich. Mom never took advantage of their stature or wealth.”
Kingrey “always talked about St. Kate’s, so much so that my sister went there and I attended [the University] of St. Thomas,” Albergo said. “She was the only student on campus allowed to stay out ‘after hours’ because Mabel [Frey, St. Kate’s first drama director] needed help to design and paint sets. The nuns were not at all happy about it, but I guess Mabel was very insistent!”
Jody Kingrey passed away in 2003 at the age of 84, leaving a legacy that continues to resonate. The Baldwin Kingrey store, documented in the book Baldwin Kingrey: Midcentury Modern in Chicago, 1947-1957, established trend-setting interior design that blended Scandinavian modernism with accessibility.