Jennifer Gilbert, wife of billionaire Dan Gilbert, gave an interview to the Detroit News this week. If you're looking for news on her husband, felled by a stroke in May, there's not much -- some he-continues-to-recover stuff. Most of the rest is about her design business, Pophouse, formerly known as dPop, and her mid-career rededication to it, now that the couple's five children are older.
Dan and Jennifer Gilbert (Photo: Gilbert Family Foundation)
Gilbert, 51, met her husband when she designed his office, and today she designs interior spaces in the many buildings he has added to his portfolio:
When the firm launched in 2013, Gilbert said she worked with Bedrock’s facilities department and she was “giving it more of a design spin.”
Six years later, the firm has completed 2,311 projects for the Rock Family of companies, which includes Quicken Loans and Bedrock. Now, as it branches out into hospitality and retail design, Gilbert says it's about creating “thoughtfully assembled places.” That’s a slogan on Pophouse’s website.
“Designing for a purpose is really why we get out of bed in the morning and why we love what we do,” she said. “We’re just more purposeful and intentional in the projects that we do. They have to be more holistic and have an opportunity for us to transform the space. We believe that transformational spaces can impact people’s lives.”
No word on what Gilbert's design philosophy or aesthetic is, although there are plenty of places around town to look through the windows and figure it out for yourself.
