about
Forbes Ergas Design Associates is an interior design firm that was founded in 1970 by Susan A. Forbes and Joel M Ergas. During the early years, F-E conducted a general practice designing projects that included restaurants, cruise ships merchant and military vessels, corporate offices and private residences. And retail shops.
In the mid-1980's Forbes-Ergas, responding to the market demands, started to design cooperative and condominium hallways and lobbies and from that point on the practice has gradually evolved into an exclusive specialty in the design of common spaces in cooperative, condominium and rental buildings
Principal KAREN JACK
Karen Jack, interior designer with over 14 years of commercial interior design experience in the greater New York city area. She has completed dozens of high-rise cooperative, condo and rental renovations, with a focus on lobbies, hallways, package/mailrooms, elevators and social rooms. Karen believes that every project is unique and works with her clients to understand their goals. She then creates a fresh design, which is cohesively integrated with the building, to maximize space and function, and increase value. Karen is her client’s biggest advocate and works diligently to manage the entire renovation from design through project completion. She believes in transparency and ensures that the clients are always up to date on the project’s status and involved with key decisions. Karen began her design career after receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Design from the New York Institute of Technology. Karen is also an avid member of ASID.
Principal Kevin McGowan
Born and raised in the Midwest, Kevin graduated from a college in Michigan before moving to NYC in the early 90’s. Kevin began his career doing jewelry design, but later he decided to transition into a role on the other side and began his 18-year career in architectural sales, where he quickly became one of the most well known reps in the NYC area. Because of this vast experience he is truly an expert on many products and has fostered relationships with many vendors. He has visited factories all over the country and has relationships with many people within an organization. When issues come up he is able to leverage those relationships and go straight to ownership to get immediate results. This sort of experience gives F-E an advantage over other design firms.