Though George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg studied design together at Ryerson University in Toronto, it wasn’t until a chance meeting in later years that they decided to combine their residential and retail design studios. The result was Yabu Pushelberg, an international firm that specializes in combining installation artwork with interior design for luxury brands like Prada, Tiffany & Co., Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, and Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. They’re following up on their latest project with Louis Vuitton (a Hong Kong store in which shoes on conveyor belts drift past iPod bars and Martha Sturdy furniture) with a new restaurant idea. It’s “a first for the fashion house,” explains Yabu. “We want to bring back the romance of the picnic, wherein the leisure class from days gone by had their Louis Vuitton picnic trunk -- fully equipped with silver, crystal, and bone china -- and took it on the road.” Working together is a breeze for the pair -- they share a pied-à-terre in one of the Richard Meier towers on Perry Street in Manhattan, splitting their time between New York and Toronto (their firm is the largest of its kind in Canada). Yabu focuses on the design side, managing over 100 creative employees, while Pushelberg toils as the friendly public face of the company.