FEAST invited some of the St. Louis region's most innovative entrepreneurs to discuss the current state of the culinary industry and its future.

After a roundtable discussion, we sat down individually with each Tastemaker to dive into how they approach building and broadening their businesses and find out what advice they have for others entering the food-business fray.

The following is our conversation with Tom Niemeier, owner of SPACE Architecture + Design:

Tom Niemeier thinks about the migratory patterns of butterflies and doodles bold butterflies winging through space. He notes how steel rusts to the shades of orange in a monarch's wings and wonders how to incorporate the material in his design. He's an architect and a principal at Space Architecture + Design, whose current projects include the re-design of Monarch Restaurant.