Bob Ligda’s artistry is seen and enjoyed by hundreds, if not thousands, of people every day, but unless they’re architecture nerds, they’ll never know who’s behind such grand displays.

From the sleek, clean lines at 500 Lake Shore Drive in Chicago to the rustic, cowboy feel of Wyoming’s Brush Creek Ranch to private residences in Crown Point, Ligda, through his architectural millworking company D&L Wood Products, touches the lives of many without a ton of fanfare.

And it all started with a single bench he crafted for a Tampa, Fla., Residence Inn belonging to the White Lodging chain.

“I got paid $450 for it,” Ligda said.

For Ligda — a contractor who started his own wood shop when waiting for the millwork components of a job just slowed him down — that first bench was the gateway to a whole new world. He and his father, Robert E. Ligda, purchased the old McLaughlin Golf Ball Co. on Indiana Avenue and turned it into the shop. Hotel jobs then started trickling in, each one getting bigger.