NEW ORLEANS (press release) – New Orleans-based architecture and interior design firm NANO was selected as the “2021 Small Business of the Year” at the second annual Morial Awards ceremony hosted by the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on March 16. The Morial Awards recognize local businesses that have demonstrated innovative growth and economic impact, as well as exceptional contributions to the sustainability and growth of local communities and small businesses across the state of Louisiana. NANO was selected among category finalists Gotech, Inc. and VPG Enterprise.
“We feel incredibly honored to receive this recognition,” said NANO architect and co-founder Terri Hogan Dreyer. “It reminds us that the work we do for our clients can have a broader, positive impact on our community that continues long after our part in a project is completed.”
Founded in 2001, NANO holds an extensive portfolio of local and national commercial, residential, educational, municipal and industrial projects, including a role as the architect of record for The New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center’s ongoing multi-million-dollar capital improvements project. They are also the first architecture firm from the state of Louisiana to be invited to the Venice Biennale where they won the 2021 ECC Architecture Award.
“We would like to express our congratulations to NANO,” said Michael J. Sawaya, Convention Center president. “As a major economic generator, we are committed to the growth and prosperity of our region. Celebrating the successes and investing in the health of local businesses is a big part of our philosophy to support small and disadvantaged business enterprises, as well as local corporations.”
The Morial awards were established in celebration of former Mayor Ernest N. Morial’s achievements and his legacy as a civil rights activist and political pioneer. As the first Black mayor of New Orleans in 1977, a position he held for two terms through 1986, he championed the Convention Center’s construction and saw it as a way to promote economic development, especially for local and diverse small businesses.
