Educating Tomorrow’s Designers The New York School of Interior Design has illustrious alums like Mariette Himes Gomez, Mica Ertegun, Anne Eisenhower, Barbara Ostrom, Rose Tarlow, Alexandra Stoddard, Ted C. C. Odom, David Scott, Robert Metzger, Elizabeth Nesbitt Shean and more. But the venerable institution is not resting on its laurels. Its new president,
Dr. Christopher Cyphers, is giving it a thoroughly modern update. He recently chatted with AVENUE about the school’s new programs, new focus on “green” design and brand new building downtown.
60 | AVENUE MAGAZINE · AUGUST 2010
AVENUE: You have just completed your second year as president of the New York School of Interior Design (NYSID). What have been your primary concerns during that time? CHRISTOPHER CYPHERS: Over the past two years, my focus has been on growth. During that time, five new programs have been approved by the state. They look at design beyond the residential with a greater emphasis on what we call contract design, which is commercial, institutional and retail. This is really where the jobs are in this economy, so we are training students to tackle design in a larger context . . . not just the homeowner and his family, but also doctors’ offices, retail spaces and so on. Sustainability is another focus. I believe in this deeply. Having read Thomas Friedman’s books, like The World is Flat, I find the argument very compelling. We have diminishing natural resources and a population explosion in the developing world. Among other things, we need to rethink how we approach the built environment. We have woven this concept throughout our curricula and are also offering a one-year masters’ program in sustainable design. AVENUE: Can you give our readers a quick explanation of
what sustainable design is? CC: Sustainable design can be defined as doing as little damage to the natural environment as possible, and using materials and finishes that do as little damage to the people using the space. This means everything from using low-vapor/low-toxicity paints to using of natural daylight, implementing light harvesting techniques and using LED lighting. It includes using carpet tiles made of recycled materials as well as using reclaimed materials of all sorts, including wood and metal. Something else to consider is