i
re:D
REGARDING DESIGN (re:D) 2016 newschool.edu/parsons/red 1
PORTFOLIO News and notable alumni work
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A MATERIAL WORLD Promoting environmental and social good through materials-based advocacy
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THE SECOND SKIN Celebrating the history and future of interior design at Parsons
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FUTURE IN THE MAKING Cutting-edge facilities—and practice— at the new Making Center
MATERIALS The materials of making—and their potential to contribute to the
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preservation or erosion of the health of the planet and its inhabitants—
GIVING Introducing Parsons’ transformative new campaign
are the subject of this issue of re:D. It is the first of a two-issue series exploring the ways in which a Parsons education unites cutting-edge digital technologies, time-honored traditions, and critical reflection to prepare a new generation of makers. On the following pages, we introduce members of our community who base their creativity on strategies for raising public awareness of the material consequences of
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THANK YOU Our Supporters
art and design. Their inspiring interdisciplinary work opens up a path for creative leaders and one into our next issue, which will highlight the results of Parsons’ hybrid, boundary-blurring approaches to making innovative products, experiences, and scholarship.
RED HANDED Sara Jimenez, MFA Fine Arts ’13
ABOUT THE COVER For this issue’s cover, designer David Robinson created what he calls a “core sample of Parsons creativity” by repurposing discarded material collected from the various labs composing the new (and developing—see page 24) Making Center network. Each stratum represents one of the materials involved in creating outcomes ranging from data visualizations to published books to constructed environments. Some materials, like cork, are long-standing, renewable choices while others, such as blue foam, are in dire need of replacement. For a complete list of the materials shown on the cover, visit newschool.edu/red/2016.
Find your alumni community on social media: @NewSchoolAlumni #ParsonsReunion
Parsons Reunion and Alumni Exhibition Opening 2016 is Saturday, October 15. Learn more at newschool.edu/parsons-reunion.
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TALENT TALLY Design and Management ’10, earned a spot on
New School alumni stood out on Forbes’ 30
Design ’08, whose Poppy Tie bag is shown
Under 30 list for 2016. The “Art and Style”
(third from right); and conceptual artist and
the “Social Entrepreneurs” list for her nonprofit,
category features 2014 Parsons Menswear
digital creative director Ryder Ripps, BA Liberal
Water Collective, which partners with local
Designer of the Year and H&M Design Award
Arts ’08 (Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts).
residents in developing nations to improve clean
winner Ximon Lee, BFA Fashion Design ’14,
“Retail and E-commerce” lists Amanda Curtis,
water supply infrastructure. An image from
whose work is shown above (far left); Hayden
AAS Fashion ’10, CEO and co-founder of fashion
Sunwoo’s website is shown above (center).
Lasher, AAS Fashion Design ’11, whose Reese
incubator Nineteenth Amendment (whose logo
bag is shown above (second from left); Parsons
appears second from right, above), and Tyler
newschool.edu/red/forbes-30
2015 Womenswear Designer of the Year Lucy
Haney, BBA Strategic Design and Management
Jones, BFA Fashion Design ’15, whose thesis
’12, founder and CEO of activewear company
garment appears above (third from left);
Outdoor Voices, whose work is shown above
accessories designer Sarah Law, BFA Fashion
at far right. Sophia Sunwoo, BBA Strategic
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Parsons re:D
PARSONS FESTIVAL 2016
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DESIGN WORKSHOP 1
LIBRARY BOOK CART PROJECT 2
Each spring, Parsons invites the public and
Parsons’ signature architecture studio, Design
Joel Stoehr, assistant professor of modeling
families of graduating students to a school-
Workshop, was recently featured on Curbed’s
technology at Parsons, engaged students’ and
wide celebration of boundary-breaking
annual list of top design-build programs in the
faculty’s design thinking to address the needs
creativity and rigorous academic inquiry. This
United States. Curbed featured the program’s
of incarcerated individuals this past fall. For the
year’s festival—held May 5–23 at Manhattan
2014 project, which brought new facilities to
Topics: Furniture Design studio, 13 architecture,
and Brooklyn venues—features end-of-year
Brooklyn landmark Sunset Park Recreation
product design, interdisciplinary science,
exhibitions, lectures, an expanded pop-up
Center (shown). Part of a five-year collaboration
interior design, and lighting design students
shop selling student work at the Arnold and
with the New York City Department of Parks
partnered with the Correctional Services
Sheila Aronson galleries, and public design crits
and Recreation, this project was preceded by
Program of the New York Public Library (NYPL) to develop and test designs for book carts to
and culminates with the Parsons Benefit and
multiyear renovations to the Highbridge Pool
Fashion Show. Partners include WantedDesign
and Recreation Center in Washington Heights.
be used at facilities including Rikers Island and
and NYCxDesign, sponsor of the city’s annual
The Design Workshop most recently restored
Manhattan Detention Complex. Delivered in
design week. This year, Parsons will present
the interior and landscape of the 102nd Street
February, the new rolling carts feature tapered
Impact!, an exhibition featuring recent inter-
Field House, on the Hudson River, Riverside
steel frames and cascading angled plywood
disciplinary projects that highlight design’s
Park. During the summer, students will work
shelves that keep books better organized and
potential to effect social change, at South Street
with the East Harlem Community Board on
spines easier to read (shown). Each powder-
Seaport. Kicking off Parsons Festival 2016 are
the design of a community garden for a
coated cart functions as an “approachable and
opening-night festivities for the MFA Fine Arts
local settlement house. Since 1996, Design
aesthetically pleasing piece of furniture that fits
exhibition at PARTICIPANT INC (May 5), the
Workshop has provided singular opportunities
seamlessly into its environment,” said Mikhail
WantedDesign show at Industry City (May 7),
for students to design and build for nonprofits.
Volf, a participating student. NYPL officials cited
and Impact! at South Street Seaport (May 9).
It receives support from Douglas D. Durst,
the carts’ ingenious design in their praise.
newschool.edu/parsons/festival
Daniel R. and Sheryl Tishman, and the John L.
newschool.edu/red/book-cart
Tishman Scholarship for Sustainable Development, Design and Construction. newschool.edu/red/curbed newschool.edu/red/design-workshop
CRACKLE FINISH BOX SHAPED TOP Yeohlee Teng
“ In my design, it is important that time and material, energy and economy, are factored in.”
For Yeohlee Teng, BFA Fashion Design, New York City is a place that sustains artists and designers. Accordingly, Teng has promoted the Garment District as a local manufacturing and retail hub and worked to preserve the foundation of resilient cities: a healthy natural environment. An early leader in sustainable fashion—specifically zero-waste production—Teng elegantly balances conservation
from Teng’s Spring 2016 collection, is created with a zero-waste pattern, yielding no excess fabric. It features her signature construction and a silhouette that flatters while reflecting its designer’s inspirations, which include fine arts,
portfolio
and style. An example is found in her Crackle Finish Box Shaped Top, shown here. The piece,
Of her resourceful methods, Teng says,
“In my design, it is important that time and material, energy and economy, are factored in. Zero-waste practice includes creating multifunctional designs that can be worn everywhere for a long time.” This commitment has earned Teng a loyal clientele and accolades including a 2004 National Design Award from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and a place in the permanent collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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nature, and film. “My purpose,” Teng says, “is to clothe, enhance, empower, and delight.”
SNOW FALL Jacky Myint
“ My job is to take the meaningful parts of a narrative and connect them in visually exciting ways.”
“The moment of wonder.” In a 2013 TED Talk, Jacky Myint, MFA Design and Technology ’02, expressed the hope that those encountering her work would share that experience. Myint thrives in such moments, the split second between idea and innovation. An interactive designer for the New York Times, she frees narratives from words and static images, enabling
Parsons re:D
readers to discover stories as participants instead of observers.
Myint was part of the creative team
behind the game-changing article “Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek,” which recounted the period just before the Washington State disaster that trapped 16 skiers and snowboarders. What at first appears to be photographs
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suddenly comes to life, and graphic models and maps shift and rotate, depicting the snowy terrain that victims and rescuers faced. “My job is to take the meaningful parts of a narrative and connect them in visually exciting ways,” Myint says. “But more than that, I have to let the story tell itself.” In her work, digital storytelling is an innovative and experiential, if fleeting, invitation into new worlds.
Charlotte Strick, AAS Graphic Design ’99, jokes of trading “women’s jackets for book jackets.” The compelling covers she creates as a designer and art director at Farrar, Straus and Giroux and Faber & Faber attract readers to major authors—including Rachel Kushner, Roberto Bolaño, and Ishmael Beah—through their appealing expressiveness.
Since 2010, Strick has also been the
designer and art editor of the Paris Review. She selects works by renowned artists like William Kentridge and discovers new talent to carry forward the Paris Review’s literary legacy with fresh, modern artwork. To illustrate Rachel Cusk’s story of a dissolving marriage, Strick commissioned artist Samantha Hahn to create the monochrome pen-and-ink cover shown here and interior drawings whose bleakness and indistinct contours suggest a disintegrating relationship.
Strick recently formed a multidisciplinary
firm with Claire Williams Martinez, AAS Graphic
In redesigning the Paris Review,
Design ’99. The two met during registration
Strick retained the masthead’s
at Parsons and became fast friends. “We were
irregular letterspacing to
ready to design the world,” Strick says. “We’d
maintain a connection with the
been dreaming about it for a long time.”
magazine’s origins.
AL-AHMADI Rania Dalloul
When Rania Dalloul, MA Theories of Urban Practice ’15, visited Al-Ahmadi, the Kuwaiti colonial oil-company town where her family formerly resided, she found little trace of relatives in the official history. “Government archives contain hundreds of photographs, yet almost none of Arabs,” she says. “What happened to the Arab communities? After transforming Al-Ahmadi into a modern city, where did they go?” Her thesis and graphic memoir, Al-Ahmadi, engages with those questions. “By redrawing people into their own spaces and memories, it’s possible to secure representational justice for those left out of history.”
Dalloul chose her thesis format to “com-
municate across language barriers, education
portfolio
Charlotte Strick
Discussing her shift from fashion to graphics,
levels, and learning styles.” She interviewed oil company employees who had worked during the colonial period. Her narrative raises more questions than it answers, presenting readers with conflicting personal accounts of mod“ By redrawing people
ernization, racism, and ethnic division—all
into their own spaces
contextualized by labor, urban design, and
and memories, it’s
human geography. Describing her project’s
possible to secure
final form, which departs from that of her usual
representational
work, Dalloul says, “Professors and peers urged
justice for those left
me to expand my project to include spatial and
out of history,” says
architectural practices. With their support, I
Dalloul.
found the courage to experiment.”
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COVER DESIGNS
iTUNES TERMS AND CONDITIONS: The Graphic Novel
Bob Sikoryak
“You have to supply the connections,” says Bob Sikoryak, BFA Illustration ’87. He is discussing the challenge of his latest illustration project—iTunes Terms and Conditions: The Graphic Novel. Because his absurdist parody of Apple’s lengthy contract lacked a traditional narrative, Sikoryak made Steve Jobs a through-line to connect the scenes. Each panel features Jobs rendered in the style of a popular cartoonist like Roz Chast, Matt Groening, or Lynda Barry. The book originally appeared on Sikoryak’s Tumblr before circling the Web and being printed as a limited-edition chapbook.
In Sikoryak’s iTunes Terms and Conditions, Steve Jobs wanders through fantastic universes, fighting enemies against a background of Apple’s legalese.
He recently adapted the piece into a live performance.
Explaining his protean style, Sikoryak
says, “As a Parsons student, I impatiently tried different things. I never liked the way I drew. Parody let me keep experimenting.” Since then, Sikoryak has become an artist, animator, and Parsons professor creating work for RAW, Drawn & Quarterly, The Daily Show, The Onion, and New Yorker covers. His signature style combines humor, literary allusion, and references to illustration’s history. Connecting his many projects is a professed “love of work that comments on culture.”
JHOULE
In her Design That Endures class at Parsons,
Yogita Agrawal
asked to consider, What are essential human
Yogita Agrawal, BFA Product Design ’15, was needs? She recalled that activity ceased after sundown in Indian villages she’d visited. “Lives become limited by darkness after nightfall,” says Agrawal. With essential needs in mind, Agrawal created Jhoule, a motionpowered LED lamp that earned her a Michael
Parsons re:D
Kalil Endowment for Smart Design Student Grant, the James Dyson Award, and university support to present at the 2016 Design Indaba conference in Cape Town.
Agrawal imagined freeing users from the
complications of kerosene and solar lamps with a locally manufactured portable light
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source. Noting that villagers often walked, she designed a lamp powered by the human stride. Her device—a reel that attaches to the waist and unspools a cord fastened to an Jhoule transforms
ankle—generates and stores energy, powering
walking into energy
a built-in lamp. Agrawal is refining prototypes
to power an LED
for production while working on other projects.
after nightfall,
She and peers recently designed SoaPen, a
extending opportu-
product promoting hygiene among school-
nities to socialize,
children. SoaPen won UNICEF’s Wearables for
learn, and work.
Good Challenge and is currently in UNICEF’s accelerator program.
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BENEFITING PARSONS
REUNION RECAP 4
Assistant professor of fashion design Fiona
The 68th annual Parsons Benefit and Fashion
Parsons Reunion, the biggest community
Dieffenbacher, BFA Fashion Design ’93, publicly
Show is a collaboration between The New
gathering of the year, brings together alumni
shared her Annual Fund–supported research on
School’s Parsons School of Design and College
from around the world to celebrate with peers
identity and sartorial self-presentation in Dress
of Performing Arts to showcase the next gener-
of all years and disciplines. This past October,
and Emotion: The Exhibition. On view at the
ation of designers and performers. New School
attendees enjoyed a conversation between
Sheila C. Johnson Design Center in February,
Board of Trustees member and Parsons Board
Sheila C. Johnson (shown), founder/CEO of
the show presented video clips, interviews, and
of Governors member Beth Rudin DeWoody,
Salamander Hotels and Resorts, member of the Parsons Board of Governors, and New School
portraits of iconoclasts including BFA Fashion
BA Liberal Arts ’75; Parsons Board of Governors
Design alumni Mickey Boardman, Paper maga-
member Donna Karan, BFA Fashion Design ’87;
trustee, and Paul Goldberger, Joseph Urban
zine’s editorial director, and Reign Apiim ’11.
Arianna Huffington; and Sarah Jessica Parker
Professor of Design (shown). Part of Parsons’ At the Parsons Table series, the event opened
Stereotype: New Directions in Typography
will receive awards for their significant contri-
(shown) included pieces combining design
butions to art, media, design, and society more
up a lively discussion of Johnson’s career and
and technology created by 14 designers from
broadly. Media entrepreneur Andy Cohen will
advocacy of diversity, inclusion, education, and
around the world. Also on view was Workwear/
host the evening’s program. Attendees at this
the arts. Other highlights were the fifth annual
Abiti da Lavoro, an exhibition created in col-
creative black-tie event at Pier Sixty in Chelsea
Alumni Exhibition—featuring works in all media
laboration with the Milan Design Triennale and
will be introduced to emerging fashion designers
selected by faculty curators—and a reception
honoring Italian fashion pioneer Elio Fiorucci.
and musicians with a runway show and
for Burak Cakmak, the new dean of the
The show featured experimental wear created
performances by College of Performing Arts
School of Fashion. Making up the Reunion
by artists and designers including Nathalie Du
students including jazz trumpeter, singer,
Honorary Committee were Phillip Bodum, BFA
Pasquier, Issey Miyake, Coop Himmelb(l)au,
and two-time Latin Grammy Award winner
Product Design ’11; Dina Cancio Dwyer, AAS
Vivienne Westwood, Elio Fiorucci, and Parsons
Linda Briceño. A highlight of the evening will be
Interior Design ’04; Claire Chan, AAS Fashion
faculty members Otto von Busch, professor of
the presentation of the Designer of the Year
Marketing ’11; Natali Germanotta,
integrated design (School of Design Strategies),
awards. Funds raised at the benefit support
BFA Fashion Design ’14; Charles Harbison,
and Allan Wexler, professor of interior design
New School scholarships.
AAS Fashion Design; Priyanka Sen Kundu,
(School of Constructed Environments) (shown
newschool.edu/parsonsbenefit
AAS Fashion Marketing ’07; Daniel Stark,
above is a work by Wexler). newschool.edu/red/sjdc
BFA Communication Design ’93; Anne Waters Grauso, BFA Fine Arts ’13; and Robert Wong, BFA Communication Design ’90. Parsons Reunion 2016 is October 15, 2016. newschool.edu/parsons-reunion
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ON VIEW AT SJDC 3
portfolio
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FASHION AND DIVERSITY SERIES 5
Life and Work of Frank Gehry (Knopf, 2015)—
MA Fashion Studies students Rikki Byrd,
Paper magazine’s Kim Hastreiter and fashion
Jasmine Young, and Carly-Ann Fergus (shown) organized Fashion and Diversity, events initiating an inclusive dialogue engaging a range of practitioners, writers, scholars, and students.
Parsons re:D
Part of Parsons’ programming for Black History
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Month, the events were hosted by Parsons’ School of Fashion and School of Art and Design History and Theory and the University Student Senate. The first two drew crowds of students, faculty, staff, and the public: Fashion and Race, moderated by Huffington Post’s former senior fashion editor Julee Wilson and featuring Charles Harbison, AAS Fashion Design; Kim Jenkins, MA Fashion Studies ’13; Jeremy Lewis; and Dario Calmese (shown); and Fashion and Jazz, in which Alphonso McClendon, author of Fashion and Jazz (Bloomsbury, 2015), discussed the genre’s connections to fashion as embodied by artists like Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong. newschool.edu/red/fashion-diversity
for the At The Parsons Table series; fashion designer Alber Elbaz, in conversation with consultant and Parsons Board of Governors member Julie Gilhart; the Abounaddara Film Collective, which won the 2015 Vera List Center Prize for Art and Politics; speakers at the Graduate Institute for Design, Ethnography & Social Thought (Kevin Jerome Everson, Ernesto Oroza, Linnaea Tillett); Pablo Helguera, Shahzia Sikander, and Simone Leigh in the Visiting Artist Lecture Series; artist Tsibi Geva in the Fine Arts Presents series; Dana Lixenberg and Bill Jacobson in the Aperture Lecture Series; artist Robyn Hasty, BFA Integrated Design ’07, in Conversations in the Graphics Lab; industry leaders at Design Driven NYC (Ben Gelinas, Scott Stein, Jules Ehrhardt); INSIDE (hi)STORIES speakers (Jasmine Rault, Margaret Maile Petty); Public Art Fund Talks speakers (Isa Genzken, Daniel Buchholz); author Lisa Schlansker Kolosek, presenting The Invention of Chic: Thérèse Bonney and Paris Moderne; VergeNYC participants (Christopher Taylor Edwards, Cameron Tonkinwise, Anja
RECENTLY ON CAMPUS 6 Recent guests on campus included architect Frank Gehry (shown), who was joined by critic and Parsons’ Joseph Urban Professor of Design Paul Goldberger—author of Building Art: The
Melander & Johanna Öhlén Meschke); Emerging Voices at SCE speakers (Lyn Rice, Yolande Daniels, Ali Tayar, Marc Tsurumaki, Claire Weisz; cyborg Neil Harbisson (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics [STEAM] lecture).
BORDERS Thi Wan
“ I wanted to reimagine garments, the materials they’re made from, and present them in arresting ways.”
“Geographical, social, and cultural borders are disappearing; the only thing separating me from the world is my skin,” says Thi Wan, Communication Design ’12. Wan is speaking of Borders, his fashion thesis collection, which brings together his Burmese heritage and methods borrowed from his parents’ profession as chemists. Wan’s deep interest in both graphic design and fashion design led him to
Design program. For thesis garments including the one shown here, he devised a biodegradable liquid polymer that is transformed by a chemical reaction into a pliable material, into which he etches Buddhist writings and symbols. Wan encountered Parsons first as a
participant in the Parsons Scholars program, a three-year college prep and art and design curriculum for local high school students, and then as an undergraduate. In his studies, he explored another set of borders, working at the intersection of apparel and art direction by completing theses in both fashion design and communication design. “I wanted to reimagine garments, the materials they’re made from, and present them in arresting ways.” Today Wan employs his impressively broad interdisciplinary practice as a menswear designer at Thom Browne.
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portfolio
complete a fashion thesis collection in addition to his final thesis work for the Communication
ART + FASHION:
Fashion journalist, scholar, and MA Fashion
Collaborations and Connections Between Icons
believe it is essential for everyone to ask the
E. P. Cutler
Studies graduate E. P. Cutler ’12 investigates the intersections of fine art and fashion. “I ‘101’ questions,” Cutler says. “What is art? What is fashion? Can art be fashion? Can fashion be art?” She believes this inquiry “can spark and inspire extraordinary creations.”
Her new book, Art + Fashion:
Collaborations and Connections Between Icons (Chronicle Books), traces the creative alliances of 25 of the 20th century’s most visionary artists and fashion designers. From Elsa Schiaparelli’s famous lobster dress, painted by Salvador Dalí, to Alexander McQueen’s partnership with Damien Hirst, Cutler brings fashion into 20th-century art history and vice versa. Cutler’s latest book
covers artists who
Hazel Clark, a fashion historian who pioneered
lent their talents to
the field, Cutler learned that “fashion studies is
garment designers
a field deserving of higher education and higher
or reflected on the
thought. I try to bring that perspective to my
fashion industry’s
work: that fashion is worthy of being pondered,
cultural dimensions.
criticized, constructed, and deconstructed.”
While working with professors such as Dr.
MUA COSMETICS
When Daniel Stark, BFA Communication
Daniel Stark
advised him: “Go to Parsons.” It was just the
Design ’93, was a student in suburban Cleveland, Ohio, his high-school art teacher wisdom he needed. “I wanted to be in advertising—just like Darren Stevens on Bewitched,” Stark says. At Parsons, he found a design universe broader than he’d imagined. Today he explores this world as the principal of Stark
Parsons re:D
Design, a branding and packaging design firm.
Stark’s design is simple, elegant, and
thoughtfully conceived. In reimagining CVS Makeup Academy’s (MUA) visual identity, he united an approachable feel with luxury brand elements—a sleek typeface, restrained palette, and premium finishes. The project also
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brought together other Parsons alumni—Nancy Herrmann, MFA Design and Technology ’99, MArch ’99, Stark’s creative director on the project, and Gaemer Gutierrez, BFA Communication Design ’92, the creative Package design for MUA. Stark defines the customer for MUA as having “a confident, bold beauty.”
director for CVS/pharmacy.
Stark gives back to Parsons in a variety of
ways. Over the years, he has employed alumni and consistently hired student interns. “I want to offer students the kind of career support I received,” he says.
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DESIGNED ADVOCACY 7
manufacturing/assembly systems that extend product lifespans and make recycling e-waste
plastic lace by Alice Early ’15, coiled rope
Parsons MS Data Visualization students
easier and less hazardous for workers, many of
garments by Katherine Mavridis ’15, and
recently partnered with the United Nations
whom are laborers outside of the United States.
menswear by Maria Kazakova.
newschool.edu/red/dataviz
newschool.edu/red/talking-textiles
inequality, providing policymakers with tools to advance gender-related justice. The venture
newschool.edu/red/e-waste newschool.edu/red/e-waste-fastco
challenged students to chart statistics of disparities in education, food access/agriculture, wages, and life expectancy in African nations.
TALKING TEXTILES
Projects included Jacob Romer’s digital tool
Parsons recently hosted the fifth annual
(shown) enabling users to see nations’ varying
Talking Textiles Conference, a seminar created
gender-related statistics and Linnea Lapp’s
by Li Edelkoort, trend forecaster and newly
interactive tools displaying facts relating
appointed dean of Hybrid Design Studies at
childhood marriage to development indexes.
The New School, and Philip Fimmano, director
Students in Parsons’ MFA Industrial Design
of creative consultancy Trend Tablet, as part
program developed exploded-view models
of Edelkoort’s ongoing promotion of textile
of consumer electronics for E-Waste Tsunami
innovation and education. American small-
(shown), a show installed this past March in
run producers, artisans, designers partnering
the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, which also
with heritage mills, and documentarians
included photographs documenting e-waste
presented work exploring the theme “The
workers in Delhi, India, and related data visual-
Return of Regional Production” to students,
izations by project partner STUDIOFYNN. The
textile enthusiasts, and industry experts.
show was organized to raise awareness of the
Presenters included Jacob Long (American
negative global impact of interconnected
Woolen Company, CT); Jamie Bainbridge
systems of consumption, production, and post-
(Bolt Threads, CA); Inka Apter (EILEEN FISHER,
use processing of personal electronics. A panel
NY); and Royce Epstein (Mohawk Group, GA).
discussion co-sponsored by Parsons’ SCE
WantedDesign is exhibiting (May 7–17) pieces
NEW FACULTY Award-winning designer-educators Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby have joined Parsons’ faculty to advance university-wide design research on the implications of technology. As professors of design and emerging technology, they will work closely with The New School’s Graduate Institute for Design, Ethnography & Social Thought (GIDEST). Their work has been exhibited worldwide and is part of the collections of MoMA and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Innovation and co-creation specialist Lisa Norton joins the university as professor of design leadership at Parsons School of Design. Norton brings to the college a background in integrated humanistic design and fine arts. Gyungju Chyon is a multidisciplinary practitioner with extensive experience in the design of objects and environments. She joins SCE as assistant professor of product and industrial design.
and The New School’s India China Institute
by the ten student finalists competing for this
newschool.edu/red/dunne-raby
explored ways industrial designers, policy-
year’s Dorothy Waxman Textile Design Prize, a
lisanorton.org
makers, corporations, and citizens can
$5,000 award announced at the seminar. Last
littlewonder-design.com
come together to promote habits and
year’s exhibition featured work by Parsons
portfolio
tigate large-scale and local effects of gender
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Development Programme on Africa to inves-
MFA Fashion Design and Society designers:
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ALUMNI ACCLAIM 8 Luke Keller, MFA Transdisciplinary Design ’13, recently won a Presidential Innovation Fellowship, which pairs an innovator with federal officials to solve complex social problems. MFA Design and Technology ’15 grads Nicole Messier, Joselyn McDonald, and Alex
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Parsons re:D
Tosti created Blink Blink, an interactive tool kit designed to encourage young women to pursue careers in STEM. The project won The New School’s 2014, New Challenge, and was recently highlighted in The Guardian and Make Zine. Duncan Tonatiuh, BA/BFA Writing and Integrated Design ’08, was featured in the New York Times’ Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2015 for his book Funny Bones (shown). Frederico Andrade, BFA Design and Technology ’14, and Daniel Bogre Udell, MA History ’16, BA/BFA History and Design and Technology ’14, launched an online archive to preserve world languages, Wikitongues, which has attained a significant social media following. Filmmaker, journalist, and artist Laura Poitras, BA Media Studies ’96, had her first solo exhibition, Astro Noise, at The Whitney Museum of American Art. Poitras’ documentary CITIZENFOUR (2014) won an Academy Award. newschool.edu/red/keller newschool.edu/red/blink-blink newschool.edu/red/tonatiuh newschool.edu/red/wikitongues newschool.edu/red/poitras
CLIMATE CONVERSATIONS
FUTUROGRAPHIES COLLAB 9
Parsons Paris held events coinciding with
Jaskiran Dhillon, assistant professor of
the United Nations’ historic COP21 climate
global studies and anthropologies; Radhika
change conference, including a symposium
Subramaniam, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center
and a student-curated exhibition, You Are Here,
(SJDC) director and assistant professor of art
which captured students’ responses to COP21.
and design history; and Miriam Ticktin,
Titled “Justice After COP21,” the live-streamed
associate professor of anthropology and co-
event explored just and sustainable outcomes
director of the Zolberg Institute for Migration
for the world’s poorest communities, which are
and Mobility, led Futurographies, a ten-month
critically threatened by climate change. The
ethnographic research project spanning New
New School’s Ana Baptista, associate director
York, Paris, and Phnom Penh. In this cross-
of the Tishman Environment and Design Center,
disciplinary collaboration, curators and
moderated a discussion with Monique Verdin,
MA Design Studies students Quizayra
documentarian and Indigenous Environmental
Gonzalez and Laura Belik; Elise Gerspach,
Network delegation member, and Ananda Lee
MA Anthropology ’15; Andrea Gil, Eugene
Tan, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance delegate.
Lang College of Liberal Arts ’15; and Eugene
The panel discussed art and design’s role in
Lang College student Veija Kusama-Morris
addressing climate change and social justice.
explored the complicated, historically turbulent
Parsons alumni and newly admitted students
relations between Cambodia, France, and the
in Los Angeles took in a recent climate change
United States and presented their findings in an
conversation between Parsons Executive Dean
exhibition in the SJDC. The exhibition illustrated
Joel Towers and former California Governor
the countries’ shared histories through video
Arnold Schwarzenegger. “By bringing together
installations, sculptures, and photographs
smart design, innovative policy, vision, and
by Cambodian, French, and American artists,
information, we can be a transformative force
reimagining and connecting possible futures for
leading to a better future,” said Towers.
all three nations.
newschool.edu/red/COP21
newschool.edu/red/futurographies newschool.edu/red/futurographies-sjdc
SIMONE
José Picayo, BFA Photography ’84, loved to
José Picayo
he first arrived at Parsons. “I never walked
wander from his apartment to classes when one set route,” he says. “I was fascinated by the streets, the subways, the mystery of the people, and the way they carried themselves.” His large-scale Polaroid series—which includes Simone, shown here—reflects Picayo’s love of people-watching and invites readers to
of a subject’s head, Picayo reinforces the sense of passersby coming and going. Focusing on faces, Picayo encourages viewers to invent
“ I was fascinated by the streets, the subways, the mystery of the people, and the way they carried themselves.”
stories about his subjects.
Picayo shoots mostly Polaroid film, a chal-
lenging medium he prefers for capturing human connection. “Each unique image represents a single moment with a person—a moment I alone see. That moment is what I love about photography.”
Polaroid, a retrospective of Picayo’s
35-year career, will be on view at the Erie Art Museum beginning in June.
Simone, created using 8x10 Polaroid film. Printed on Japanese paper.
13
walk. By pairing images of the front and back
portfolio
imagine they’re joining the photographer’s
14 Parsons re:D
Parsons’ faculty, alumni, and students are putting human and environmental health at the center of materials development and design practice. Learn how they are leading change in materials-intensive industries including architecture, interior design, and fashion design—and raising awareness about our increasingly problematic material world.
t its best, modern innovation has produced substances harder than diamonds and colors darker than black—but it has also given us ubiquitous materials that present profound and wide-ranging ethical and environmental problems, not to mention threats to animal and human health.
The question of sustainable, ethical, and “healthy” materials and products is
complex, in part because harm can happen at all points on the supply chain. We now know that substances such as plastics and some paints can be toxic. But ostensibly safe materials can also create damaging byproducts or require unsafe substances to synthesize, causing health problems for the people who produce or distribute them. Other materials become toxic as they degrade, leaching into the food chain through the sea and soil. On top of all this, materials and consumer goods manufacturers are notorious for their waste and often hazardous factory conditions.
Design enters with specific challenges and unique opportunities: Designers can
intervene at points in the life cycle of a material or product where other professionals often cannot. Thoughtfully conceived products have the potential to promote more healthful materials that are affordable, attractive, and lasting. And innovative communication design can raise public awareness of the problems surrounding materials. As Alison Mears, director of Parsons’ Healthy Materials Lab (HML), points out, people need to know something’s wrong before they can take action. “The buildings we inhabit and the consumer products we use can contain chemicals that are hazardous to our health. We assume there are controls over these products—whether cosmetics, water bottles, or furniture—to protect our health and safety. The fact is,
Established in 2015 at the Parsons Design Lab with a major grant from The JPB
Foundation, HML has the goal of radically reducing toxicity in building materials— particularly those used in affordable housing—increasing transparency about materials’ chemical makeup, and advocating for affordable alternatives through research, education, and materials development.
15
there aren’t.”
“Our challenge at the Healthy Materials Lab is to
understand everything from the potential risks of the chemicals we come into contact with to the point at which those chemicals become part of a product,” Mears explains, “and then to work with manufacturers and others to eliminate those substances from the materials that affect us daily.”
To address the myriad risks and complications
presented by everyday substances, HML adopts an interdisciplinary approach to a targeted area: constructed environments. Because we spend much of our lives indoors, it is through interiors that we most regularly encounter potentially harmful chemicals, from the paint on walls to sealants and plastics—all highly ingestible or inhalable through their fibers, gases, and dusts.
Parsons alumna Larissa Begault, MA Theories of
Urban Practice ’15, joined HML as a research fellow in July 2015 to assemble case studies on national best practices in affordable housing development. Trained as an architect, Begault has a firsthand understanding of the design process that complements her research on the housing system’s complex financial, procurement, and zoning processes. “As an architecture student, I thought critically about urban systems and the impact that proposed building designs would have on those systems and the people within them. But in daily practice, architects are often reduced to making form and reacting to briefs that predetermine the factors most affecting people while leaving critical matters unaddressed. My Parsons MA allowed me to rethink my role
Parsons re:D
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as a designer and paved the way for my work at HML.” According to Begault, one of HML’s greatest strengths—
that possible by moving beyond design as the production
and what inspired her to join the project—is its interdisciplinary and outcomes-oriented approach, a key asset in closing “the gap between design practice, theory, and research to work toward implementing systemic change. As designers, we’re responsible for having positive effects on the environments and people we work with. HML makes of physical products to include systems thinking and the numerous layers—social, political, economic—involved in health and the built environment.” HML plans to Right: Alison Mears, director of the Healthy Materials Lab (HML); left: Larissa Begault, MA Theories of Urban Practice ’15, a research fellow at HML.
SAMPLES OF OUR SUSTA INABLE PR ACTICE:
“ The New School is committed to making society more equitable, and we’ve focused on materials to do so.” —Alison Mears, Director, Healthy Materials Lab
disseminate the case studies later this year as reports, short
concentrating on populations that are most vulnerable to
films, and animations to educate industry professionals and
environmental toxicity: people living in poverty, children,
the public and advocate for widespread use of more health-
and pregnant women.”
ful materials and standards.
toxicity in products like paint,” Begault adds. “However,
“We erroneously think that everyone is aware of
manufacturer of Roma Paints, on a multipronged plan to
the Roma Paints project demonstrated that the contracted
reduce the risks associated with chemicals found in house-
painters were not aware of the risks. We need to raise these
hold paints. The first step was identifying the point at which
issues publicly. This project was small in scale; scaling it up
toxicity enters the product and then omitting the problem
to large affordable developments involves addressing the
chemicals from the final result, reducing the harm to those
added cost, time, and resistance to trying new products with
with Roma Paint–covered walls and the workers exposed to
‘unknowns’ including application, performance, and durabil-
the product throughout its manufacture and distribution.
ity. But close collaboration with suppliers and contractors
eases some of this resistance. I am constantly inspired by
“Most paints are created from petrochemicals in facto-
ries,” Mears explains. “People living near those factories are
housing developers and designers who are producing afford-
often exposed to the processing byproducts—while working
able housing and ensuring that projects are safe and healthy
at or near the plant, for example—and they’re often people
for workers, residents, and maintenance staff.”
living in poverty. The paints are on walls and ceilings in
homes, often through the work of a painter who comes into
age all the players involved in housing to see more healthful
contact with the paint’s volatile chemicals. The paint then
materials as adding value and livability to spaces. According
continues to off-gas for a period of time after it is applied,
to Parsons professor Jonsara Ruth, a founding member
creating potential problems for occupants.”
of HML and its new design director, “Maintaining high
aesthetic standards is paramount to HML’s success:
Today the nontoxic Roma Paints have been installed on
Central to HML’s work is employing design to encour-
the walls of HML’s offices and Parsons’ Donghia Healthier
Appealing, cost-effective design encourages consumers and
Materials Library—while ongoing efforts are making the
affordable housing developers to adopt safer materials.” A
product available to affordable housing developers. To that
design-based approach thus helps ensure an ongoing shift
end, HML is working with the company to create a program
from, as Mears puts it, “research to resource,” speeding the
whereby 5 percent of Romabio’s annual sales would fund
development of safer alternative materials through research
a program to make a premium Roma product available
underway at HML and elsewhere.
to affordable housing developers, safeguarding residents’
health. The HML team is also testing the paint’s perfor-
advocacy are most effective, says Mears. “We look at the
mance on-site at Parsons, documenting the results in the
finance mechanisms that guide development. We look at
materials library archive.
how site, geography, and climate factor into the design of
built spaces. We look at science, because we need to under-
The Roma partnership highlights a crucial goal of
This is where HML’s interdisciplinary methodology and
HML’s work: addressing the impact of material toxicity
stand how to remove certain chemicals from products. We
on selected populations. Research shows that factory and
look at environmental and urban policy and we partner with
construction workers and residents of lower-income housing
manufacturers to understand product development.”
are disproportionately exposed to harmful chemicals in
their living and work environments. “The New School is
that success often comes from disrupting these systems:
committed to making society more equitable,” Mears says,
devising creative funding practices, establishing long-
“and we’re focusing on materials to do so, in this case by
term partnerships across design teams and sectors, and
“Through our best-practice studies, we’re learning
17
In 2015, Mears and Begault partnered with Romabio,
challenging policy and rezoning housing-related regula-
individually, you have to consider that two materials sewn
tions,” Begault adds.
together might shrink differently, causing problems.” The
students’ materials research yielded some surprises. “We
Mears says Parsons’ focus on collaborative problem
solving has greatly influenced HML. “Historically, Parsons
laundered just about every imaginable material, including
has broadened practitioners’ skill sets, enabling us to work
leather, which did not work out well. But things that you
across disciplines. We can all be part of the transformation
wouldn’t expect to machine-wash, like fine silk organza,
process. We need a common language. Collaboration is
came out well—we even successfully washed wool coats.”
critical to what we do. It’s about working together to create
something bigger than all of us.” Addressing materials-
Olmedo, a BFA Fashion Design junior who took part in
related threats to human and environmental health needs
Rissanen’s Tide course. “I was versed in sustainability in
to be an urgent concern, says Mears.
relation to fabric choice, but because I machine-wash all
About a year ago, spurred by the same idea, Parsons
of my own clothes, I thought, ‘Shouldn’t I make ones that
began a conversation with representatives from Procter &
can be washed in the most sustainable way—cold wash,
Gamble, manufacturer of the laundry detergent Tide, about
hang dry?’ Now I launder fabric samples to see how they
an under-recognized aspect of material sustainability:
perform before designing.” BFA Fashion Design classmate
garment maintenance and care. Timo Rissanen, assistant
Valerie Grapek discovered that “cold-water washing makes
professor of fashion and sustainability at Parsons and an
machine-laundering an astounding variety of natural and
author of Zero Waste Fashion Design (Bloomsbury, 2016),
synthetic fibers—including luxury fabrics like cashmere—
explains, “When you look at a garment’s life cycle, a big part
possible and sustainable.”
of the environmental impact occurs through laundering—
specifically, energy and water consumption in washing and
fabrics, dyes, and construction, broadening his view of
drying. For me the question is, ‘How do we design to have a
design as a holistic practice with wide-ranging effects. It
lesser impact?’ Can fashion design affect these practices?”
also yielded some happy accidents. “I wanted particular
colors made with natural dyes,” Olmedo explains. “Instructor
Rissanen posed these questions to students in the first
“The class made me rethink fabrics,” says Jacob
The course enabled Olmedo to experiment with
Nica Rabinowitz introduced me to Bengala, one of the most
in fall 2015, the course asked students to design an appeal-
sustainable dyes I’ve ever come across. For the tiered silk
ing, functional collection that maximizes durability and
skirt we showed in IMG Fashion’s headquarters during
recyclability, thereby taking into account a garment’s full life
New York Fashion Week [see below], I dyed the fabric in both pink and black to create the dirty pink color I wanted.
I accidentally got large black splotches all over the fabric.
Parsons re:D
Liz Spencer and sustainable fashion and textile designer
the relationship between fabric care and sustainability. Held
cycle and reducing its environmental impact. outset. The first, a biologist, used what Rissanen jokingly
I considered re-cutting and re-dyeing my fabric to get an
describes as a “disgusting but incredibly valuable” slideshow
even color, but I loved the way the ‘accident’ gave the skirt
to illustrate the biology of garment wear and maintenance—
texture and character.”
including the way skin cells become embedded in certain
materials, requiring frequent cleaning. The second, a textile
environment and real-world constraints such as sustain-
18
course dedicated to a Tide-Parsons collaboration exploring
scientist, steered students to choose fabrics that endure and
able practice, collaborative production, and often-fruitful
perform well when joined in a garment.
“mistakes” better prepares students like Olmedo to enter
a competitive industry. Young designers looking to build
Two Procter & Gamble scientists visited the class at its
“Everything the students designed had to be machine
washable,” Rissanen explains. “In addition to testing fabrics
Printed cotton (Tide collaboration)
Silk organza (Tide collaboration)
For Rissanen, the combination of an experimental
durability and even recyclability into garments face two
IceStone (counters/flooring)
“ You can’t use sustainability as an excuse for bad design. Whatever you propose needs to be compelling, viable, and beautiful.” —Timo Rissanen, Assistant Professor of Fashion and Sustainability challenging production models: “fast fashion” at the low end of apparel production and seasonality at the high end. And as the fashion industry grows as an economic force, the pressure to produce more, faster, increases.
As Rissanen points out, although a long-life garment
today seems like a radical anomaly, previous generations had different expectations for clothing’s lifespan. Showing his class a Japanese kimono that had been continually reworked by a family over a century helped students understand the possibilities of sustainable design in a trendbased industry. “The kimono had been repaired until it was just patches, but repairing it doesn’t fundamentally change it,” he says. “Students began to design with flexible components, so that users could repair or add to worn garments.”
Students were also asked to explore garment features
that promote care and maintenance strategies designed to extend a garment’s life and reduce waste. “We proposed care labels to foster communication and connection between makers and consumers,” says Grapek. “Care labels are an effective way of educating the public and sharing sustainable practices like cold washing. Our instructions included tips for prolonging a garment’s life—going beyond simply the washing instructions.” (See page 17.)
Ultimately, the goal of the Tide-Parsons collaboration
was to encourage young designers to play a central role in convincing people that sustainable design is beautiful, necessary, and here to stay. As Grapek puts it, “Fashion is so influential now—and the industry’s environmental impact so great—that designers have to try to create something ethical and sustainable.”
Rissanen adds, “In my classes I say, ‘We are very good
at creating seductive images in fashion, and we need to continue to do that because it’s one way of getting buy-in from people on important matters.’ It’s unacceptable to present something that doesn’t work aesthetically. You can’t disservice to sustainability itself. I tell students, ‘Whatever you propose needs to be compelling, viable, and beautiful.’”
Right: Timo Rissanen, assistant professor of fashion and sustainability;
John Haffner Layden writes about art and design for print and online outlets.
left: Valerie Grapek, a BFA Fashion Design student.
Suberra Cork (flooring/ wallcovering)
Amelia Stein is New York–based and writes about design and architecture for The Guardian (U.S.) and Architectural Review.
Armstrong Striations (flooring)
Indigo-dyed cotton (Tide collaboration)
19
use sustainability as an excuse for bad design—that does a
MILLING MACHINE
LASER CUTTERS Laser Lab
CNC Shop Laser cutters transcend Manual and computer-
the limitations of tradi-
controlled cutting
tional tools, allowing for
machines are used to
extreme precision, serial
create precise prototypes,
production, and efficiency.
enabling students to
Designers create using a
quickly and efficiently
diverse range of materials,
refine creative concepts.
from paper to silk.
SILKSCREEN Print Shop Encompassing a range of processes—including silkscreen, lithography, etching, and letterpress—the print shop enables students to explore both traditional and contemporary methods of graphic production.
METALWORK Wood/Metal Shop Technicians train students to cut, weld, sand-blast, and form metals for jewelry,
Parsons re:D
tools, sculpture, and small
24
and full-scale models.
DUBIED MACHINE Knitting Lab A student learns industry production techniques on a flatbed knitting machine. New digital knitting equipment will be part of the Making Center facilities, enabling students to create using professionalgrade technologies.
3D PRINTERS Rapid Prototyping Shop Students of all disciplines learn to use 3D modeling software to produce prototypes in a range of materials; these versatile tools help creators explore new possibilities in manufacturing.
A NEW SPACE FOR CREATIVITY
At Parsons, making is in our DNA—we make everything from original ideas to new products to innovative collaboration and manufacturing transforming the lower level, second, and third floors of Parsons’ building at Fifth Avenue and 13th Street into state-of-the-art workspaces with the help of Rice + Lipka Architects. (See “Giving” on pages 26–27.) Renovations include upgrading facilities at 25 East 13th Street. Next fall, students from all disciplines will work together in 35,000 square feet of integrated space outfitted with digital tools—laser cutters, CNC cutting
PLASTER JIG Wet Lab Students create using a variety of techniques— employing molds for cast serial production, recycling
equipment, 3D printers, computer-aided textile equipment—and traditional ones. Shown on these pages are examples.
Known as the Making Center, the initiative is led by director
Will McHale and is designed to prepare students for a future requiring a variety of making and collaboration skills. Parsons Executive Dean Joel Towers frames the enterprise broadly: “The whole university is committed to breaking down silos and rules to arrive at a better future
discarded ceramics, and
faster.” Accordingly, a host of hybrid making courses and inter-
throwing unique pieces on
disciplinary projects connecting the community to local industries
a pottery wheel.
are under development. newschool.edu/making-center
25
methods. To stay at the cutting edge of making practice, we are
Parsons re:D
26
A view of the raw space in Parsons’ building on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 13th Street before renovations began this winter. Details revealed in the demolition—vaulted ceilings, wood floors, and brick walls— will surround a new generation of creators with the work of makers past when the space is outfitted and open in fall 2016.
MAKING PARSONS: A CAMPAIGN FOR PARSONS’ FUTURE
Parsons thanks Kay Unger (Fashion
Dear Alumni and Friends,
We are delighted to announce the launch of Parsons’
first-ever comprehensive fundraising campaign. The campaign advances the university’s commitment to investing in the creative minds—and resources—needed to foster innovation, leadership, and success in an ever-changing society. And it builds on Parsons’ recognition as a world leader in education offering art and design degrees at the undergraduate and graduate levels, a distinction our students, alumni, faculty, and Board of Governors attained through their efforts and vision. During this five-year, $50 million campaign, we will Complete the Making Center, an interdisciplinary creative
Design ’68) and the Kay Unger Family Foundation for kicking off the campaign for Parsons with a transformative gift of $7 million for the Making Center. Unger, a fashion designer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, has an illustrious record of giving back to the university as chair of the Parsons Board of Governors, trustee of the New School, and mentor to alumni and students. Unger says, “I have made this investment because Parsons uniquely fosters both a new generation of designers and a more beautiful, sustainable world.”
laboratory where students, faculty, and industry leaders will develop new materials and products, prototyping and manufacturing methods, and collaboration techniques Increase support for our faculty and students through endowed professorships and scholarships Ensure promising NYC public high school students’ access to design education through funding for the Parsons Scholars program Support the Parsons Design Lab, which facilitates innovative research and entrepreneurship Provide accessible funding for the areas of greatest need Join the campaign and help secure Parsons’ prominence and reputation for making a difference in the world by design.
For more information about the campaign, contact Noël Appel, assistant vice president, David Van Zandt
Kay Unger
Joel Towers
President, The New School
Fashion Design ’68; Chair, Parsons Board of Governors
Executive Dean, Parsons School of Design
Join the campaign by making a gift to the Parsons Annual Fund today at newschool.edu/giving-back.
*QS World University Rankings, 2015
Development and Alumni Relations, at 212.229.5662 x3041 or appelm@newschool.edu.
27
Together we’re making Parsons—and making a better future.
OUR SUPPORTERS
28
Parsons re:D
July 1, 2014 – June 30, 2015* Anonymous Annabelle Aboitiz ’58 Patricia P. Abramson ’03 Sidsel T. Alpert ’71 Arnhold Foundation, Inc., in honor of Kay Unger Arnold and Sheila Aronson Jack and Marion A. Auspitz ’86 Jeffrey and Sally J. Baerman (P) Binational Softwood Lumber Council Bloomingdale’s Bluewolf Dominique Bluhdorn Gloria Bohan Mark Bowler (P) Bobbie Braun ’90 Jason and Melissa Mileff Burnett ’06 Jennifer Andrus Burroughs (P) Mingpo Cai/The Cathay Foundation John V. Calcagno ’73 Claire Chan ’11/The Chan Foundation Charity Buzz Robert Chew and Mei Ling Gay (P) Chinese-American Planning Council Lucy Chudson ’12 and William Schwartz Seniz Ciritci (P) City Lore, Inc. Colette Malouf Inc. Condé Nast Publications William and Jane Corbellini ’86 Richard and Jean Coyne Family Foundation Conor Davis Design Leadership Summit Beth Rudin DeWoody ’75/May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc. Angelo Donghia Foundation Michael Donovan ’69 and Nancye Green ’73 (P) Jamie Drake ’78/Drake Design Associates, Inc. Katherine H. Drake (P) Peter M. Drake (P) Dreamyard Jochen and Christina Duemler (P) Douglas D. Durst/The Durst Organization The James Dyson Foundation Echo Design Group, in honor of Kay Unger Education Design Lab John and Rainey Erwin Robert J. Feeney Harvey and Audrey Feuerstein, in honor of Kay Unger Ford Motor Company Fund Cynthia Friedman Anne Gaines ’00 Harris and Julianne Galkin (P) Michael and Mary Gellert A. Mark Gibbel, in honor of Kay Unger Robin Glasser ’90, in memory of Mary Lou Crown Daniel Goldner (P) Google Inc. Henry and Barbara Gooss (P) Graphic Communications Scholarship, Award and Career Advancement Foundation, Inc. Allen Greenberg Joe and Gail Gromek Victoria Hagan ’84/Victoria Hagan Interiors Haji Hassan Group Hallmark Corporate Foundation H&M Douglas and Patricia Hammond (P) Geoffrey Henning/JCPenney Susan Hermanos ’93 Erika Heymann ’10 Adam and Tierney Horne Ann and Joel J. Horowitz ’76 HUGO BOSS ICRAVE Illuminating Engineering Society Peggy Keenan Jernigan Trust
Sheila C. Johnson The JPB Foundation Thanos and Daniela Kamiliotis Lonnie and Karen Kane (P) Ada Howe Kent Foundation E. Hewlett Kent and Nautilus Foundation, Inc. Stephan and Michaela Keszler (P) John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Reed Krakoff ’89 Phyllis B. Kriegel Aura Levitas Shin Yin Liong, M.D. (P) Jeffrey and Lori Litow (P) Theodore Luce Charitable Trust Ali Lutfalla and Hana Al Aali (P) Luxottica Luxury Education Foundation LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton Inc. Dee MacDonald-Miller ’75/Jones Lang LaSalle Edward and Dale Mathias (P) John and Lulu McPhee (P) Emily Meyer ’93/Tea Collection The Miami Foundation Microsoft Corporation Ms. Foundation for Women National Council of Architectural Registration Boards Jacki Nemerov/The Nemerov Charitable Foundation The New York Community Trust Andrew Obert, in honor of James J.R. Obert One Kings Lane Sandra Owen ’57 OXO Michèle and Steve Pesner Philips Lighting University The Pinkerton Foundation Betsy and Robert Pitts ’95 Lyle and Lisi Poncher (P) Yoshiko Poncher (P) Jacqueline Raich ’10 Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Riverdale Country School Lela Rose ’93 A. Peter Sallick/Waterworks Samsung C&T Fashion Division Mark and Lillian Schostak (P) Johan and Isabelle Schouten (P) David Schwartz Foundation, Inc. Richard J. and Sheila W. Schwartz ’88 Lee Shull ’68 Mortimer Singer/Marvin Traub Associates Margaret J. Smith ’89/The Teck Foundation Paul and Marcia Soldatos (P) Stark Carpet The Geraldine Stutz Trust, Inc. Swarovski Foundation Dennis and Judy Sweeney (P)/First Harvest Foundation Tomio Taki Threadless Tides Foundation Lee L. Traub Type Directors Club Kay Unger ’68/The Kay Unger Family Foundation UNIQLO Co., Ltd. U.S.-Japan Council Veuve Clicquot USA LuAnn Via, in honor of Kay Unger Nancy Vignola ’76 Jennifer Watty ’93 Jessica Weber ’66 Jeffrey Weiss and Karen Rutman-Weiss (P) Colin Welch/Financo Claire Sepulveda Werner ’83 WGSN Robert T. Williams ’86 Andrea Woodner Jacqueline Wright (P)
*Gifts of $1,000 or more
re:D (regarding Design) 2016 EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Anne Adriance EDITORIAL BOARD: Amy Garawitz, Heidi Ihrig,
Jen Rhee PARSONS ADVISORY BOARD: Burak Cakmak, Anne Gaines, Sarah Lawrence, Brian McGrath, Jane Pirone, Joel Towers MANAGING EDITOR: Kyle Hansen EDITOR and LEAD WRITER: John Haffner Layden CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Ashawnta Jackson, David Sokol, Amelia Stein, David Thomas, Aimee Williams ART DIRECTOR: Ed Pusz LEAD DESIGNER: David Robinson ADDITIONAL DESIGN: Carmen McLeod PRODUCTION COORDINATORS: Steven Arnerich,
Sung Baik COPY EDITOR: Leora Harris PRODUCED BY: Marketing and Communication, The New School LETTERS AND SUBMISSIONS: re:D welcomes letters
to the editor as well as submissions of original manuscripts, photos, and artwork. Unsolicited manuscripts, related materials, photography, and artwork will not be returned. Please include your year of graduation, degree completed, and major or program. ADDRESS CHANGES: Please submit address changes
at newschool.edu/alumni. CONTACT US: re:D, Parsons School of Design,
79 Fifth Avenue, 17th floor, New York, NY 10003 alumni@newschool.edu PARSONS (760-830) Volume 33, No. 1, May 2016 PARSONS is published four times a year, in May, July, December, and January, by The New School, 66 W. 12th Street, New York, NY 10011. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to PARSONS, 79 Fifth Avenue, 17th floor, New York, NY 10003. CREDITS: Courtesy of © 2015 Nick Cave (Portfolio),
Kevin Cremens (Portfolio), Jonathan Grassi (Portfolio), Courtesy of Henry N. Abrams Publishing (Portfolio), Kimber Jauss (Portfolio), Sara Jimenez (Red Handed), Courtesy of Kellen Archive (The Second Skin), Sameer Khan (Portfolio), Courtesy of Macmillan Publishers (Portfolio), Matt Matthews (Portfolio), Will McHale (Future in the Making), Courtesy of © Raymond Meier/ Trunk Archive (Portfolio), Courtesy of New York Times (Portfolio), Courtesy of the Paris Review (Portfolio), Jose Picayo (Portfolio), Gianni Pucci (Portfolio), Louise Victoria Reinke (Portfolio), David Robinson (Table of Contents), Martin Seck (Cover, Portfolio, The Material World, The Second Skin, Future in the Making, Giving), Marc Tatti (Portfolio), Zhi Wei (The Material World), Mathew Zucker (Portfolio) The New School does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, gender, sexual orientation, religion, religious practices, mental or physical disability, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, or veteran or marital status. The New School is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution.
RED HANDED Sara Jimenez, MFA ’13 FINE ARTS Originally from Ontario, Jimenez studied communication theory and semiotics before her creative path led to Parsons. She began collecting histories of Filipino relatives, exploring cultural memory, belonging, and displacement through work incorporating found objects, organic matter, and minerals like salt that interact with other materials. In Mestizo de Sangley, Jimenez obscures her subject, hinting at historical efforts to render minorities invisible. “I want to dissolve the ‘truth’ of historical imagery—19th-century colonizers’ photographs of Filipinos in this case—using salt water, a material both corrosive and preservative.” Jimenez also participated in program director Simone Douglas’ research project in Beijing and the Gobi Desert. There she and fellow MFA student Kaitlynn Redell began a creative practice that has taken them across the country and abroad. sarajimenezstudio.com
New School Alumni 79 Fifth Avenue, 17th floor New York, NY 10003
Computer cables represent digital technology connecting people and ideas around the world and informing all disciplines at Parsons, from fashion to our new MS Data Visualization program. (See page 11.)
Students chose machine-washable fabrics for the Tide-Parsons class collaboration, which involved developing garments with low environmental impact. (See page 14.)
COMPLETE COVER MATERIALS Colored acrylic Screenprinted paper Clay Computer wires and connectors Pine board Printed cotton from Tide Project Cork flooring Super 8mm film stock Tulle
Research—presented in formats ranging from hand-bound books to performance to interactive digital tools—occupies a prominent place at Parsons. Read about our Futurographies collaborative research project inside. (See page 12.)
Wire mesh Square sided steel pipe Plastic shoe form Handbound books Lasercut acrylic Wooden moveable type Risograph offcuts Colored acrylic Printer paper discards Colored acylic Birch plywood Dyson copper heat sink Muslin Plaster Extruded Polystyrene Foam (XPS, or “Blue foam”)
newschool.edu/parsons
Plaster is used for casting metals and has long been used in interior design, an area of study launched formally at Parsons around 1906. Read about our interiors programs inside. (See page 20.)
According to the Green Science Policy Institute, extruded polystyrene (“blue foam”) degrades extremely slowly and emits toxic, carcinogenic fumes when heated or vigorously sanded. Read about Parsons’ efforts to develop more healthful alternatives inside. (See page 14.)