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Alexandra Dymowska Photo: General Motors LLC
M.I.D. ’07, industrial design Designer, General Motors As G e n e r a l M oto rs ’ cr e at i v e d e s i g n e r fo r Ca d i ll ac d e s i g n a n d brand strategy, the Polish native is helping the creative team meet cusWhat’s the best advice you ever received and who was it from?
Milton Glaser told me
that the secret to being a good designer is to be curious. When people ask you what you do for a living, what do you say? I say that I fashion future Cadillacs. I think of being a designer as being a visual composer. If you could design a course for Pratt, what would it be? Hand sketching. In the digital age it still remains the most direct and indispensable tool. How do you interpret Charles Pratt’s motto for the Institute: “Be true to your work, and your work will be true to you"? It brings to mind one of my favorite Shakespearean quotes: “This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.” We must listen, tune into, and be loyal to what affects us deeply. It’s a process of finding ourselves in our work. The tricky part is having the discipline to follow it.
tomer expectations for the design of a car that has long been identified with American culture. Working primarily with luxury brands, Dymowska sees a growing audience for Cadillac and tries to heighten the sedan’s appeal to a younger generation. Dymowska was offered a position at GM seven months before she graduated from Pratt.
Emily Elsen B.F.A. ‘03, Sculpture Founder, Gowanus Studio Space Elsen is co-founder of the Gowanus Studio Space, a nonprofit organization that provides creative people with the resources necessary to make ambitious work a reality. Located in the historically industrial neighborhood along the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, the studio offers studio and gallery space, equipment, and much-needed support to emerging designers, artists, and craftspeople. Elsen is also one of the founding partners of nearby Four & Twenty Blackbirds, a pie shop and café chosen as a “critic’s pick” by New York magazine.
Four & Twenty Blackbirds . What’s the best “Live for the day,” from my mother, Mary. Though it refers to “seizing the moment,” I also think of it as a reminder to accomplish as much as you can in each and every day. When people ask you what you do for a living, what do you say? I own a pie shop with my sister. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? An astronaut, no question. What is your favorite place on the Pratt campus? The library stacks and the metal shop. How do you What achievement are you most proud of?
Photo: Heather Phelphs-Lipton
advice you ever received and who was it from?
interpret Charles Pratt’s motto for the Institute: “Be true to your work, and your
work will be true to you”? Do what you know you are good at and what you enjoy doing, and you will find success and happiness in you work.
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