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Parsons tops rankings of art and design schools; 2015 Parsons Festival and Fashion Benefit recaps; a major initiative promoting healthful building materials; a suc-cessful collaborative opera production.

STORYTELLINGAnyone who’s ever studied here, experienced a student show on campus, or worked with a grad of the school has a Parsons story. Collectively these stories chronicle a legendary history. These pages typically highlight the ones pointing to our com-munity’s continuing relevance in the story of human-centered, intelligently created, and beautifully expressed ideas, objects, and services. But this issue of re:D—which has “storytelling” as its theme—takes a step back, presenting creative approaches and results that connect the school to the broader university. This shared identity takes the Parsons story to the highest levels of achievement and widest public, communicating how learning is different—and better—at Parsons.

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The creativity of graduates— spanning decades and disciplines— amplifies the Parsons story of achievement.

Parsons Reunion and Alumni Exhibition Opening 2015 is Saturday,

October 10. Register for this event and learn more about your

global Parsons alumni community at newschool.edu/alumni.

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Together Parsons alumni and students, faculty, and staff helped First Lady Michelle Obama introduce U.S. high schoolers to creative careers.

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Through a design- led process, the university created a flexible new identity system that is engaging the Parsons community.

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Jacobs’ unflagging ingenuity has ele- vated him and the field. Calling himself

“the most confident insecure person,” Jacobs discusses his collaborative, evolutionary process.

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REGARDING DESIGN (re:D) 2015 newschool.edu/parsons/red

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Parsons Festival 2015 expanded beyond its Manhattan setting of previous years to include a new venue: Brooklyn’s Industry City complex. Exhibitions, installa-tions, events, and performances presented in Brooklyn and throughout Greenwich Village invited the public to interact with Parsons’ creative community working in a range of disciplines. Now in its fifth year, the festival was once again part of

NYCxDESIGN, a citywide initia-tive celebrating New York City’s commitment to design. Parsons Festival 2015 kicked off with an opening-night party at Industry City and a conversation between Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, founders of Opening Ceremony, and professor Hazel Clark of Parsons’ School of Art and Design History and Theory. Over the following two weeks, festivalgoers attended talks, a

production of Jonathan Dove’s opera Flight (a Parsons and Mannes collaboration), and guided tours of Parsons’ latest Design Workshop project at Brooklyn’s Sunset Park Recreation Center. They also explored student work on view at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, The Kitchen, and Industry City.

newschool.edu/parsons/festival

PARSONS FESTIVAL

REGARDING DESIGN (re:D) 2015 newschool.edu/parsons/red

Clockwise from bottom left: Parsons’ 25 E. 13th St Street Studios; Taylor Drake and Chris Hepner, Downsprout: a biometric solution to storm-water; Emma Lillian, untitled; SCE installation, created with ALPI reconstituted, at Wanted Design 2015; Gavyn Ferguson, Cyber Paraller Neuron Stimula-tor; process: concept exhibition at Industry City

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PRISON OBSCURA 2

American prisons hold 2.3 million citizens, at an annual cost of $70 billion. This reality was addressed in Prison Obscura, an exhibition on view this past spring at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center. Prison Obscura presented rarely seen vernacular, surveillance, evidentiary, and intimate prisoner-made photo-graphs representing incarcerated

IN STORE FOR YOU 1

Partner collaborations give students opportunities to work with prominent firms and bring their designs to market. Product design firm Areaware collabo- rated with Parsons’ School of Constructed Environments in spring 2014 on Small Things Matter, a product design studio. Led by Daniel Michalik, BFA

TOP-RANKEDParsons recently ranked high among its peers worldwide in outcomes and educational merit. Named the Best College of Art and Design in the United States by Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings, Parsons also took the number-two spot in the world in the same cate-gory. Payscale ranked Parsons at the top of art and design schools for salary potential. Parsons graduates earn, on average, $43,300 annually in early-career salaries and $93,700 at midcareer, according to the report. Parsons also appeared on SuccessfulStudent.org’s list of “Top 27 Video Game Colleges.”

topuniversities.com payscale.com/college-salary-report

School of Design Strategies partnered with Green Eileen, a sustainability initiative of the Eileen Fisher Company, to design products using re-purposed gar-ments from the clothing retailer.

areaware.com/productsthreadless.com/parsonsnewschool.edu/moleskinenewschool.edu/green-eileen

ALUM BIZ BOOTCAMP The Parsons Entrepreneurial Lab is redefining the alumni experience for selected graduate students of Parsons’ School of Design Strategies. The ELab is expanding its partnerships with incubators and accelerators around New York City and at international campuses in order to support recent graduates making the transition from stu-dents to start-up entrepreneurs. Grantees benefit from direct mentoring and coaching and have access to events and work-shops. Applicants must have recently completed one of the graduate programs of the School of Design Strategies or the MFA Design and Technology program of Parsons’ School of Art, Media, and Technology.

sds.parsons.edu/elab

DESIGN AND VIOLENCEJamer Hunt, director of the MFA Transdisciplinary Design pro-gram, along with The Museum of Modern Art’s Paola Antonelli, created Design and Violence, an experimental online curatorial project. The project’s creators invited experts from diverse fields to respond to design objects and engage the public in conversa-tion about manifestations of global violence, design’s connec-tion to violence around the world, and design’s potential to address it. The endeavor recently con- cluded with a debate on com- puter viruses as digital weapons.

designandviolence.moma.org

Product Design program director, the class resulted in two pieces by BFA Product Design ’15 students being brought to market: Prism, by Daniel Martinez, and Bottle Axe, by Sam Falco. Prism functions as a paperweight and magnifying glass and is available online and nationwide through Areaware outlets such as the MoMA Design Store. Bottle Axe, a bottle opener, becomes available in August 2015. Noe Paparella, BFA Illustration ’15, won the Parsons/Moleskine competition, which challenged seniors in Parsons’ School of Art, Media, and Tech-nology to design a cover for a Moleskine journal and belly-band responding to the prompt #WanderingMind. Paparella’s design will be sold exclusively at Moleskine’s Greenwich Village store. Threadless and Parsons’ School of Fashion also teamed up, tasking students with transforming T-shirts into haute couture. The three top designs, by rising seniors Renee Pabon, Michael Jafine, and Anmol Vaswani, are available online at threadless.com. In a third initiative—led by Laura Sansone, curator and adjunct professor of design—students of Parsons’

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Mol); legendary fashion designer Ralph Lauren (pictured above with Paul Goldberger), who spoke as the inaugural Marvin Traub Lecturer as part of the series At the Parsons Table with Paul Goldberger; Paul Clemence and Lily Wei, who discussed architectural photography at SCE; “The Fear of Art”: 32nd Social Research Conference guests (Ai Weiwei, Holland Cotter, Agnes Gund, Boris Groys, Victor S. Navasky, Ethan Cohen, Melissa Chiu, Minky Worden, Paul Chan, Shirin Neshat, Jan Persekian, Nikahang Kowsar, Jeffrey Deitch, Lisa Phillips, and Svetlana Mintcheva); INSIDE (hi)STORIES speakers (Grace Lees-Maffei and Sara Krist-offerson); AMT Visiting Artists Lecture Series presenters (Julia Scher, Jacolby Satterwhite, Liz Magic Laser, Cheryl Dunye, Shadi Habab Allah, and Laylah Ali, pictured above); and Glenn Ligon, who spoke about his site-specific neon work, For Comrades and Lovers, installed in the University Center.

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of the Year Award for her collec-tion designed for seated disabled people, a community mostly ignored by the fashion industry. Parsons and Kering also selected Jones as one of two winners of the Empowering Imagination Fashion Design Competition. Recipients are awarded a trip to Kering’s manufacturing facilities and material libraries in Italy, an opportunity to display their work at Saks Fifth Avenue, and mentorship from Style.com.

style.com/trends/fashion/2015/ parsons-kering-lucy-jones

VISITORS TO CAMPUS 4

Among the many prominent lecturers on campus were speak-ers from the New School Public Art Fund Talks (Jeff Koons and Dread Scott); the team behind the documentary Citizenfour (Edward Snowden, David Carr, Glenn Greenwald, and Laura Poitras, BA Liberal Arts ’96); speakers from the Graduate Institute for Design, Ethnogra-phy & Social Thought (GIDEST) Seminar series, who addressed the intersection of design, eth-nography, and social thought (Peter Hall, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Reggie Wilson, and Annemarie

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populations in the U.S. Curated by Prison Photography project founder Pete Brook, the show included works by Josh Begley, Paul Rucker, Steve Davis, Kristen S. Wilkins, Robert Gumpert, Mark Strandquist, Alyse Emdur, and others. Prison Obscura is connected to The New School’s Humanities Action Lab (HAL) Global Dialogues on Incar-ceration, an interdisciplinary initiative that fosters public engagement with America’s prison system.

newschool.edu/sjdc/prison

CAPABLY CLAD 3

In 2012, BFA Fashion Design student Lucy Jones was given an ambitious assignment in her Design Communication class: Design a product that could change the world. Jones turned to her cousin Jake, who—despite being otherwise independent—is unable to dress himself as a result of paralysis on the left side of his body. “I remember thinking how strange it was that we’re not tackling these issues,” says Jones. She designed trousers equipped with magnets that enable Jake to dress with one hand. Jones won Parsons’ coveted Womenswear Designer

NEW EDU OPSTwo new graduate programs and a host of minors expand Parsons’ offerings aimed at growing industries. Housed in the School of Constructed Environments (SCE), the MFA Industrial Design program launched in fall 2015. In the program, students design services and products employing advanced making skills while influencing the industry through direct engagement with manu-facturing systems at all scales. The MS Data Visualization program, offered by the School of Art, Media, and Technology, also launched in fall 2015. The curriculum brings together design, statistics, and computer science and offers instruction in conducting data-driven research for settings in which quantified information increasingly shapes opinion, policy, and decision making. Minors at Parsons and throughout The New School enable students to tailor their study paths with offerings including Comics and Graphic Narrative, Creative Entrepreneur-ship, and nondesign subjects ranging from foreign languages to psychology to media making.

newschool.edu/parsons/academics

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DESIGN TAKES FLIGHT 5

Activating the university’s focus on multidisciplinary collabo-ration, students from Mannes School of Music and Parsons recently presented Flight, an opera by composer Jonathan Dove. Led by faculty members Alla Eizenberg and John Jerard, students from a range of Parsons programs created flamboyant costumes and designed a set, complete with a ticket counter and a giant turnstile, evoking Dove’s dystopian airport termi-nal in this fully staged production.

newschool.edu/flight

ALUMNI ACCLAIM 6

Anthony Deen, MArch ’95, part-time associate professor in Parsons’ School of Art, Media, and Technology and creative director of Branded Environ-ments at design consultancy CBX, created the logo for the new World Trade Center. Deen’s concept-driven design, created while he was a creative director at branding agency Landor Associates, references six key aspects of the WTC’s past, pres-ent, and future. Yoko Nire, AAS Graphic Design ’14, won the Award for Excellent Typographic

Work by a Student in the Type Directors Club’s 36 Typography Competition. Her winning entry, packaging for a Japanese confection, was inspired by Dutch typographic master Piet Zwart. Her design was created for a design history course taught by Jason Booher, AAS Graphic Design ’05.

newschool.edu/wtclogo parsons.edu/yoko-nire

GATHERED BY DESIGN 7

In late April, alumni, faculty, and students gathered at Madison Square Park for an evening of design industry networking hosted at Häfele USA with iGuzzini North America. Parsons’ School of Constructed Envi-ronments dean Brian McGrath introduced the evening’s speakers, MFA Interior Design and MFA Lighting Design program alumni who had recently debuted innovative projects in international settings.

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MA Fashion Studies’ latest issue of BIAS: Journal of Dress Practice, focuses on fashion’s connection to surveillance, dress codes, and social control. The second issue of the MA Design Studies program’s Plot(s): Journal of

Design Studies highlights the practice of data collection in urban places and the evolution of performance spaces.

GREEN PLATEDLast year, students from Parsons’ School of Constructed Environ-ments began a project to replace New York City school lunch trays made from polystyrene foam with a recyclable and com-postable alternative. Working with the environmental nonprofit Global Green USA and led by BFA Product Design program director Daniel Michalik, students visited schools, toured manufacturing and recycling facilities, and pre-sented their designs to industry professionals. “The class engaged students in a user-centric design approach to investigate the nature of the tray,” said Michalik. The Urban Food Alliance, which will roll out the biodegradable trays, estimates that 225 million polystyrene trays will be kept out of landfills every year.

newschool.edu/trays

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FETING FASHION 8

Celebrated designer Marc Jacobs, BFA Fashion Design ’84, and global luxury products group LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton were recognized for their significant industry contributions at the 2015 Parsons Fashion Benefit. Held at the Javits Center, the event raised more than $1.7 million for student scholarships. Jacobs, a two-time honoree, received his award from Vogue editor-in-chief and Condé Nast creative director Anna Wintour. Jacobs and Simon Collins, creative advisor to Parsons’ School of Fashion and a member of Parsons’ board of governors, announced the 2015 Designer of the Year awards. This year’s win-ners are Lucy Jones (womens-wear); Jon Max Goh and Sungho Kim (menswear); Jennifer Lia Kim (childrenswear); and Steffi Tsz and Wing Lau (accessories).

newschool.edu/benefit

CAPITAL FOR CREATIVESTwo faculty members from Parsons’ School of Art, Media, and Technology—lecturer A. K. Burns and assistant professor of

photography Jeanine Oleson—have been awarded Creative Cap-ital grants. Burns’ multichannel video installation Negative Space explores gender identity through a surreal narrative about bodies in transition and their interaction with nature and technology. In a series of performances, work-shops, and a film, Oleson’s A

human(e) orchestra presents an ever-changing ensemble per-forming works that range from conventional music to speech.

akburns.netjeanineoleson.com

DECADE DELUXE 9 Industry insiders packed The New School last March to cele-brate the tenth anniversary of the Luxury Education Founda-tion and its partnership with Parsons and Columbia Business School. The event showcased ten iconic design and marketing projects that students from the two schools developed for firms including Salvatore Ferragamo, Van Cleef & Arpels, Cadillac, Cartier, GRAFF, Loro Piano, and Lalique. LEF and Parsons also launched the Luxury Craftsman-ship Workshop, for which 16 Parsons students were chosen

to work with artisans from the participating luxury companies.

luxuryeducationfoundation.org

STREET SEATSA 240-square-foot parking spot at the northeast corner of 13th Street and Fifth Avenue is now the site of a sleek platform—constructed using sustainably harvested Ipe wood—that is equipped with seats and tables. The project, led by assistant professor Nick Brinen in partnership with the NYC Department of Transportation, invites community members to sit and relax. “The platform was entirely built by hand, working within Parsons’ own facilities,” says Mark Rakhmanov, a member of a ten-student project team drawn from Parsons’ Archi-tectural Design, Interior Design, and Product Design programs.

newschool.edu/streetseats

IMPRINTING ADHT 10

In its debut issue, the MA History of Design and Curatorial Studies’ new journal Objective examines objects ranging from coffee cups to cinema seating and the contexts in which they are produced.

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REUNION RECAP 12

More than 500 alumni and guests, including artists and designers representing all of Parsons’ disciplines and graduating years gathered last October at venues throughout the campus and city for Parsons Reunion 2014. Highlights included a reception and the fourth annual Alumni Exhibition opening. Another special feature was a public conversation—part of At the Parsons Table, the school’s ongoing series of design dialogues—between Paul Goldberger, Joseph Urban Professor of Design, and vice president of Google Creative Lab, Robert Wong, BFA Communi-cation Design ’90. The Alumni Exhibition included nearly 100 works by alumni spanning six decades, representing more than 20 areas of study. Parsons Reunion takes place in NYC this year on October 10.

newschool.edu/parsons-reunion

HEALTHY HOMESCo-founded by Parsons, Healthy Building Network, Green Science Policy Institute, and Health Prod-uct Declaration Collaborative, Healthy Materials Lab (HML) received a transformative grant from The JPB Foundation to support its goal of reducing the amount of toxic substances in building materials while encouraging the adoption of less toxic materials. Housed at Parsons Design Lab, HML will influence how designers are taught about building practice. “Our work creates actionable strategies, integrating healthy building protocols, products, and green science with research to impact the health-related quali- ties of building materials,” said Alison Mears, director of HML and assistant professor at Parsons’ School of Design Strategies. The lab focuses on low-income populations, typically the most vulnerable to the negative effects of such materials. HML’s first project is the Healthy Affordable Materials

Project, a collaborative working with manufacturers and devel-opers to replace existing materi-als with safer alternatives.

healthymaterialslab.org

AID TO ARTISANS 11

Parsons recently partnered with Urban Zen Foundation—a project of alumna Donna Karan, BFA Fashion Design ’87—and Haitian designer Paula Coles to create DOT (Design, Organization and Training) Center, a new voca-tional education hub for Haiti’s artisan community. “Haiti is a country of artisans bursting with creativity but without the voca-tional skills to bring that talent to the next level,” says Karan. “Vocational education, I believe, is the answer. I thought, ‘Why not connect the dots and bring educators and students from Parsons, my alma mater, to Haiti to work with artisans?’” Over the last two years, a Parsons interdisciplinary design team led by faculty member Alison Mears worked closely with Karan and artisans in Port-au-Prince. Stu-dents from Parsons’ BFA Product

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CAKMAK JOINS PARSONSParsons announced Burak Cakmak as the new dean of the School of Fashion. Cakmak will oversee the BFA Fashion Design program, AAS degree programs in Fashion Design and Fashion Marketing, and the MFA in Fash-ion Design and Society program. Under his leadership, the School of Fashion will continue to pursue collaborations spanning technological development, sustainable construction, and ethical manufacturing in artistic, luxury, and consumer-focused fashion. Previously Cakmak spearheaded innovation-driven sustainability strategies for Swarovski Group, MADE-BY Benelux, and Kering.

newschool.edu/cakmak

Design, MFA Interior Design, MArch, and MA Fashion Studies programs helped design the DOT space, explore products to develop, research local practices and materials, and lead work-shops involving jewelry, textiles, leather, pottery, hand-dyeing, printing, and beading.

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Miriam Josi and Stella Lee Prowse developed an interest in gardening, sustainable design, and reclaimed materials while sharing a Brooklyn garden apartment. Today their portable planter, Nomad, is bringing them global acclaim.

NOMAD

BFA PRODUCT DESIGN

Miriam Josi ’14 & Stella Lee Prowse ’14

Josi and Lee Prowse began collaborating while students at Parsons before founding The Garden Apartment, their aptly named design studio. Collaboration is “a conversa-tion that never ends,” says Lee Prowse. “We get excited about an idea and take it to the moon before coming back to earth in the end.” Nomad, their studio’s first product, is a collapsible fabric planter. Designed for herbs, the versatile product can be hung, sit upright, or attach to a wall to create a vertical garden. When sourcing materials, Josi and Lee Prowse chose reclaimed sailcloth from a Bronx boatyard. “We were looking for lightweight, durable, low-cost, easy-to-clean fabrics,” explains Josi. Manufactured locally, the product ships flat. Its minimal construc-tion is an essential part of the conscious approach to design that they developed at Parsons, where “sustainability is considered indispensable,” says Josi. Raised in Switzerland, Josi lives in Paris, where she continues developing products. Australian-born Lee Prowse is now based in Newburgh, New York, overseeing studio production. The pair recently participated in Project 50, an intensive design workshop at Domaine de Boisbouchet led by Parsons faculty member Allan Wexler and sponsored by USM Modular Furniture.

thegardenapartment.com

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Josi and Lee Prowse designed their planter with New Yorkers’ small apartments in mind. They hope to encourage people to grow their own herbs and become aware of food sources.

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CONSUMING SOCIALISM

MA DESIGN STUDIES

Dora Sapunar ’14

After finding industry fair brochures and popular media from Communist Yugoslavia that depicted idealized modern interiors, Sapunar knew she’d found rich material to document the role of design in constructing national identity. She analyzed coordinated efforts to establish Yugoslavian national tastes through promotion of modern domes-tic design and representations of family life. Although many of the interiors shown were beyond the public’s reach, they nonetheless were effective propaganda for a government eager to promote what Sapunar calls “an alternative to the Soviet model of socialism.” Sapunar studied art history and English at the University of Zagreb, Croatia, and then

chose Parsons for its reputation in design education. Reflecting on her education, Sapunar recalls that Professor Jilly Traganou was “incredibly helpful at every step” and provided invaluable assistance with “the less glamorous aspects of thesis writing.” Sapunar has contributed to Metropolis and was an editorial assistant at Dwell. She has written on midcentury architects and designers and recently published “Spatial Reasoning: Gender History and Minimalist Spaces,” an article for A Women’s Thing mag-azine, at which she is a contributing editor. Sapunar also lectures part-time at Parsons.

dorasapunar.com

Sapunar notes, “Yugoslavia hoped to become the model for a future society.” The govern- ment employed images of model interiors to align public consumption and taste with official goals.

In her thesis, “Consuming Socialism: Mid-Century Modernist Interiors in the Former Yugoslavia,” Dora Sapunar explores the power of visual culture to imprint political ideals on the public’s consciousness.

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Thesis advisor Alla Eizenberg describes Lee’s work ethic this way: “He produces in a week what others do in a month, a quality that brought his senior collection to a distinctive place.”

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For his striking collection, Lee drew inspira-tion from the layered oversized adult cloth-ing worn by youth in the documentary The Children of Leningradsky. Lee deconstructed found clothing and explored techniques of bonding fabrics, combining materials including denim, cardboard, and trash bags. His signature style includes exaggerated proportions in details like sleeves, trouser legs, lapels, and pockets. Lee is adapting pieces for a capsule collection H&M is producing in conjunction with the prize. About Lee’s process of adapt-ing conceptual work for retail, his advisor, Alla Eizenberg, says, “He always finds a way to create without compromising what he believes.” Born to Korean parents in northeastern China, Lee developed an interest in graphic design that led him to Parsons. He initially had little interest in fashion but discovered a passion for garment construction during a summer class. He then enrolled in the BFA program and interned at Calvin Klein, Phillip Lim, and Prabal Gurung, AAS Fashion Design ’01. More recently, Lee has developed his collection for the fall–winter 2015 market and was a semifinalist for the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers, awarded to innovative entrepreneurial young designers.

ximonlee.com

CHILDREN OF LENINGRADSKY

BFA FASHION DESIGN

Ximon Lee ’14

Ximon Lee’s thesis collection earned him Parsons’ 2014 Designer of the Year award. In 2015, he won the H&M Design Award, becoming the first American and the only menswear designer to receive that honor.

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MATERIAL COMMUNICATIONSFor her master’s thesis, Doremy Diatta developed objects for use in therapy involving parents of children with disruptive behavioral disorders. Today her work is attracting attention internationally.

MFA TRANSDISCIPLINARY DESIGN

Doremy Diatta ’14

With support from Parsons, Diatta recently presented her thesis on principles of therapy for children with disruptive behavioral dis- orders at the 2015 Design Indaba conference in Cape Town. She shared objects she had designed for a family therapy strategy employing alternative communication methods to help therapists comprehend how people construct their worlds. “Uncovering the meaning we attach to objects, I tap into our implicit understanding of relationships and events,” says Diatta. When working with children with disruptive behavioral disorders, professionals

often use three parent-child interaction methods—praise, verbal reflection, and description—to reinforce positive behaviors. Bridging cognitive science and design, Diatta developed the object shown on this page, and others, which enable parents to use the therapy techniques at home. Diatta says she worked so hard on her thesis that it “felt like it was my life.” But her advisor, Patricia Beirne, wisely reminded her that “what you do after will be greater.” Diatta is now building a design practice and is also an independent contractor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Duckworth Lab

Diatta designed objects to enhance communication and therapy for children with disruptive behavioral disorders. Simple wood, metal, and plexi-glass items help parents apply core therapy skills.

and at Character Lab, where she develops design-driven strategies for use in mental health treatment and education.

doremydiatta.com

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Born in Puerto Rico and raised in New Mexico, Margarida-Ramírez developed a unique perspective on postcolonial and feminist identity that anchored her work at Parsons. “In my second year,” she recalls,

“faculty members Thomas Butter and Ernesto Pujol encouraged me to delve deeper into my family stories and examine what it means to use photographs taken by my great-great-grandmother.” Cutting and embroidering the photographs, she obscures faces and bodies, evoking the impermanence of memory. Needlework and papel picado—traditional Mexican paper cutting—are tools through

THE MOTHER NATION

MFA FINE ARTS

Kai Margarida-Ramírez ’14

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Memory and identity are central to Kai Margarida-Ramírez’s work. She embroiders and hand-cuts family photographs with patterns based on floor tiles in her great-great-grandmother’s house.

Margarida-Ramírez balances positive and negative space, contrasting the emotional weight and the elusiveness of memory in La Danza de Nuestra Mestizaje, shown above.

which Margarida-Ramírez explores craft, gender, and the lives of female relatives.

“Embroidery and paper cutting are often considered feminine, crafts rather than fine art,” she explains. “Cutting into the paper and fiber, I insert my hand and myself into the untold histories of these Caribbean women,” says Margarida-Ramírez. Margarida-Ramírez holds a BA in Sociology and Women Studies from the University of New Mexico. Her work is in the permanent collection of the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque and was included in the center’s exhibition

Papel! Pico, Rico y Chico. In 2014, she was an Artist Fellow at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. Today Margarida-Ramírez lives in Brooklyn and exhibits nationally.

kaimargaridaramirez.com

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PARSONS’ DESIGNS ON THE WHITE HOUSE

First Lady Michelle Obama recently enlisted the Parsons community to lead her Fashion

Education Workshop for U.S. high schoolers. Parsons fashion alumni led workshops, and

faculty and students from Parsons’ Schools of Design Strategies and Constructed

Environments transformed the East Room with installations made from repurposed materials.

When The First Lady conceived the workshop, part of her “Reach Higher”

initiative to promote post–high school education, she began by contacting

Narciso Rodriguez, BFA Fashion Design ’82. One of Obama’s favorite designers and

a Parsons graduate, Rodriguez represented a logical first point of contact: His

commitment to full access to education and close connections with Parsons rallied

the community. Celebrated designers and fellow alumni—including Tracy Reese,

Jason Wu, Jenna Lyons, Charles Elliott Harbison, Zac Posen, Reed Krakoff, Lela

Rose, Edward Wilkerson, and Prabal Gurung—were called on to lead the day’s

events. In total, more than 30 Parsons alumni and university faculty and staff

participated. Meanwhile, the White House invited 150 East Coast high school

students to take part in hands-on workshops with the designers and hear their

fashion industry insights.

The day opened with skill-focused activities dealing with inspiration,

construction techniques, wearable technology, entrepreneurship, and writing,

which gave the designers opportunities to engage with students informally, sharing

selfies and snacks. Rodriguez and Krakoff led the session on inspiration, handing

out sketchbooks and encouraging students to look around them for design ideas.

“Look at the way people move, how they present themselves to the world. Observe,

then start sketching,” said Rodriguez. Krakoff urged them to “let go and follow

your instincts.”

Posen demonstrated fashion construction fundamentals, guiding students in

designing on miniature dress forms. Rose led a session on journal writing, stressing

the value of recording one’s ideas in written or drawn form. The First Lady visited

the workshops, offering encouragement and emphasizing the important but

unglamorous aspects of jobs in creative industries. Rodriguez echoed her points,

reminding students, “To succeed, you have to put in the work.”

Among the attendees were ten Parsons Scholars—New York City high school

students who undertake a multiyear program of free art, design, and college-prep

courses at Parsons. Destiny Pastrana, a Parsons Scholar in her final year at the

High School of Fashion Industries, highlighted the importance of academic rigor

by citing one of her workshop instructors. “Naeem Khan reminded me that you

need more than just passion for fashion. ‘Education is the key,’ he said. ‘You have to

understand all aspects of the industry to create the designs you envision.’”

Tracy Reese said of the workshops, “The message was about education,

about going after your dreams and seeking the right educational path to achieve

your goals.”

Between a morning of workshops and an afternoon panel in which designers

shared their career success stories, Obama assured students that they can achieve

their goals, beginning with the right education. “Fashion is about passion and

creativity, just like music or dance or poetry,” she observed. “For many people, it

is a calling and a career.”

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The Fashion Education Workshop also gave Parsons

faculty and students an opportunity to showcase their

leadership in sustainable design. In the weeks leading

up to the event, Obama invited students to create a

complete design experience in the East Room of the

White House.

Led by faculty members Alison Mears, Helen

Quinn, and Jonsara Ruth, Parsons students developed

concepts employing repurposed materials and reflect-

ing the theme of design education. “The role of the

designer is to create within constraints,” Quinn noted.

“The choice of discarded books as a material was both

a literal and a metaphoric link to Parsons’ approach

to education.”

During an intensive two-week period, students

visited Materials for the Arts, a local clearinghouse for

donated goods, where they collected more than 600

books and other source materials. Working in teams,

students developed a design concept that involved var-

ious methods of folding pages and laser-cutting hard

covers to construct tabletop constructions including

centerpieces, mantelpieces, and objects such as napkin

rings. They also assembled Brancusi-inspired sculptural

columns made from reconstructed books.

Garlands fashioned from local flowers and ferns

complemented the sculptural paper centerpieces. For

a showpiece, students fabricated an impressive back-

drop made of 4,000 folded pages. An elegant open

lectern welded from discarded steel was designed to

highlight the First Lady’s dress. “Students went above

and beyond to create interesting pieces that delineated

spaces for making art and for presentations,” said Ruth.

Surveying the striking installation he helped cre-

ate, BFA Architectural Design student Nelson De Jesus

Ubri attributed the rare creative opportunity to his prior

participation in the Parsons Scholars program. “Being

part of a high-profile event promoting design education

at the White House—or becoming an architect—would

not have been possible without Parsons,” said De Jesus

Ubri. “Getting the chance to design something for the

East Room was a huge honor.” The installation embod-

ied a lesson of design education taught at Parsons—

that with ingenuity, intelligence, and available means,

one can create extraordinary things.

Parsons students decorated The White House with a dramatic installation made from discarded books—a nod to the day’s theme of education.

SETTING A STAGE FOR LEARNING

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As March came to a close, red banners with bold type identifying New School buildings

appeared in the heart of Greenwich Village. Ones marking Parsons’ corner—Fifth Avenue

and 13th Street—drew visitors’ attention skyward, to water towers clad in the same color

and font. Claiming space in the urban landscape in striking ways, the university unveiled a

new visual identity, one that challenges our community to put into action its creative and

innovative spirit and returns Parsons to its former name.

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Inset: Peter Bil’ak’s sketches for our new typeface. Background: Students used Parsons’ custom red color and Neue Random in wallpaper they designed for the main building’s Fifth Avenue lobby.

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THE NEW VISUAL IDENTITY is one chapter in a story

of integration that has been unfolding at The New

School in recent years. The University Center has given

the community a place to activate cross-disciplinary

work and Parsons’ School of Fashion a new home; this

fall, Mannes School of Music opens in its new location

nearby in a center housing all our performing arts

schools. Groundbreaking interdisciplinary programs—

including ones uniting design and journalism, and

entrepreneurship and the arts—have students collabo-

rating in ways that uniquely prepare them for the future.

Driving these developments is The New School’s

mission to bring together the university’s remarkable

creativity, intellectual might, and resources so that

students can achieve their full potential, contributing to

the world as engaged citizens and innovators. Broad-

casting this story called for a new public face for The

New School—one as distinctive, forward-looking, and

flexible as our community. To guide efforts to update

the university’s visual identity, The New School enlisted

Paula Scher, principal designer at global design con-

sultancy Pentagram. Using a design research process

like the one taught at Parsons, Scher explored ways to

express the university’s “oneness” and the connection

between its schools while allowing for individuality and

the growth a pioneer like The New School experiences.

In the end, Scher embodied The New School’s progres-

sive legacy and innovative nature in a flexible system

she calls a “gift from the university to the community.”

Scher began with a new logo anchored by an

arresting custom-designed typeface. The ever-modern

type on the façade of The New School’s Joseph Urban

building on West 12th Street inspired her initial

sketches, which she refined over months. The result

was Neue (German for “new”), a font by celebrated

type designer Peter Bil’ak based on the typeface he

created for graphics in the University Center. Bil’ak drew

Neue in an upper-and-lowercase font for regular copy

and a bold all-uppercase version in three widths and

two weights for headlines. The three widths arose from

experimentation: Scher discovered that stretching some

letterforms horizontally gave Neue a pleasing rhythm

when applied to the names of the university’s schools.

“The P in Parsons looked particularly good when wid-

ened,” she recalls. “Then we realized you could program

a font to randomly choose between the three widths.”

Bil’ak developed an algorithm to maintain legibility

while randomizing type widths—a function that can be

turned on and off—inviting designers to introduce an

improvisational syncopation into their work.

The logo system employs a pair of horizontal

bars—evoking the exterior banding on both the Urban

building and the University Center—to join the New

School logomark to the names of university schools

and offices set beneath. The type-and-bar system

is designed to visually communicate the connection

between the university and its schools and to grow

with The New School’s evolving array of programs,

research centers, and offices. Parallel to the design

process was a project to refine the names of academic

units, which included creating a school combining Jazz,

Mannes, and Drama (College of Performing Arts) and

returning to Parsons’ former name: Parsons School of

Design. The resulting logo system and group of names

situate The New School as the overarching entity

connecting all the schools—Parsons, Lang, The New

School for Social Research, Performing Arts, and

Schools of Public Engagement.

While prescriptive, the system isn’t rigid: The

school or administrative names can appear in larger

or smaller type according to communication needs

and desire for visual impact. For university-wide

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communications, designers can use the New School

logo alone or a version that includes the name of a

school or office. The schools within Parsons (School

of Art and Design History and Theory; School of Art,

Media, and Technology; School of Fashion; School of

Constructed Environments; School of Design Strategies)

have their own logos, as does Parsons Alumni. A custom-

created Pantone color, Parsons Red, completes the new

visual identity’s palette (red, white, and black) and hints

at Parsons’ cornerstone position in the university.

Both the font and the logo system break tradi-

tional design rules to create something recognizable,

flexible, and new. “New is an extreme position,” Scher

asserts, referring to the university’s name. “You can’t

pick a safe letterform for an extreme position.”

This position reflects The New School’s culture of

challenging convention in pursuit of social good,

academic excellence, and design-led innovation. Scher

is delighted to see the community taking the system

she created and bringing it to life. “You create these

systems and let them go,” she says. “It belongs to the

university now, and will grow in ways we can’t predict.”

Even before the new identity was made public,

BFA Communication Design students in a course taught

by Lucille Tenazas, Henry Wolf Professor and associate

dean of Parsons’ School of Art, Media, and Technology,

explored the system in depth. Tenazas guided students

in creating designs to announce the arrival of The New

School’s refreshed identity. With input from Pentagram,

juniors Rafael Cordoba, Joe Louis Evans, Josh Estrella,

and senior Sunghoon Kim worked together to design

a bold graphic wallpaper for the lobby of Parsons’

65 Fifth Avenue entrance. Their creative engagement

with the Neue font and Parsons Red color reflects the

kind of creativity Scher and Tenazas hoped to see.

Tenazas says, “I see this as opening up even more

possibilities to go to exponential levels of design appli-

cations, ones Pentagram never anticipated.” Cordoba

and Evans also worked with Pentagram and Parsons

faculty member Pascal Glissmann to design “wraps”

for campus water towers over two intensive weeks.

After experimenting with the system, Cordoba says, “As

a tool, it’s so adaptable; it enabled us to create some-

thing of our own.” For Evans, the creative project had

clear benefits. Deepening his co-operative design skills

was one: “Working with Rafael on the towers didn’t feel

like a competition but rather a true collaboration of two

approaches to design.” Another benefit? Evans is now

an intern at Pentagram.

Minutes after the new identity debuted on March

30, alumni and other members of the design commu-

nity and public began engaging with it. Associate pro-

fessor David Carroll, MFA Design and Technology ’00,

led a dialogue on the system and its pioneering algo-

rithm in “What’s New Is Neue: An Alumni Conversation

on the New Visual Identity,” at New School Alumni Day

on May 9. The system grew on people quickly, though

some initially expressed concern over features like

the wide W in “New,” which they argued can be read

as two V’s. Scher counters, “Neue forces you to think

about typography differently. The New School is a uni-

versity that breaks rules in its pursuit of innovation. We

had to break graphic design rules to create something

in keeping with the university’s spirit.”

Through design, the university has achieved its

goal of communicating its unity and integration in a

recognizable way that allows for evolution. “This school

is about questioning, and that fact drove the entire

process,” Scher says. “Why create a visual identity that

can change? Because you make rules for yourself and

explore and expand. That’s what education at The New

School is all about.”

Left to right: Students designed wraps for campus water towers; a New School MetroCard helps the university reach new audiences; banners with the new logo appeared on Fifth Avenue and 13th Street, fostering a campus environment.

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PERSISTENCE

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JOEL TOWERS: Marc, we are delighted to honor you

and LVMH and have this opportunity to talk about

your celebrated career. Let’s start with how you came

to Parsons.

MARC JACOBS: Thank you; I’m proud to be honored.

My Parsons story starts at Charivari, the boutique

where I worked in high school and met Perry Ellis, a

designer I admired. Perry was very gracious and intro-

duced me to his design assistants, Jed Krascella and

Patricia Pastor, who were Parsons graduates. He said

that if I was serious about fashion—which I was—I

should go to Parsons. So when the guidance counselor

asked what I planned after high school, I said I was

applying to Parsons. I knew that not many people were

accepted, but I was jaded and pretty audacious. I said,

“I’m going to Parsons or I’m not going to school.” The

counselor replied, “That’s not very sensible. You need

a backup plan.” But I don’t believe in plan B’s. Parsons

was my plan A.

JT: You mentioned Perry Ellis; both he and Chester

Weinberg awarded you a Gold Thimble for your

Parsons senior collection. Did they influence your design?

MJ: I felt a primal connection to Perry. He was a unique

voice on Seventh Avenue and made a statement each

season with shows influenced by a variety of sources—

The Canterbury Tales, and Spain, for example. Perry’s

shows had a whimsical, transformative quality; his

collections were more fashion than clothes.

JT: What was Parsons like then?

MJ: Tracy Reese, Susan Martin, Chris Isles, and I found

each other, and Tracy and I became particularly close.

We would sit at my dining room table all night—to the

point of tears—doing assignments. Parsons is where

you learn that it isn’t finished until it’s finished.

JT: Students still stay up late, pushing themselves. How

do you approach each new collection? As a radical

departure? By revisiting themes?

MJ: Design is an evolutionary process—I can never

tell what the end of the process will be without going

through it. From season to season, the details, colors,

and fabrics change, but the approach pretty much

stays the same. You revisit things you love, at the core

of your vocabulary—razor-cut fabrics, dresses, double-

faced coats. That probably goes back to my grand-

mother taking me to Bergdorf Goodman and trying on

a red cashmere double-faced cape.

JT: Collaboration is essential at Parsons; students work

with peers throughout the university, creating opera

sets and orchestral performance wear, for example.

Collaboration is important to you, too. Tell us about that.

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MJ: Everything is a collaboration; it feels very organic,

like when I asked Stephen Sprouse to collaborate with

us at Louis Vuitton or Cher to work with us on this

season’s ads. And each season begins with me working

closely with the designers, stylists, makeup artists,

photographers, and others. I’m part of a team that

includes press, buyers, merchandisers, and friends. I

mean, I draw and learned to drape and make patterns

in school, but I couldn’t do all of this myself, do the

shows….

JT: What role does the runway play?

MJ: Like theater, like a concert, nothing comes close to

the emotional pull of a live performance. During Fash-

ion Week, people rush from show to show. Then they

arrive at the Armory and forget where they are for a

few minutes during this escapist theater you’ve made,

with creatures parading around. It transports you into

a thought, a mood, a spirit, a world. That’s what Perry’s

work did for me. A fashion show is more than a presen-

tation of clothing.

JT: What about digital platforms for fashion?

MJ: Social media is a tool and a curse. We want to

show off and we want attention; I get it. But I want us

to do it in real life. Where are the clubs? I love the ritual

of dressing up and going out…. I want to feel the fabrics

and try on the clothes and interact with the salespeople.

JT: We need to consider human factors and the impli-

cations of technology. Marc, we teach students to learn

from failure. Is that part of your creative process?

MJ: There’s no such thing as failure—it’s all a matter

of context and timing. OK, so showing orange tights

probably wasn’t the greatest idea for a fall show, but it

doesn’t mean that another time, orange tights couldn’t

look great. And I don’t know that anything is ever

finished. You can show a dress and then a week later

think it doesn’t seem relevant—or see something you’d

change. Everything is in perpetual change, even if it’s

finished for the moment.

JT: It becomes the raw material for the next iteration.

Any parting advice for young designers?

MJ: If you’re passionate about fashion—don’t give up.

People might say that’s being stubborn, but it’s working

for me.

Left to right: Jacobs as a Parsons visiting critic; sketches for which Jacobs won the Perry Ellis Gold Thimble award as a senior; the set of Jacobs’ F/W 2013 show.

Page 19: A collage of looks from the Marc Jacobs Collection. Front to back: F/W 2010; F/W 2015; F/W 2010.

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For Erik Madigan Heck, there’s beauty in control. To achieve his vision, he often serves as creative director, setting and props master, and stylist. “For me as an artist, everything is dictated by the idea. Form follows that,” says Heck of his lush artistry. The expansive role suits his creative practice, which straddles fine art and fashion photography and earns him commissions from top- tier clients like Comme des Garçons, Etro, and Alexander McQueen. In the image shown here—from Heck’s photo essay

“Drôle d’oiseau” (“strange bird”), for Numéro Magazine—the artist presents his subject in a pose recalling classical portraiture within a signature color-saturated scene. Heck says, “I’ve always been on a quest to make paint-ings with photography. As a medium, photography never interested me, but bending it to create a new form of 2D imagery—where the medium becomes ambiguous—that does. Parsons was the perfect place to explore fashion photography as an art form rather than a commercial device.” Heck’s use of bold color-blocking and monochro-matic backgrounds and his painterly rendering of his sub-jects usher his rich photography into the realm of fine art. Today Heck photographs campaigns and editorials for publications including the New York Times, Vogue, and WWD; exhibits work in fine art settings; and makes films. He recently photographed American menswear designers for a campaign initiated by the Council of Fashion Designers of America and Amazon to promote New York City’s first menswear fashion week.

ERIK MADIGAN HECKPHOTOGRAPHY

MFA ’10

Heck attracted attention by launching Nomenus Quarterly, a journal on art and fashion, while he was at Parsons.

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As a teenager in the Philippines, Dina Dwyer glimpsed her future in the pages of Elle Decor and Architectural

Digest. “The designers whose work I loved studied at Parsons, so that’s where I went.” Today Dwyer is a sought-after Bay Area interior designer who undertakes residential constructions and major renovations with her husband, Richard, a Silicon Valley area developer. Their first project together was creating a home for themselves in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill neighborhood. A turn-of-the-century structure that once housed a store and shopkeepers’ living quarters, it was renovated in the Prohibition era to conceal a bootleg operation between floors. The couple preserved vestiges of the building’s mercantile history by keeping vintage fixtures and the original shelving in what is now the living room (shown

in the bottom photograph on this page). A ladder to fit the shelves was salvaged from a New England library. “I began by thinking we’d keep the façade and gut every-thing to make it modern,” she says. “But it made sense to respect what was already there.” The process transformed her approach to decor, which now includes buying auction items for “the story behind each piece,” says Dwyer. “They reflect how the context of objects evolves over time. How we use vintage objects today makes their storied pasts more meaningful.”

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Above: Dwyer preserved traces of her home’s past by painting some floors a red hue reminis-cent of their original color.

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PHILLIP BODUM

“Do we really need another ?” asks Phillip Bodum. He uses the question—a rhetorical device borrowed from faculty mentor Andrea Ruggiero—to remind himself to consider necessity whenever design projects are pro-posed. When Danish electronics company Clint Digital approached Bodum to design a Bluetooth speaker short-ly after he graduated, the question became a guiding principle. “A new speaker had to fill a need: produce good sound and be easy to use and affordable.” The result was Freya, a compact wireless speaker that won a 2015 Red Dot Award, given to recognize products highlighting the importance of design to business and society, and a 2015 International Forum (iF) Design Award. Bodum has since collaborated with Clint on a line of app-controlled home speakers. Available

The sleek Freya speaker has won awards and a place in the U.S. market, beginning in fall 2015.

in Europe, the speakers will be sold in the United States later this year. Bodum’s practice encompasses products, graphics, and interiors. Each project reflects his goal of making good design available to everyone. The groundwork for Bodum’s commitment was laid by his grandfather, who founded the Danish brand whose affordable goods bear the family name. “I grew up with that model; it’s what I always try to do.”

PRODUCT DESIGN

BFA ’11

25Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian’s art practice draws

on decades spent in Iran, her birthplace, and New York City, where she attended Parsons and entered the vibrant art scene. This spring, her pioneering artwork was on view in Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian: Infinite

Possibility. Mirror Works and Drawings, 1974–2014, a comprehensive exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum. After studying fashion illustration at Parsons, Farmanfarmaian worked alongside Andy Warhol as an illustrator at the department store Bonwit Teller and befriended artists including Willem de Kooning, Joan Mitchell, and Jackson Pollock. Upon returning to Tehran in 1957, she began exploring traditional Iranian art and experimenting with sculpture. Rooted in both Islamic geometric forms and minimalist and abstract art, her

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Farmanfarmaian’s work was recently on view at the Guggenheim Museum and at Tulane University.

distinctive aesthetic is apparent in Untitled (Sculpture 2). Here she transforms a traditional Islamic design into a gyroscope of concentric hexagons. To create sculptures like the one shown on this page, Farmanfarmaian and master craftsmen build stuccoed armatures that are covered in pieces of mirrored glass, applying a centuries-old technique in a modern way. She describes her three-dimensional panels as “something new, something old, all swirling together in a dazzle of light and color and unpredictable angles.” After two decades living in New York following the 1979 Revolution, she resumed her practice in Tehran, beginning a period of intense creativity. At 90, she says, “Whatever time I have left, I want to make art.”

FASHION ILLUSTRATION

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Emily Meyer (left) and Jessica Ross (right) review Ross’ senior collection in the University Center

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ALUMNI GIVE

Alumni giving enables the university and its students to do their most exciting, innovative, and important work. At Parsons, it also helps donors and students build personal and professional connections through design. Emily Meyer, BFA Fashion Design ’93, founder of the Tea Collection children’s clothing company, established an award that does both. The Emily Meyer/Tea Collection Prize for Childrenswear is making the clothing line created by Jessica Ross, BFA Fashion Design ’15, a reality. The prize includes a cash award and on-site mentoring at Tea Collection’s San Francisco headquarters. Thanks in part to Meyer’s generosity, Ross has completed her childrenswear thesis collection, “which incorporates handmade knits, prints, and graphics as well as recycled denim materials inspired by the sustainability and ethical production measures that make Tea Collection successful,” she says. “I give today so that the next generation can lead responsibly and sustainably tomorrow,” says Meyer. “We must learn from—and give to—one another.” The value of reciprocity is equally embodied in the way Meyer manages her global brand. Tea Collection produces its line with ethical manufacturers worldwide. Encouraging young designers to embrace ethical production—and the cultural exchange that comes with working internationally—is a top priority for Meyer.

Every gift makes a difference. Make yours today: newschool.edu/giving-back

SUPPORTING STUDENTS BY DESIGN

Tea Collection’s Spring 2015 catalog, shot in India. Meyer’s team travels the globe for inspiration and visits production partners, learning about local methods and sharing cultural insights.

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AnonymousADCO Electrical Corp.Gina AddeoLisa Addeo (P)Sidsel T. Alpert ’71Amazon.comAmerican Red CrossAreaWareJack and Marion A. Auspitz ’86Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Inc.Barneys New YorkAndrew BernheimerBinational Softwood Lumber CouncilBlick Art MaterialsDominique BluhdornMark and Diana Bowler (P)Keith Brackpool (P)Harlan BratcherBobbie Braun ’90Jason and Melissa Mileff Burnett ’06Jennifer Andrus Burroughs (P), in memory of Dona J. FilkinsFrick Byers ’96John V. Calcagno ’73Kristi Carney-Dunkley (P)Claire Chan ’11/The Chan FoundationCharity BuzzMurtaza and Shenaz Chevel (P)Lucy Chudson ’12 and William SchwartzCity Lore, Inc.William and Jane Corbellini ’86Richard and Jean Coyne Family FoundationCreative SkyRichard Darling/LF USAConor DavisDavler Media Group/New York SpacesBeth Rudin DeWoody ’75/May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc.Angelo Donghia FoundationMichael Donovan ’69 and Nancye Green ’73Jamie Drake ’78/Drake Design Associates, Inc.DreamyardJochen and Christina Duemler (P)Douglas D. Durst/The Durst OrganizationRenaud Dutreil/LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton Inc.The James Dyson FoundationEcho Design GroupRobert J. FeeneyFresh Inc.Anne Gaines ’00GameLab Institute of Play Inc.Henry and Barbara Gooss (P)Allan GreenbergJoe and Gail GromekVictoria Hagan ’84/Victoria Hagan InteriorsHallmark Corporate FoundationThe Haus of GagaJohn Hayes (P)Andrew Heffernan ’11 and Anna Lundberg ’12Estate of Jennifer Hill ’91ICRAVEIlluminating Engineering SocietyJapan FoundationPeggy Keenan Jernigan TrustJESCO Lighting Group, LLCThanos and Daniela KamiliotisLonnie and Karen Kane (P)Donna Karan ’87, in loving memory of her husband, Stephan Weiss/The Karan-Weiss FoundationGabrielle Karan, in loving memory of her father, Stephan WeissCharles Kenney and Anne Detmer (P)Ada Howe Kent FoundationStephan and Michaela Keszler (P)Phyllis B. Kriegel

Nicholas and Theresa Leonardy (P)Aura LevitasShin Yin Liong, MD (P)Theodore Luce Charitable TrustLuxury Education FoundationDee MacDonald-Miller ’75/Jones Lang LaSallePeter and Margaret Magerko (P)Anand and Anuradha Mahindra (P)Nancy Mahon/The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.Noel and Nienke Manns (P)Marjorie Marran ’51MaxMara USA, Inc.Richard J. and Rosemary McCready (P)MetLife FoundationRoberto Thompson Motta and Amalia Spinardi (P)Ms. Foundation for WomenJacki Nemerov/The Nemerov Charitable FoundationThe New York Community TrustNew York Hall of ScienceNokia Research CenterOne Kings LaneOpen Society FoundationsSandra Owen ’57OXOPerry Ellis InternationalMichèle and Steve PesnerPhilips Lighting UniversityAlma M. Phipps ’78The Pinkerton FoundationBetsy and Robert Pitts ’95The Henry B. Plant Memorial Fund, Inc.Raul and Luz Ravelo (P)Riverdale Country SchoolThe Rockefeller FoundationSusan and Byron Roth (P)Alina Roytberg ’84Samsung Everland Inc.Johan M. and Isabelle Schouten (P)David Schwartz Foundation, Inc.Richard J. and Sheila W. Schwartz ’88Thomas and Debra Seiler (P)Ellen Sigal, PhD/Sigal Family FoundationSK Planet, Inc.Christy C. Smith/Southern Fashion HouseMargaret J. Smith ’89/The Teck FoundationPeter Sole and Helen Mumford-Sole (P)/GartnerSony ElectronicsCelina Stabell ’98The Geraldine Stutz Trust, Inc.Surdna FoundationWilliam Susman and Emily GlasserDennis and Judy Sweeney/ First Harvest Foundation (P)Tomio TakiDan and Sheryl TishmanAlyce Williams Toonk (P)Type Directors ClubKay Unger ’68/The Kay Unger Family FoundationUNIQLO Co., Ltd. U.S.-Japan CouncilRobert and Delores Viarengo ’95Nancy Vignola ’76George and Nancy Walker/ The Brown Foundation, Inc.Ian Wayne (P)Angela Weber (P)Gene Weber (P)Jessica Weber ’66Corey Weiss, in loving memory of his father, Stephan WeissLisa Weiss, in loving memory of her father, Stephan WeissClaire Sepulveda Werner ’83Thomas Wolf and Ellen Smolka (P)Andrea Woodner

* Gifts of $1,000 or more.

OUR SUPPORTERSJuly 1, 2013–June 30, 2014*

re:D (regarding Design) 2015

EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Anne Adriance

EDITORIAL BOARD: Amy Garawitz, Heidi Ihrig, Jen Rhee

PARSONS ADVISORY BOARD: Joel Towers, Hazel Clark, Anne Gaines, Sarah Lawrence, Brian McGrath, Alison Mears

MANAGING EDITOR: Kyle Hansen

EDITOR and LEAD WRITER: John Haffner Layden

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Kate McCormick, David Thomas, Aimee Williams

ART DIRECTOR: Ed Pusz

LEAD DESIGNER: David Robinson

PRODUCTION COORDINATORS: Steven Arnerich, Sung Baik

COPY EDITOR: Leora Harris

PRODUCED BY: Marketing & 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 32, No. 2, August 2015 PARSONS is published four times a year, in July, December, January, and May, by The New School, 66 W. 12th Street, New York, NY 10011. Periodi-cals 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: Eugenia Ames, Mannes ’69 (News & Events); Courtesy of Areaware (News & Events); Associated Press (Reaching Higher); David Barron (Giving); Carter Berg (News & Events); Patricia Chang (Alumni at Work); Clint Digital and Phillip Bodum (Alumni at Work); Suzanne Cotter (Alumni at Work); Alex Dolan, BFA Photography ’14/BA Environmental Studies ’13 (News & Events); Dina Dwyer (Alumni at Work); Courtesy of The Garden Apartment (Portfolio); John Haffner Layden (Persistence of Vision); Hideaki Hamada (Giving); David Heald (Alumni at Work); Erik Madigan Heck (Alumni at Work); Courtesy of Marc Jacobs Interna-tional (Persistence of Vision); Lucy Jones (News & Events); Sameer Khan (News & Events); The Kellen Design Archives (Persistence of Vision); Ximon Lee (Portfolio); Peter Lindbergh (Persistence of Vision); Ryan McGinley (Red-Handed); David Robinson (News & Events); Martin Seck (Cover, News & Events, Reaching Higher, A New Visual Identity); Matthew Septimus (News & Events); Tori Sulewski for Fotobuddy (News & Events); Marc Tatti (News & Events); Seyyed Arash Fewzee Youssefi (News & Events)

The New School does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, gender, sexual orientation, religion, religious practices, mental or physical dis-ability, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, or veteran or marital status. The New School is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution.

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Ryan McGinley is one of his generation’s most important photographers, acclaimed for his enigmatic portraits in which natural-ism and dreamlike elements come together to produce works blending innocence and sensuousness. At 25, McGinley became one of the youngest artists ever to have a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art. He has since found artistic and commercial success, exhibiting fine art worldwide and shooting campaigns for Stella McCartney, Dior, and Hermès. His editorials appear in publications like Vogue, the New York Times

Magazine, and W Magazine. In Falling (Cornfield), 2007, McGinley draws the viewer into an ambiguous landscape. His nude subject appears to fall through a mist that seems palpable enough to slow his descent. Has he been cast from heaven? Or sent aloft in an earthly rite?

Ryan McGinleyBFA ART, MEDIA, AND TECHNOLOGY

RED HANDED

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