re:D Fall 2007 (PDF) - The New School

RE:D

21
designers
reflect
Colleen Macklin
Jessica Weber
Lance Wyman
Julia Gorton
Tara Kelton
Roy Zucca
Pablo A. Medina
Alexa Nosal
Rob Giampietro
Pauline Decarmo
Charles Nix
Ted Byfield
Jane Pirone
Barbara Friedman
Christian Marc Schmidt
Paul Shaw
Stephen Viksjo
Sayoko Yoshida
Rainer Jurgens
Alvin Grossman
Mark Miner
the
past
present
and
future

Letter
FrOM
tHe DeAN
In this issue of RE:D we commemorate 100 years of communication design at Parsons.
Communication Design is one of the oldest areas of study at Parsons, yet arguably, it is also the area
that has seen the most dramatic changes over the last 100 years. Shifts in the field have been sparked by
technological advances, but even more fundamentally by the expanding notion of what communication
design is and does and encompasses. Once predominantly the realm of perfect typography and artful
page layouts, communication design today emerges from technology-driven contexts that are responding
to increasing demands for complex and integrated information mapping systems. I’m proud that Parsons
is still a place where students can work at either end of the spectrum, a place where there is a profound
respect for visual elegance and the simplicity of great design, but also a place where students and faculty
are actively exploring new ways to make beautiful, practical, sometimes radical contributions to the
visual world.
As we look forward and look back on the evolution of communication design at Parsons and in the
world, we are grateful to Bridget de Socio ’80 for sharing her singular views (page 31), to former chair
John Russo ’42 for indulging our Proustian questionnaire, and to the dozens of faculty members and
alumni who contributed perspectives on the history of the department and the trajectory of the field.
Thanks also to the remarkable AAS students who have shared their stories with us (and with you), and
to all of our alumni who have sent in news and highlights from their professional and creative lives.
In the fall of 2007 Parsons is a community of nearly 4,000 students and more than 1,000 faculty members,
not to mention the thousands of alumni, board members, donors, and partners who are part of our
extended network. As we begin the new academic year, the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at 66 Fifth
Avenue and 2 West 13th Street is showing signs of nearing completion; we are continuing the work of
restructuring our academic programs and developing new degree options; and our students and faculty
are actively involved in projects around the world, from a new project with CARE USA in Africa to a
recently completed one with the town of Margaretville, New York.
Best regards,
Tim Marshall, Dean

RE:D FALL 2007
Editor Karissa Krenz
Managing Editor Ellen Davidson
Alumni Relations Jessica Arnold
Rachel Denny
Art Director Meg Callery
Designers Anna Ostrovskaya
Edwin Tse
Photographer Matthew Sussman
Production Tina Moskin
Copy Editors Rose Cryan
Leora Harris
Produced by Communications and External
Affairs, The New School
Letters to the Editor
RE:D welcomes letters to the editor
regarding published articles, alumni news,
opinions, commentary, and suggestions for
features. Letters may be edited for content
and/or length. Please include your year of
graduation, degree completed, and major.
Submissions
Original manuscripts, photo submissions,
and/or artwork will be considered for publication.
Unsolicited manuscripts, related
materials, photography, and artwork will
not be returned.
Address Changes
Please submit address changes at:
www.newschool.edu/alumni.
RE:D
Parsons The New School for Design
79 Fifth Ave., 17th floor
New York, NY 10003
RedEditors@newschool.edu
www.parsons.newschool.edu/RE:D
PARSONS (USPS 760-830) Volume 25, Number 5,
October 2007. PARSONS is published 9 times a year,
in July, August (3 times), October, November,
December, April, and May, by The New School,
66 West 12th Street, New York, NY 10011. Periodicals
postage paid in New York, NY, and additional mailing
offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to
PARSONS, 66 West 12th Street, New York, NY 10011.
CONtrIBUtOrS
BRIDGET DE SOCIO ’80 is an internationally
recognized communication
designer and brand strategist with
more than 25 years of experience in
luxury, niche markets, and global
culture. Her oeuvre ranges from subcultural
(Paper Magazine) to super luxe
(Vera Wang). In 2005 she opened a
design office in Shanghai for Saatchi &
Saatchi, and later created the brand
repositioning and tag line for the $18
billion JCPenney brand on behalf of
Saatchi, North America. She is currently
developing a luxury lifestyle
private label brand for Stephen
Burlingham, the great-great-grandson
of Louis C. Tiffany, named Laurelton
Hall (after the family’s Oyster Bay
estate). Photo by Richard Phibbs.
KARISSA KRENZ is a New York-based
arts and entertainment writer and the
former editor in chief of Chamber
Music magazine. Her writing appears
frequently in publications including
Time Out New York and Playbill. She
also designs and fabricates one-of-akind
and limited-edition jewelry from
found objects and wire.
CHRISTINE MICKLETZ (not pictured)
has held leadership positions in cultural
organizations for more than a
decade. Before her appointment as
director of development at Parsons,
Christine held positions at the Kimmel
Center in Philadelphia, the
Philadelphia Orchestra, the Baltimore
Symphony, and the Boston Symphony.
She earned her law degree at the
University of Maryland.
DINO MANUEL ’06 (cover designer)
was born and raised in Kailua, Oahu,
Hawaii. He has BFAs from the
Academy of Art University in San
Francisco (painting and print making)
and Parsons The New School for
Design (communication design). He
has worked at Nike’s White Label, Nike
SB, Nike 6.0, and Hurley, and is currently
with Abercrombie & Fitch.
ALEX WANG has written for the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Art
Institute of Chicago, Getty Center, and
Joyce Theater, and other organizations.
As a singer, he has performed with the
Mark Morris Dance Company, the New
York Philharmonic, and Aretha
Franklin. He is now on staff at The
New School as a writer and publicist.

CONteNtS
1 Letter from the Dean
4 Letters to the RE:DITOR
5 News at Parsons
Redesigning Humanity ... Moleskine Guides ...
The 59th Annual Parsons Fashion Benefit ...
The International Contemporary Furniture Fair
... Community Building in Brooklyn
8 RE:TINA
10 Communication Design
Some of Parsons’ best and brightest
celebrate 100 years of the Department of
Communication Design and Technology.
16 100 Cards Project
Parsons’ spring 2007 Book Design class
compiled the visual history of the Department of
Communication Design and Technology.
DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGYADV
RTISINGGRAPHICDESIGN
COMMUNICATION DESIGNBRO
ADCASTDESIGNCORPORATE DE
GNBRANDINGPACKAGINGEDITO
RIAL DESIGN DESIGN AND
TECHNOLOGYTYPOGRAPHY
EXHIBITIONDESIGNPUBLICATION
DESIGNTYPEFACE DESIGN
MOTIONGRAPHICS
WAYFINDING SYSTEMSWEB
DESIGNTYPOGRAPHY DESIGN
AND TECHNOLOGYADVERTISING
GRAPHIC DESIGN
BOOK DESIGNBROADCASTDESIG
NCOMMUNICATION DESIGN
AND TECHNOLOGY
CORPORATE DESIGNBRANDING
ACKAGINGEDITORIAL DESIGNTY
18 Quick-Change Artists
The AAS program transforms lives and
nurtures some of the industry’s most
exciting talent.
By Alex Wang
22 RE:CORD
Alumni News, Upcoming Events, and Spotlights
30 RE:COGNITION Gifts to Parsons
in 2006
31 Incorporating Design
Corporations make a difference at Parsons.
By Christine Mickletz
32 Alumni Voices
Bridget de Socio ’80 talks about growth and the
preservation of beauty.
33 RE:SPOND John Russo ’42

LetterS
tO tHe re:DItOr
In the last issue we asked, “What is the most interesting
change in communication design you’ve seen since you
graduated?”
The logo developed by Parsons students
to celebrate both the centennial of the
Communication Design and the 10th anniversary
of Design and Technology.
The ability to manipulate images using digi-
tal technology has quickened the pace of
visual experimentation and execution, which
helps produce more in less time.
David Stokes ’81
There has been a paradigm shift in communication
design since 1976; desktop publishing
and the Internet have leveled the
playing field. Designers have been empowered
to do the work of a typesetter and
production department, enabling them to
compete for projects that previously took a
Madison Avenue Agency to produce.
Sam Kaplan ’76
CEO, Mobile Ad Group
4
The introduction of computers (which
includes cell phones). They have become
our new media devices for entertainment
(watching television, viewing ads, and listening
to music).
Cheryl Green ’85
I graduated from Parsons in 1986, and one
of the most interesting changes that I’ve
seen in the communication design department
is the level of quality, sophistication
and workmanship of student work. When I
attended Parsons there were no computers,
we did everything by hand or we used
letraset, photography, or had our type set. I
see that the students of today have far
more accessible information and research
at their disposal. This helps with today’s
need for the graphic designer to have
greater awareness, due to more competition
from globalization technology availability,
the changing workforce, and the
change in the U.S. markets.
Rosa Vargas ’86
Help shape the future of RE:D: Fill out our
reader survey online at
I’m sure everyone will say “the computer,”
and of course this is true. When we first
presented ideas to a client it was all in
“comp” form (do this year’s grads even
know what a “comp” is?). We had to talk
our client through the process: “This will
look like this and this will look like that.”
And oh … the hours of “type specing” and
“changes.” What a drag—thank God those
days are over. Now the idea stage is so finished
looking that it’s scary. The bad part
of this advancement is that clients don’t
“feel” the need to give the designer the
time to refine the product, because they
see how quickly ideas can come to fruition.
And sometimes they are foolish enough to
think they can produce a beautifully
designed professional piece on their own,
due to the cookie-cutter graphic design
programs. The creative process still takes
time—that has not changed.
The communication design world has
expanded, too: the need to communicate
on a little deck of cards–sized thing we
have in our pocket … or on this TV thing
we call a computer monitor. It’s all so fantastic
and wonderful. We communicate to
the moon and back—it’s great.
Judy Gilmartin-Willsey ’74
www.newschool.edu/alumni/REDsurvey.html.

NewS
At pArSONS
REDESigning thE WoRLD
Design with a Conscience is a new series of events sponsored by Parsons’ Exhibitions and
Public Programs Department. These lectures, symposia, and exhibitions will examine design
and architecture distinguished by a strong sense of social responsibility. The series is inspired
by the belief that design can and should play a major role in improving people’s lives. The first
event, on November 5, Design with a Conscience: Public Housing, focuses on new public and
low-income housing and new visions for housing scales. The evening includes short lectures by
leading architects, followed by a roundtable discussion moderated by Kent Kleinman, chair of
the Department of Architecture, Interior Design, and Lighting, with guests including Michael
Maltzan (principal, Michael Maltzan Architecture, Los Angeles) and Andy Bernheimer (principal,
Della Valle Bernheimer, New York). Future events in the series will examine design and poverty,
sustainability, medicine and design, and temporary housing.
Structures by Michael Maltzan and Della Valle Bernheimer (Photos by Wil Carson and Richard Barnes).
5

tRAnSfoRming fAShion
On April 30, the 59th annual Parsons Benefit and Fashion Show
honored Federated Department Stores and Susan D. Kronick,
the company’s vice chairman. Responsible for the more than
850 stores that operate under the names of Macy’s and
Bloomingdale’s, Kronick has helped set the course of fashion in
her 33-year career. She has also dedicated much of her time to
charitable organizations—serving on the boards of the United
Way, the YMCA, and Exodus Cities and Schools for at-risk children—and
has established mammography centers at Macy’s in
Atlanta and Miami. The honor was presented to Kronick by the
distinguished designer and 2006 honoree Oscar de la Renta.
Former President Bill Clinton also offered remarks at the event.
The benefit also paid tribute to one of Parsons’ most famous
faces, Tim Gunn, who was named honorary chair of Fashion
Design. Gunn, a long-time staff member at Parsons and star of
Bravo’s Project Runway and Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style, stepped
down from his post as chair of Fashion Design in the spring to
become the chief creative officer at Liz Claiborne, Inc.
The highlight of the annual event is the senior thesis collections
runway show, which features the best of Parsons’ graduating
class. Honored as Designers of the Year were Boaz Eli of Tel Aviv
and Michelle Ochs of Gaithersburg, Maryland. The first-ever
Menswear Designer of the Year was also named, Soo Mok
of Seoul. Katie Tague of New Lenox, Illinois, was named
Childrenswear Designer of the Year at a special runway
presentation at the famous toy store FAO Schwartz on May 15.
Left: Fashion benefit honoree Susan D. Kronick.
Right: One of the looks from the annual fashion show.
Photos © Patrick McMullan, by Jimi Celeste/PMc..
6
Community BuiLDing
What happens when Parsons students are let loose on the streets
of Brooklyn? They create social change through art. When three
members of the class of 2010, Chelsea Briganti (Product Design),
Sarah Feldman (Fine Arts), and Essence Rodriguez
(Communication Design), set to work on a project for their
Laboratory class, which focuses on New York City, the team
realized that a historic custom had sadly gone by the wayside—
neighborhood “stoop sitting.” To encourage the revival of this outdoor
tradition, the three young designers took it upon themselves
to affix “Sit Here” signs in various locations throughout the borough,
hoping to draw community members back to their brownstone
steps. To support the effort, they set up a website to
facilitate informal polling, encourage community interaction, and
keep track of the project. The little green signs made a splash
throughout Brooklyn, and the movement seems to be growing: The
press has picked up the story, online message boards have taken
the project beyond New York, and the website has even been the
focus of a French student’s social studies project. Visit
www.freewebs.com/sit_here/ for more on the Sit Here Group and
to print out your own “Sit Here” sign.
Brooklyn stoops as re-imagined by Parsons student Sarah Feldman ’10

guiDing inSpiRAtion
Moleskine notebooks were indispensable equipment for artists and writers like Pablo Picasso, Ernest
Hemingway, and Vincent van Gogh. The company that now manufactures the notebooks has taken
an active role in fostering creativity by promoting journal keeping. Its newest product line is the
Moleskine City Notebooks, each of which includes maps of a particular city along with blank pages
on which users can write their own guidebooks. As part of the product launch, Moleskine asked 70
established artists to create journals for its DETOUR exhibition, which was shown at the Art
Directors Club in New York in June. In conjunction with DETOUR, Moleskine invited students
from Parsons’ Illustration Narrative class, a course in visual storytelling, to fill in their own City
Notebooks. The students spent two months recording their impressions of a specific part of New
York City, and the results were displayed at DETOUR’s opening-night party. Parsons students also
teamed up for a day with colleagues from the School of Visual Arts in a “Moleskine Jam.” At this
event, students from the two schools created 20 sketchbooks to be donated to lettera 27, a nonprofit
foundation supported by Moleskine that promotes the right to literacy and education in many of the
world’s most deprived areas. The company encourages users to post their guidebooks to a companion
website, www.moleskinecity.com.
Illustration Department Chair Steven Guarnaccia and students fill their Moleskine notebooks during the spring of 2007.
WEB RoomS
The annual International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) is North America’s most prominent
interior design fair and show-cases trendsetters from around the globe. The 19th ICFF,
which took place in New York City in May, featured work by a team of Parsons students.
Drawing inspiration from The Design Workshop, which has put Parsons graduate students to
work for real-world clients for more than ten years, ICFF commissioned the students to
transform a narrow space into a bar and lounge called the “ICFFscape.” The designers used
a web of industrial-grade nylon straps (normally used to secure objects for transport) to
define the area’s structure and surface while offering views of the exhibition floor. The students
also created the kiosks for the exhibition’s media sponsors, which included Abitare,
Domus, Frame, Interni, and Intramarcus.
The student-designed ICFFscape at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair.
7

e:tINA
8
PARSONS FASHION AWARDEE DINNER 1. Carmela Spinelli ’04, Chris
Benz ’04, and Ashley Abess ’05 2. Parsons Board of Governors members
Kay Unger ’67 and Paul Rosengard 3. 2007 Parsons Fashion
award winners Soo Mok, Boaz Eli, Michelle Ochs, and Katie Tague
with Parsons Dean Tim Marshall. Photos by David Minder
1
2
3
Parsons Dean Tim Marshall with alumni at the first-ever Parsons San
Francisco Alumni Event at the Häfele Showroom in April 2007.
1
LOS ANGELES ALUMNI AND PARENTS EVENT AT THE
MULHOLLAND TENNIS CLUB IN APRIL 2007 1. Andy and Cathy
Garroni (P ’10) 2. Isabelle Carter ’04, David Kessler ’92, and Lea Ann
Hutter ’93 3. Marlo Ehrlich (P ’10) and Casey Coates Danson ’75
2
3

MAkINg A SCeNe IN New YOrk
COMMUNICATION DESIGN CENTENNIAL AT THE CHELSEA ART
MUSEUM 1. John Russo ’42 and CDT Chair Colleen Macklin 2. Adam
Mignanelli ’07 and Matt Mignanelli 3. Attendees check out the
exhibition 4. Robin Greenwood ’07, his father Bruce Greenwood, and
CDT Associate Chair Ted Byfield
1
SAKS FIFTH AVENUE RECEPTION One of the window displays at Saks
highlighting Parsons student work.
2 3 1 2
4
3 4
PARSONS BENEFIT AND FASHION SHOW 1. Terry Lundgren, honoree
Susan D. Kronick, and New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg 2. Donna
Karan ’68 3. Oscar De La Renta & Former President Bill Clinton
4. Board of Governors Chair Sheila Johnson and New School President
Bob Kerrey. Photos © Patrick McMullan, by Jimi Celeste/PMc.
9

OM
UNIC
TION
ESIGN
IN CELEBRATION OF 100 YEARS OF COMMUNICATION
DESIGN AT PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DESIGN, 21
DESIGNERS REFLECT ON THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE
OF THE DEPARTMENT AND THE INDUSTRY.
1906 DESIGN 1921 ADVERTISING ILLUSTRATION AND COMMERCIAL DESIGN 1922 GRAPHIC ADVERTISING 1927 GRAPHIC
ADVERTISING AND ILLUSTRATION 1937 ADVERTISING DESIGN 1942 ADVERTISING AND INDUSTRIAL DESIGN 1946 ADVERTISING
DESIGN 1952 ADVERTISING DESIGN AND ILLUSTRATION 1954 GRAPHIC DESIGN AND ADVERTISING 1968 GRAPHIC DESIGN
1972 COMMUNICATION DESIGN TODAY COMMUNICATION DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

Communication Design Senior Thesis Exhibition Spring 2006; student work from 1992; Bea Feitler’s design for the cover of Ms. Magazine, June 1973
(Bea Feitler Collection), © Ms. Magazine (courtesy of the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Archives Center for Parsons The New School for Design);
student work from 1990; “Parsonzilla” from the Parsons 1973–74 portfolio and catalog; student work 1990; second-year CD students explore a politi-
cal message, from the Parsons portfolio and catalog 1973–74; student work 1993; student work 1965; poster designed by art director Cipe Pineles for
Parsons, circa 1988 (courtesy of the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Archives Center for Parsons The New School for Design); CD students take a
stroll in their hand-made versions of “the blue jeans of the future,” from the 1972–73 portfolio and catalog.

Signature graphic work from the seventies: The first page of the Parsons 1975–76 portfolio and catalog; corporate “logo-types” developed by thirdyear
CD students, from the 1973–74 portfolio and catalog.
COLLEEN MACKLIN Chair of Com-
munication Design and Technology. One
hundred years ago, a new way of thinking
emerged from the mists of Madison Avenue,
and the program that we know today as Communication
Design and Technology was born.
Growing rapidly as industry and commerce
boomed during the early decades of the last
century, visual advertising found its way into
our cultural consciousness. The entrepreneurial
engines of marketing and advertising
sparked a new appreciation for the modern art
of communication and led the way for communication
design to become a catalyst for
contemporary ideas and experiences.
Over the last century, new social formations
and global flows were enabled through the art
of communication and the design of communicative
forms and technologies. The legacy of
Parsons, and more specifically Communication
Design, has not only “democratized taste,” as
Parsons cofounder Frank Alvah Parsons had
hoped, it has also given form to the communications
at the heart of democracy itself and,
with the advent of interactive media, led us to
a moment of new democratic and educational
possibilities.
What will the next 100 years have in store?
At Parsons, it is the faculty’s responsibility to
impart a curriculum that will be the foundation
for a life of practice. Communication designers
play a key role in forming messages that help
constitute commerce, culture, and society.
As we face a global set of complex issues,
like climate change, rapid urbanization, and
12
government transparency, society will rely on
sharing information across multiple disciplines
and on unconventional perspectives. Communication
designers have an important role to
play in creating “ways to see” information that
are accessible, malleable, and open.
JESSICA WEBER ’66 Runs her own
design and communications company
(www.jwdnyc.com) and has been a
faculty member for 30 years. Once upon a
time, there was a small and elite place called
Parsons School of Design. The freshmen came
directly from high school, and very few had
ever been to Europe, Asia, or South America.
We were located at 410 East 54th Street. The
single elevator had mirrors all over the walls,
and we would pretend to be Rockettes on the
way up to the fourth floor. Our little green
metal tool kits were stuffed with razor blades,
triangles, ruling pens, Rapidographs, jars of
rubber cement, French curves, kneaded erasers,
and sheets of press type, and we carried
our t-squares inside our big black cardboard
portfolios that closed with ribbon ties. We all
had homerooms, and by the time we graduated,
we were like a little family. Mr. Russo was
our department head, and he called all of us
by our last names. The architect Louis Kahn
spoke at our graduation … None of us realized
who he was.
LANCE WYMAN Wayfinder extraordinaire.
It was 1973 when I met David
Levy. I had been back in New York for two
years establishing my design practice after
living in Mexico designing the graphics for the
’68 Olympics, the Mexico City Metro, and the
1970 Soccer World Cup. I remember having
an energetic conversation with David about
design education. He was confrontational and
made me question my ideas. I was surprised
when he asked if I would be interested in
teaching. The thought of teaching was challenging
and intimidating. David invited me to
see the school and I fell in love. Thirty-five
years later, I’m still here. I taught my first
class in the fall of ’73 and I haven’t missed a
semester since.
In 1973 I taught in the Graphic Design
Department and we did things by hand, with
pencils, brushes, Rapidograph pens,
X-ACTO knives, press-down type, and film.
Today the department is called Communication
Design and Technology and we do just
about everything with computers. It has been
a marvelous experience of transition, learning
and using the new technology without losing
the power of expressing and recording creative
ideas. There is still a place for the older tools
and techniques, and I find that an enriching
mix, professionally and in the classroom.
JULIA GORTON ’80 Designer and
illustrator specializing in children’s
books and a faculty member for 24
years. It was over 30 years ago when I first
saw a catalog in the high school guidance
office with a bicycle on the cover. This school
was famous, someone said. I informed my parents
that if I couldn’t go to Parsons, I wouldn’t
be going to college. My father died that spring
of my senior year, and I was told that I should

Work from a freshman class in CD in which they explored hand lettering and ways in which different letter forms relate to a message, from the 1973–74
portfolio and catalog; CD students developed imaging for the Bicentennial Exhibition, from the 1972–73 portfolio and catalog.
stay home and help my mother. But the power
of design and New York City pulled me, and
my mother helped me pack up the car and
drove me off. I had been the best artist in my
school, but at Parsons I was just one of many
best students—that first year was overwhelming,
and I cried often. Fortunately, my teachers
believed in me, encouraged and supported my
work, and taught me the foundations of what
I use now as a teacher and as a parent of a
student. The lessons I appreciate the most are
those of my photo instructor, Matthew Klein,
who taught me the difference between looking
at something and really seeing it.
TARA KELTON ’05 Runs her own
design studio (www.tarakelton.com)
and will enter the MFA program at Yale
Design School this fall. At the end of my
junior year, Charles Nix scheduled a meeting
for incoming seniors. I walked into the meeting
and there on the blackboard was a single,
curved oval. It was a pickle.
Charles proceeded to tell us that we had
become pickles. Every skill we had gained
at Parsons was the salt we had absorbed. In
our senior year, he wanted us to release this
salt, to be true to ourselves in what we chose
to explore as our final thesis. As cucumbers.
That summer, my head consumed with pickles
and cucumbers, the beginnings of my thesis
came to me. While it wasn’t about vegetables,
I had learned a valuable lesson.
To make a mark on the world, I needed to
develop an original voice and then express it
using the skills I’d been taught. An obvious
lesson, perhaps, but one that was refreshing
after having been completely immersed in
kerning, grids, and lowercase G’s. After all,
inside every pickle is a cucumber.
ROY ZUCCA Director of business
development for Impact Workflow Solutions.
I was 39 years old when I had the
opportunity to teach my first class, Production,
at Parsons during a midday break from my
job at Young & Rubicam. It’s hard to believe
that was 23 years ago. Al Greenberg was the
chair, and I can still envision the class, the
room, and the spirited faces of the students
(and wonder how they perceived their new
instructor). The course was obviously all about
production, but there was quite a bit of time
devoted to understanding the complexities of
photo and metal type composition, especially
“specing type.” Many students were frustrated
with that part of the required knowledge, so I
devoted numerous lunch hours to groups trying
to comprehend the voodoo of type specing.
PABLO A. MEDINA Runs Cubanica
(www.cubanica.com) and has been a
full-time faculty member for seven years.
I grew up admiring graffiti artists for their
ability to duplicate their signature so extensively
across a given environment. They
were publishing their identity for as wide an
audience as possible, repeating their name to
arouse interest and envy in other artists. This
same idea of aesthetic multiplication has given
communication design 100 years of staying
power. The communication designer conceives
of a visual language for a client, and it is
replicated through a process of manufacturing
through printing, code, and/or construction.
This is distributed to the population, where it
speaks, interacts, and influences them. The
viewer processes it, and through this new
knowledge a change takes place, which can
manifest itself in a new opinion or perception,
desire, or overall expansion of knowledge.
ALEXA NOSAL Art director for Martin
Solomon Co. and a faculty member for
21 years. Parsons as a physical place has
remained much the same as it was when I first
walked through its doors, so I mark the passage
of time through the changing of people
rather than place. It may seem cliché to say
that what makes being part of the department
such a rich experience is interacting with the
remarkably creative, intelligent, and inspiring
people (colleagues and students alike) in the
CD community. Many of these people have
moved or passed on, but their contributions
to the progress of the department, even if not
overtly recognized, are a worthy legacy.
ROB GIAMPIETRO Partner in
Giampietro+Smith (www.studiogs.com)
and a faculty member for four years. In
the first class I taught at Parsons, Typography
I, I decided to try an unusual assignment with
my students to get them to see and verbalize
formal relationships among a varied group of
13

objects. The project, which I called “A Set,”
was unusual because, rather than the standard
short-form assignments given in the early days
of a discipline, this was long-form and lasted
all 15 weeks of the course, in nine cumulative
parts. Each student had his or her own set,
but each one was subject to extensive classmate-to-classmate
analysis and critique over
time. At the start of class I was concerned the
assignment was either too ambitious or too
uselessly conceptual. I needn’t have worried.
The students’ sets came together naturally
and were described in a language that was
uniquely expressive and individual to each.
Though they spoke 14 different formal dialects
through their projects, the typographer’s gift
of classing forms—typology—was something
they were just beginning to receive. My
students and I enjoyed ourselves immensely
during that first project, and I will never forget
its lessons to me as a young teacher: Always
challenge, always push, and always put the
best stuff first.
PAULINE DECARMO ’06 Began her
studies at Parsons in 1984 but was forced
to leave in 1987; returned to the BFACD
program in 2004, graduated in 2006,
and will be returning to CDT to enter the
MFADT program in fall 2008.
It is impossible to talk about the future of
communication design without discussing the
past and how typography has changed. Type
was always a vital part of communication.
It grew in popularity through increasing
usage in newspapers and magazines
and continued to develop, assisting words in
conveying a clearer meaning. It was a dynamic
addition to publishing—sometimes censored,
sometimes unreliable, sometimes both—and
finally became a key element in any story.
Eventually type was also applied to photography,
enhancing the photograph or changing the
meaning. How has type changed with time?
By becoming mobile and more important, it
now can be MORE CREATIVE, BIGGER, and
LOUDER. We are all aware that there are serious
issues in the world. Excellence in style,
as well as content, is the only way to achieve
better communication for the future.
14
CHARLES NIX Principal of Scott and
Nix (www.scottandnix.com); former
chair of Communication Design. Education
is a transformative experience. The
Communication Design Department at Parsons—in
the decade I spent there—changed
me. In 1992, barely out of school, I became
an adjunct instructor teaching typography.
Terrifying and exhilarating, it shook me awake
and made me contemplate what I knew and
believed about my craft—and what I still had
to learn. Yes, I taught design (to so many
talented young designers), but I learned as
well. I became acutely aware that design and
designers proceed comfortably from a point of
not knowing, and that the search is the thing.
I learned that students are an inspiration not
because of what they create, but because they
enthusiastically create. And I learned that the
best a design school—or any school for that
matter—can do is to teach the macro lesson
of continual learning.
In 1998, I became associate chair of the department,
and in 2002, chair. As an academic
administrator, I had an opportunity (though
never nearly enough time) to get to know the
other instructors—talented souls who had
given large parts of their lives to teaching
design at Parsons. They are the fabric of the
department, and their dedication is an inspiration
to me.
TED BYFIELD Associate Chair of Communication
Design and Technology. The
most interesting growth in visual design is the
result of the explosion of new kinds of surfaces
and situations that are being “designed.” This
kind of work invites designers to think, work,
and collaborate across media, which commonly
results in client interest in developing
“systems” that apply fluidly across media.
Of course, none of these systems operates in
a vacuum, so the net result is—more often
than not—a haphazard, ever-changing jumble
(Times Square is an excellent, if extreme, example,
both at any given moment, and in the
way it’s evolved over the past few decades).
Historically, visual design has put a heavy
emphasis on precise control, from typographic
kerning to color management. This kind of
dedication will remain important, of course,
but designers are increasingly losing control
of distribution, display media, and, ultimately,
the most basic aspects of their work’s environment
in every sense. Those who try to compete
with (or within) these dynamics will end up
marginalizing themselves and their work; but
those who play with these dynamics by rethinking
their assumptions about the technical
and social limits of “visual” design will have a
decisive effect on the field’s future.
JANE PIRONE Director of BFA Communication
Design and assistant professor.
Communication Design has such a long, fine
tradition of bringing people closer together using
traditional graphic design and visual forms.
It’s an honor to be involved in shepherding the
program into an era where globalization, new
technologies, and more complex sets of issues
and challenges continue to come to the forefront.
We’re transitioning from creating objects
of communication to designing systems of
communication. Projects are created more collaboratively
and influenced by many different
disciplines. Users are becoming participants
in the creation of content, which has a very
significant impact upon the way we approach
designing media. And, with the ubiquity of
digitization and networking and the ability to
access media anytime, anywhere, new forms
of communication are evolving, empowering
those with a voice and message to share.
BARBARA FRIEDMAN Principal of
BFD/Rocket Ranch Design and a faculty
member for 21 years. I think advertising
will continue to be a barometer of popular
culture. The biggest shifts are probably going
to be where we see the message and how it is
delivered. YouTube has become a tremendous
phenomenon, and as bandwidth and new technologies
develop, we are likely to see more innovative
forms of message delivery. This leads
us to wonder: Who will create the content? We
all will, and that is a large responsibility. Creating
content that is sustainable—the way great
art and ideas are—is what I think culture is
demanding. The interdisciplinary connections
between the various “image-making” fields
are encouraging a depth of thinking informed
by analytical and conceptual approaches.

It puts critical thinking in the forefront and
demands a persuasive voice that acknowledges
social responsibility. Building great messages
demands that we continue to encourage exploration
in communication design and put it to a
“thinking use,” not just consumer ends.
CHRISTIAN MARC SCHMIDT ’02
Lead designer for Pentagram, New York.
Communication design revolves around patterns
and systems. In the broadest sense,
it deals with the expression of linguistic
structures and rhetorical devices, concerned
primarily with messaging and secondarily with
systems of organization. To me, it has come
to mean more than a vocation, more than a
particular category of visual design; it is a way
of approaching any kind of creative pursuit. It
is both process and perspective, independent
of media or form, concerned foremost with
creating conceptual frameworks from the intersection
of external parameters and internal
objectives. As a critical practice, communication
design both interprets and shapes the
world around us, expressed through a growing
multitude of media and technologies that
continue to affirm its extensibility.
PAUL SHAW Calligrapher, type
designer, design historian, principal of
Paul Shaw/Letter Design, and faculty
member for 22 years. In the 1960s,
calligraphy classes were purged from design
schools on the grounds that calligraphy was
an outmoded, pre-industrial craft with no
value in a modern, technological world. I
believe it is of value as a core skill, like drawing.
It helps to hone hand-eye coordination
and, more directly, provides a foundation for
understanding the evolution and structure of
the letters that make up the great majority of
Western fonts. It is impossible to appreciate
the subtleties of type without a grounding in
broad-pen-based calligraphy.
STEPHEN VIKSJO ’04 Graphic
designer for Carnegie Hall. Few things
100 years old are as flexible to change,
responsive to new demands, and energetic
about reinventing themselves as Parsons’
Communication Design and Technology
program. It is more prepared than ever to
produce professionals eager to meet the ever
changing—and quickly intensifying—demands
of our expanding global community. A shrinking
world is an exciting concept, but with it
comes a need for designers to develop new
ways to manipulate every medium possible to
communicate messages that cross cultural,
linguistic, religious, and ethnic barriers.
We live on top of one another virtually, and
ideas collide around the globe in a matter of
seconds. The potential power in this is strong,
and designers—trained to communicate clear,
direct, and thoughtful messages—are capable
of ensuring a positive exchange.
SAYOKO YOSHIDA ’04 Information
designer at Parsons Institute for Information
Mapping (PIIM); will enter the
MFADT program this fall. The projects I
work on require me to possess good organization
and presentation skills and the ability to
efficiently integrate vast amounts of data so
that end users can analyze and understand the
content faster with greater ability to respond.
Although these are Web-based projects, I find
my knowledge and experience in traditional
principles of good design, typography, page
layout, and visual language (transforming
abstract ideas into concrete forms) fundamental
and absolutely crucial. I believe inheriting
knowledge from the long history of graphic
design and combining that with the understanding
of advanced technology is crucial in
enhancing one’s ability to design and create in
today’s society.
RAINER JURGENS ’06 Runs his own
design firm (www.syllodesign.com).
Communication design faces a world in which
mainstream access to sophisticated design
tools will allow nearly anyone to create and display
personally created content. The potential
downside to this technology will be the promotion
of a “fast-food” style of design, where the
output is more important than its functionality.
Tools should not be mistaken for talent, and
we must retain the human aspect of design
work, rather than mechanizing the entire process.
As software continues to resemble the
instructions on the back of a box of cake mix,
our designs become a step-by-step process:
pour, mix, bake. It is of utmost importance
that through education and within our field, we
continue to open our minds to the presence
of the human spin in our ideas. Technology
needs to remain a tool and not control our
creative outlets.
ALVIN GROSSMAN Legendary art
director and Parsons faculty member.
In our mutual journey through visual design
history, from cave painting to computers, from
hand signals to text messaging, I hope I have
enabled you to recognize that communication
was the driver, design the passenger, and
technology the vehicle.
In addition, but equally important, was my
continual reminder that communication design
is TWO WORDS! Without the mastery of the
first, the second is meaningless.
Presently, in your professional lives, I am certain
that you are aware that the swift changes
of contemporary design constantly demand
new solutions. Yet to step into an uncertain
future, one foot must be kept in a secure past.
Your knowledge of visual design history powers
the flow of inspiration and innovation.
The great architect Le Corbusier elegantly and
succinctly said, “It is necessary to understand
history, and he who understands history knows
how to find continuity between That which
was, That which is, and That which will be.”
To the many of you who entered my class a
student and left a friend, thank you for that
privilege. To those who took my suggestion
that learning was an endless journey, in which
you must take an occasional detour into terra
incognita (unknown territory), bon voyage, and
have fun along the way.
MARK MINER ’06 Footwear designer
for Adidas. DESIGN CREATIVE CULTURE
begin by brainstorming (add to the list, share,
and discuss): rebel . . . seen & heard . . .
design landscape . . . untapped . . . something
you feel . . . won’t stop . . . we make change
. . . controversy . . . center . . . encourage
. . . contrast . . . formula . . . good vs. great
. . . together . . . everyday I am
15

16
100 CArDS prOjeCt
During the spring of 2007, students in Parsons The New School for Design’s Communication
Design and Technology Department’s Book Design class researched 100 years of CD catalogs
and 10 years of DT catalogs from the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Archives Center and
the Special Collections of the Gimbel Library. Under the guidance of Andrea Dezsö, students
worked individually or in pairs to research a decade and choose the 10 best and most evocative
images for each year from the catalogs. They then designed a deck of 10 cards for their
assigned decade, selections from which we present here.
The students who participated were: Fatema Aljeshi, Katharine Atwood, Matthew Chow, Nour
Diab Yunes, Amanda Harbour, Hae Jeon Lee, Man Kit Lee, Frederick McCoy, Nicole Michalek,
Carlos Morera, Elaine Shum, Carolyn Thomas, David Vahle, and Maria Wan.

QUICk-CHAN
prOFILeS OF CAreer CHANgerS FrOM pArSONS
ALeX wANg
A phone rings. From Morgan Stanley a voice whispers, “A friend
told me about your degree program. Can we discuss it?” Moments
later, a recommendation letter from Mikhail Baryshnikov arrives
on behalf of a dancer switching to a career in graphic design. Is
something unusual going on? Yes and no. In Parsons’ AAS
(Associate in Applied Science) program, students with exceptional
drive and focus and remarkably varied professional backgrounds
are the norm.
The AAS degree program began quite modestly in the mid-1970s
in response to demand from Parsons continuing education students
who were seeking academic credit for their course work.
Since the first dedicated AAS classes were held at Parsons in
1996, it has blossomed into a thriving and highly respected program,
with 850 students from most of the 50 states and more
than 50 countries, and four majors: Fashion Studies, Fashion
Marketing, Interior Design, and Graphic Design.
The AAS program at Parsons is unlike any other. It is set apart not
only by the rigor of its curriculum, the high regard in which it is
held among leaders in the design industry, and the extraordinary
caliber of its faculty, but also by the highly unusual makeup of the
student body. Its students come from a remarkable range of personal,
academic, and professional backgrounds. They are attorneys,
stock brokers, dancers, chefs, writers, teachers. Although
some are first-time college students, most have bachelor’s
degrees, and many hold advanced degrees. (A member of the
incoming fall class, for example, has a PhD in geochemistry.)
These diverse students have one thing in common: They are serious
about pursing a career in design, and they come to Parsons to
redirect their careers and, by extension, their lives.
Parsons’ intensive, highly focused course of study provides an
ideal setting for students of such academic strength, direction,
and passion, enabling them to acquire the skills and information
they will need to fit seamlessly into the design world within an
extremely narrow time frame (Parsons’ AAS Fast Track program
can be completed in one year by those who transfer credits).
18
“What I say to students at orientation is, ‘Have fun the week
before classes start, because from September to May your social
life is finished,’” says Pamela Klein, chair of the AAS department
since 1996. “They think I’m joking, but two weeks after the
semester starts, they come into my office and say, ‘You were
right!’ But what they gain instead is a whole new network. It’s like
boot camp and they’re in it together, so they help each other. And
those networks stay in place.”
That’s good news, since graduates need every advantage possible
to flourish in their highly competitive fields. “I have to prepare my
students to compete with graduate students in interiors and architecture,
because that’s who they’re up against,” says Johanne
Woodcock, director of AAS Interior Design. “We want them to be
exposed to the language and theory of current design practice,
but they have to apply that understanding to a physical design, so
that when they graduate, they can use what they’ve learned in a
work environment.”
Not surprisingly, AAS students are valued as interns because of
their drive, passion, and work experience. Klein notes, “We have
attorneys and people who were vice presidents of corporations,
and I’ll say, ‘How do you feel about taking an entry-level job?’ And
they love them! The thing that seems to be pervasive with our students
is a sense of gratitude. They’re tremendously grateful to
have this opportunity to study what they want to study.”
For Sahar Sokhandan (the AAS Fashion Marketing graduate profiled
on page 20), a successful internship at Bergdorf Goodman
led to a job offer before she even finished her degree. Fortunately
for her, Parsons’ online study option made it possible to complete
the program and launch her career simultaneously.
An important lesson to take from these remarkable students is
that you don’t have to stick with the career you chose when you
were 18. Klein notes, “It’s astonishing what these people achieve.
But it’s the right time, they’ve got the right equipment, and
they’re ready.”

ge ArtIStS
tHe New SCHOOL FOr DeSIgN’S AAS prOgrAM
Sean Lauer ’07
gRAphiC DESign As an AAS Graphic Design student, Sean Lauer
won first prize at the 2007 Design It Student Creativity
Competition sponsored by G2 Branding & Design in partnership
with Pantone. Sean, a Chatham, New Jersey, native who now calls
Hoboken home, earned a BS in business from the University of
Virginia and worked as a merchandiser at Abercrombie & Fitch
before entering the AAS program. Find out more about the
designer at www.seanlauer.com.
What inspired you to enter the Design It competition? I thought it
would be a good experience. Initially, I had no expectations of
winning or even placing in the top few, but the more I worked on
it, the more it came together. I can say from now on that I’m an
award-winning designer, which is pretty amazing considering that
a year and a half ago this wasn’t even a possibility.
Why is that? I had no graphic design education whatsoever before
coming here. What I learned at Parsons was invaluable. I concentrated
in marketing at the University of Virginia, so I knew about
selling a product and selling an idea—I knew the numbers side
and the planning side but not the design side, so Parsons taught
me everything about that.
What class had the greatest impact on you? There wasn’t one
class in particular. I think a large part of the benefit of the program
is the student body. Most of the people are in the same
boat; they don’t necessarily have an art background, and almost
everybody has a degree already, so everyone is taking it very seriously.
There’s a bonding experience and everyone helps each
other out.
What was your first job after graduating from Parsons? I’m at my
first job right now, which I started just after classes ended in May.
I’m a graphic designer for an in-house design studio called Studio
D that’s part of a company called Visual Graphics Systems. The
best part of the job is the creativity. That’s why I made the
switch—I wanted to apply creativity to real-world problems, and
that’s definitely what graphic design does.
19

“wHAtever pASt YOU’re COMINg FrOM
aLejanDro BarrIoS Carrero ’01
intERioR DESign Born in Buenos Aires, Alejandro Barrios Carrero
was raised in Caracas, Venezuela, and Washington, D.C. Before
moving to New York in 1998 to pursue an AAS in Interior Design,
he earned a degree in architecture and worked as an architect at
the Venezuelan firm O+B Arquitectura. Today he heads his own
interior design firm in Caracas.
How would you describe your aaS experience? I had a wonderful
and fulfilling experience in the AAS program. I would say that
what I liked the most was the freedom to choose from a big
variety of options—all the different courses from fashion and
photography to sculpture and art. Also, being in New York City
was incredible!
What advice would you give to someone entering the program?
Pursue each and every opportunity the program offers and try to
participate in any competition available to the school. You learn so
much from the work of others and from the people you meet at
these events. I had the honor to win the New York Decorators
Club annual scholarship competition, and that led to my first job
after graduating from Parsons.
20
What was that job? I worked at Victoria Hagan Interiors in New
York City after meeting Parsons alumna Hagan at the competition.
It was probably the best work experience I’ve ever had. Every day,
I put into practice what I learned in that office. I worked there for
a year and then returned to Venezuela and eventually started my
own firm.
What’s the best part about your current work? I simply love my
job—the fact that whatever passes through my mind can be built
in just a few months, that I get to meet people every week, that
my clients become good friends very quickly. This field required
teamwork, and we get excellent results because I make the client
part of the team.
SaHar SokHanDan ’07
fAShion mARkEting If you’ve ever wondered why internships are
important, just ask Sahar Sokhandan. Born in Oklahoma, Sahar
moved to Seattle in high school and trained in ballet and law
before changing her professional focus to fashion marketing. She
interned at Bergdorf Goodman and Christian Louboutin during her
first two semesters at Parsons. Chanel offered her an internship
for her final semester, but Bergdorf offered her a full-time job—
and she is now an assistant buyer in couture and designer evening
collections at the legendary New York specialty store.

IS gOINg tO AppLY tO HOw YOU LeArN”
What did you do before coming to Parsons? I went to the
University of Washington as an undergrad and studied pre-law
and got into law school, but I couldn’t envision my life as a lawyer
down the road. I wanted to do something that gave me a balance
between my analytical side and my creative side.
How would you describe your aaS experience? It was intense!
Both of my roommates were in the design program and all of us
went to high-caliber undergraduate schools—one went to Stanford,
another to NYU—and we all said that the program was more
intense than any of our other undergraduate experiences. The first
semester, it’s pretty much all I did night and day. But I wouldn’t
trade it for anything.
What class had the greatest impact on you? All of the classes,
I have to say, were really interesting. We were very lucky to work
with teachers who were in the field and drew on firsthand experience.
In other programs, professors don’t necessarily sit you
down and tell you what to expect in the real world. At Parsons,
your teachers say, “You know what, I am a merchandiser, and
this is what I do every day.” So you know exactly what you’re
getting into.
What did you learn from your internships? My internships helped
me clarify what I wanted to do as well as what I didn’t want to do.
It’s so important to get experience in the field, and I tell every single
intern who comes in here, “Treat it like a job, because you
never know where it will lead.” (Photo by Matthew Sussman.)
katHerIne tSIna ’05
fAShion StuDiES If you flipped through the July 2007 issue of
Vogue, you might have spotted a profile of Katherine Tsina, a
native of Palo Alto, California, who earned a bachelor’s degree in
English and Contemporary Dance from UC Berkeley before entering
Parsons. She initially moved to New York to train in modern
dance technique at Merce Cunningham’s studio but has made a
graceful transition to the fashion world. Now based in the West
Village, she has just shown her spring collection during New
York’s Fashion Week. Find out more about Tsina and her collection
at www.avionfeminin.com.
How did you choose Parsons? I tried classes everywhere. I had a
sense that I wanted to design and I felt that Parsons was the best
representation of core design and construction together. It wasn’t
just about technical skills or sketching but instead was a very
comprehensive program.
What was your first job after graduating? I pretty much started to
work on my own right away. I spent a little over a year just working
with clients and focusing on structure, then launched a full
fashion collection last spring.
What do you like best about running your own business? I feel an
incredible amount of freedom. I’ve always had a strong sense of
what my aesthetic is and what I wanted to do. And I find that I
really like working on the technical end and establishing a brand
as well. It’s what I always wanted to do, and I feel incredibly lucky
to be given that opportunity.
What advice would you give to someone entering the program?
I would say that it’s inevitable that whatever past you’re coming
from is going to apply to how you learn fashion and approach it.
It’s always important to think your own way and try to bring something
different to what you’re doing and how you’re learning,
because that’s the only way to create something new. (Photo by
Gillian Bostock.)
21

22
AS pArSONS SHApeS tHe
FUtUre, reMeMBer HOw
LONg It’S BeeN ArOUND...
The year the school was founded, 1896,
the population of New York City was only
1.9 million, and 1,100 of those people were
operating farms in Manhattan and the Bronx.
Tuition was once $8.
The original curriculum offered only
three concentrations: drawing and painting,
illustration and watercolor, and sketching.
The Fashion Design and Interior Design
Departments were the first in the country.
The Communication Design
Department turns 100 this year.
As we finish up the third of our three centennial
issues of RE:D, we would like to stop and reflect on
Parsons The New School for Design’s past, the way it
has affected the school as we know it today, and the
way it will shape Parsons in the future.
One hundred and eleven years ago, a painter named
William Merritt Chase had the courage to found an
art school in New York City at a time when the
growing metropolis was struggling with every conceivable
problem. Eight years later, Chase hired
Frank Alvah Parsons, a man ahead of his time, who
promoted the commercial fields of interior design,
fashion, and advertising, correctly foreseeing that
image would play an important role in the expansion
of art and design in America. Today, Parsons continues
to honor its namesake by remaining at the forefront
of industry, always fostering innovative
approaches to design. Our alumni continue to lead
various fields in the design world, developing and
realizing new visions and technologies that are
passed on to the next generation of designers. And
like Chase himself, Parsons graduates are courageous,
never afraid to strike out on their own to
innovate, create, and shape the world around them.
We hope you as alumni are proud to be a part of
Parsons’ venerable history. But we also hope you recognize
that you also have a continued place in its
present and future. There are many ways to stay connected,
and volunteering and supporting the school
through financial contributions are two of the most
important things you can do. You can play a role in
giving prospective students the chance to study at
Parsons by contributing scholarship funds or working
as an admissions volunteer. Your company can
provide internship opportunities for students and
recent graduates. You can pass down working knowledge
by participating on a panel or acting as a mentor.
Or you can simply attend events, relive Parsons
memories with classmates, and spread the word
about Parsons’ alumni activities.
As fully engaged alumni, you will be Parsons’ past,
present, and future.
Perhaps 100 years from now, someone will look back
on your work and reflect on its contribution to
Parsons’ history and the design world as a whole.
Best regards,
Jessica L. Arnold, MS ’05
Director of Alumni Relations (Photo at the top)
Rachel E. Denny ’06
Manager of Alumni Relations

FALL 2007
UpCOMINg eveNtS At pArSONS
Most events are free for alumni with a university card unless otherwise noted.
(Alumni needing a university card should call 212.229.5662 x3784 or email
alumni@newschool.edu.) This is a partial listing and is subject to change. For
more information, visit www.parsons.newschool.edu/events.
Design with a Conscience: Public Housing
Monday, November 5, 6:30–8:30 p.m.
Theresa Lang Center, 55 West 13th Street,
2nd floor
The first event in the new series Design
with a Conscience, this panel investigates
new public and low-income housing and
current visions of housing scale. Short
lectures by several leading architects are
followed by a roundtable discussion moderated
by Kent Kleinman, chair of the
Department of Architecture, Interior
Design, and Lighting.
Panelists include Michael Maltzan, principal
of Michael Maltzan Architecture, Los
Angeles, and Andy Bernheimer, principal of
Della Valle and Bernheimer, New York.
Cosponsored by the Department of
Architecture, Interior Design, and Lighting
and the Department of Exhibitions and
Public Programs.
Fine arts Lecture Series:
Becky Smith and Zach Feuer
Wednesday, November 7, 3:15–5:00 p.m.
Swayduck Auditorium, 65 Fifth Avenue
Chelsea art gallery dealers Becky Smith
and Zach Feuer are key figures in the international
art world. The Zach Feuer Gallery
(LFL) represents emerging and midcareer
artists. Smith’s Bellwether Gallery represents
contemporary artists. Presented by
the Department of Fine Arts.
the Shaky Line: jules Feiffer, ed Sorel,
and ed koren in Conversation
Saturday, November 10, 4:00–6:00 p.m.
Theresa Lang Center, 55 West 13th
Street, 2nd floor
The Parsons Illustration Department presents
an afternoon conversation with
three masters of 20th-century illustration:
Jules Feiffer, Ed Koren, and Ed
Sorel. These three artists, united by their
distinctly wobbly line work, discuss their
careers and approach to the medium of
illustration. Presented by the Illustration
Department.
Fine arts Lecture Series:
thomas nozkowski
Wednesday, November 14,
3:15–5:00 p.m.
Swayduck Auditorium, 65 Fifth Avenue
Painter Thomas Nozkowski has had more
than 60 solo shows since 1979. His most
recent exhibitions include an installation
of new work at la Biennale di Venezia
(2007), a career survey at the Ludwig
Museum in Koblenz, Germany (2007),
and solo exhibitions at Max Protech
Gallery and BravinLee Projects in New
York City (2006). Nozkowski is represented
by PaceWildenstein (New York) and
Haunch of Venison (London). Presented
by the Department of Fine Arts.
Stephan Weiss Visiting Lectureship
on Business Strategy, negotiation,
and Innovation: john Maeda
Wednesday, November 14,
6:30–8:00 p.m.
Theresa Lang Center, 55 West 13th Street,
2nd floor. Reception to follow.
John Maeda is a world-renowned graphic
designer, visual artist, and computer scientist
at the MIT Media Lab and is a leading
advocate of simplicity in the digital age.
To RSVP or for more information, call
212.229.5391 or email maligi@newschool.
edu. Presented by the Department of
Design and Management.
Fine arts Lecture Series: Lorna Simpson
Wednesday, December 5, 3:15–5:00 p.m.
Swayduck Auditorium, 65 Fifth Avenue
Lorna Simpson is one of the leading artists
of her generation. She won fame in the mid-
1980s for confronting and challenging conventional
views of gender, identity, culture,
history, and memory with her formally elegant
and subtly provocative large-scale
photographs and text works. Presented by
the Department of Fine Arts.
uPCoMInG aLuMnI eVent
annual aIDL reunion
Wednesday, November 14,
6:00–8:00 p.m.
Häfele Showroom, 25 East 26th Street
The annual gathering of architecture,
interior design, environmental design, and
lighting design alumni. Sponsored by
Häfele, this cocktail party features updates
on the AIDL department and remarks from
Chair Kent Kleinman.
23

24
e:COrD
Donovan is currently on the board of
Michael P. Donovan,
Certificate in Interior Design ’69, is a
founder of Donovan/Green (D/G),
which advises on brand strategy,
identifies opportunities, and develops
processes to achieve business objectives.
D/G is a leader in the development
of strategy-based design,
integrating design with business purpose
goals to create visibility for client
brands, products, and services.
Donovan is a founder, chairman, and
CEO of Asphalt Media, a company that
specializes in technology enhanced
mobile outdoor advertising. Asphalt
Media is nationally distributed and
utilizes new technologies that provide
one of the first measured, quantified,
and qualified media options in the outof-home
category. He is also a partner
in EQ Media, a direct-response television
company.
governors of Parsons, the Art Directors
Club, and the Municipal Arts Society.
He has served on the national boards
of the American Institute of Graphic
Arts, the Society of Environmental
Graphic Design, and the National
Design Center and was an advisor to
the board of the Aspen Design
Conference. Donovan has also taught
at Parsons and Pratt Institute.
Throughout his career, Donovan has
received recognition and numerous
awards for branding solutions, information
design, and environmental design.
He was recognized in Richard Saul
Wurman’s 1,000 Most Creative People
in America, is a National Endowment
for the Arts Fellow, and has received
the Christian Petersen Award for
Creativity from Iowa State University,
where he earned a degree and served
as an advisor to the Design College.
nancye Green, BFA
Communication Design ’73, has been
named chief executive officer of
Waterworks. Green, a Waterworks
board member for the past five years,
assumes the role from Peter Sallick,
who remains chairman of the board.
Green began her professional design
career as a founder of Donovan/Green,
a design and marketing communications
firm specializing in branding,
brand strategy, environmental design,
and information architecture. Clients
include Pleasant Company, Sony,
Procter & Gamble, and American
Express. Before assuming the role of
CEO of Waterworks, she founded
EQMedia, a direct response company
producing infomercials.
Green currently serves on the boards
of directors of Hallmark Cards and of
Wildlife Trust, the Design Advisory
Board of Procter & Gamble, and the
Advisory Board of Bayer Healthcare
Diabetes Care Division. She also continues
to advise Donovan/Green and
EQMedia. She has served on the board
of directors of D’Arcy Worldwide and is
a past president of both the American
Institute of Graphic Arts and the prestigious
International Design
Conference. Green has also received
an honorary doctorate from the
Corcoran School of Arts in
Washington, D.C., for her contributions
to the field of design.

Heather D’angelo, BFA
Photography ’01, is a member of the
musical trio Au Revoir Simone. The
group recently released its first fulllength
album, The Bird of Music, on its
own label, Our Secret Record
Company. Self-taught musicians, the
members of the Brooklyn-based band
all play keyboards, with D’Angelo doubling
on a drum machine. Before joining
the band, D’Angelo worked at a
gallery in Chelsea and studied astrophysics
at Columbia University.
In January 2007, Au Revoir Simone
performed at director David Lynch’s
reading of his book Catching the Big
Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and
Creativity at Barnes and Noble in
Union Square, New York City. That gig
led to an invitation to perform at
Lynch’s The Air Is on Fire exhibition at
the Foundation Cartier Pour l’Art
Contemporain in Paris. The band also
participated in the Peter Bjorn and
John tour this spring, which had two
sold-out shows at Webster Hall.
D’Angelo is also interested in fashion
as well as music. A fan of up-and-coming
designer Samantha Pleet, D’Angelo
appeared in her fall 2007 show.
Lori Grinker Communication Arts
and Photography (attended ’76-’77), is
a seasoned photojournalist who worked
in combat zones in Cambodia and
Sudan in the eighties and nineties. Her
recent exhibition, Afterwar: Veterans
from a World in Conflict, depicts the
effects of war on men, women, and
children on the front lines of conflicts
from World War I to Iraq. The images
feature veterans Grinker met, photographed,
and interviewed over a 15year
period, and the project reveals the
enduring effects of war on their bodies
and psyches. Afterwar debuted at the
United Nations in March 2005 and
has since been viewed in venues
across the United States.
Grinker began her career while still a
student at Parsons, when Inside Sports
published her photo essay about a
young boxer as its cover story. During
that time, she also met a 13-year-old
Mike Tyson, whom she documented for
the next decade. Since then, she has
worked on several long-term projects
and published two books, The Invisible
Thread: A Portrait of Jewish American
Women and Afterwar: A World in
Conflict. Grinker’s photographs have
appeared in magazines, books, and
television programs around the world;
exhibited in the United States, Europe,
and Asia. Her work has been featured
in several private and public collections.
Grinker is the recipient of
numerous grants and awards, including
the World Press Award. (The photo
above, taken by Grinker, is of an Iraqi
refugee in Amman, Jordan, in 2007.)
Dawn Ma, MArch ’05, is associate
designer and project manager for Theo
Revlock, who maintains a design and
architecture business in Noe Valley,
California. Ma and Revlock are currently
designing an upscale 56-acre
business and residential complex in
China that will house 4,000 families
and include schools, libraries, and
shopping malls. Ma travels to China
with Revlock once or twice per month
to work on the development and helps
smooth over language and cultural barriers
with her fluent Cantonese.
25

26
karli Henneman, BFA Fine Arts
’07, recently returned from Rwanda,
where she worked with the Millennium
Villages Project, an organization helping
communities become self-sustaining.
The Millennium Villages Project is
working with 50,000 people in and
around the Mayange Sector, Bugesera
District (the center of the 1994 genocides),
an area afflicted by declining
soil fertility, whose residents lack
access to major markets. The population
is fighting severe poverty, chronic
disease, and widespread malnutrition
but has applied technology and
community leadership to transform
the area into a model for development.
While in the village, Henneman held
art and design workshops with
students in which they told their
personal stories through collage,
drawing, painting, and performance.
Henneman covered the costs of the art
and design workshops with the help of
Utrecht Art Supplies, CompUSA,
American Express Travel, and Barnes
and Noble bookstore, which provided
the Parsons logo t-shirts she gave to all
participating students. Since returning,
she has met with Design and
Technology and other Parsons departments
to encourage participation in
the Millennium Villages Project.
Henneman is currently working with
the Time Is Now, a project that aims to
foster imagination through the arts
(film, 2D and 3D theater, storytelling,
song, dance, and music). Henneman
leads the young adult division focusing
on Rwanda.
Maria Cristina Cepeda, MFA
Design and Technology ’01, received
her first Emmy for Outstanding
Achievement in Entertainment
Program for Cada Dia, Telemundo’s
morning show, where she worked as
production manager.
emily Sugihara, AAS Fashion
Design ’05, was recently featured in
Teen Vogue for her stylish reusable
shopping bags. Made of rip-stop nylon,
each bag can hold the contents of two
to three plastic grocery bags and is
light and compactible, weighing only
two ounces and folding to a five-byfive-inch
pouch. The bags come in several
colors and can be purchased at
www.baggubag.com.
Pierre Bernard, BFA Illustration
’83, is a graphic designer and comedian
on NBC’s Late Night with Conan
O’Brien. In addition to creating on-air
graphics and illustrations for the show,
he is regularly featured in skits; his
recurring bit, “Pierre Bernard’s
Recliner of Rage,” has become a cult
hit. In the routine, Bernard rants about
subjects including comic books, drawing,
science fiction, the discontinuation
of his favorite drawing pen, the
redesign of the Snapple bottle cap,
and his inability to find a proper display
case for his collection of Hot
Wheels cars. Bernard has also
appeared in other sketches on the
show as himself and as others,
including Whoopi Goldberg and a
rejected X-Men character. Bernard
began his career illustrating type for
Marvel Comics and Playboy.

jerry tam, AAS Fashion Design
’02, founded FORM, a New York–
based collective that designs trendsetting
high-end women’s wear. He
invited Mignonne Gavigan ’05 (AAS,
Fashion Design) to join the FORM
collective just after its first season.
FORM has won many awards and
honors for its sleek, highly conceptual
line of women’s wear. FORM won The
Gen Art 2007 EOS Airlines Design
Vision Award for Evening Wear and
was a Gen Art Avant Garde finalist,
a Gen Art Perrier Bubbling Under
Competition Finalist, and a featured
participant at Gen Art’s New Guard NY
2007. In 2006, Forbes named FORM
one of five Designers to Watch, Surface
magazine featured the company as one
of its 2006 Avant Guardians, and it
was a semifinalist for Ecco Domani’s
Fashion Foundation award for new
designers in 2005 and 2006.
For the past two years, FORM has par-
ticipated in Village Care of New York’s
Tulips and Pansies: The Headdress
Affair, a benefit to support people
living with AIDS (FORM won in the
Most Beautiful category). The collective
has also participated in the Blythe Doll
Darling Diva Charity Auction. FORM
members lecture at Columbia
University, volunteer at The New
School, and teach informational
seminars at schools throughout
the community.
abby Denson, BFA Illustration
’99, is the author of the graphic novel,
Tough Love: High School Confidential,
which was originally serialized in XY
Magazine in the 1990s. Now available
as a collected edition, Denson tours
with it extensively. Tough Love is about
Brian, a gay teen who has come out in
a suburban high school, and his
kung-fu-fighting boyfriend, Chris.
Denson says the novel “focuses on
issues gay teens deal with, as well as
important relationships with friends
and family,” and considers it an
“American indie comic or graphic
novel with maybe a little manga
flavor.” Denson has also worked on
licensed properties including
Powerpuff Girls, The Simpsons, and
Sabrina, The Teenaged Witch.
Patrick robinson, BFA Fashion
Design ’89, was recently named executive
vice president of design for Gap
Adult and GapBody. In his new role,
Robinson will oversee all design elements
for Gap women’s and men’s
apparel, accessories, and intimate
lines in North America. Previously,
Robinson served as artistic director
at Paco Rabanne in Paris. He was
the sixth designer for Target’s limitededition
fashion collections, GO
International, for which he created a
line of “bohemian chic” clothing in
lightweight fabrics in neutral and
earth-tone shades. Robinson has also
held senior design and leadership
positions at Perry Ellis and Anne Klein
and served as the design director at
Le Collezioni White Label by Giorgio
Armani. Robinson was chosen as one
of Vogue’s “100 Rising Stars” in 1996,
and he has been a member of the
Council of Fashion Designers of
America since 1994.
27

28
Dorothy Lemelson, Certificate
in Interior Design ’47, is chairman of
the Lemelson Foundation, which works
to support America’s next generation
of inventors, innovators, and
entrepreneurs. She also heads the
Lemelson Education and Assistance
Program (LEAP), which provides
scholarships, grants to individual
schools, and special programs
designed to help at-risk students to
thrive and learn. Recently, the
foundation funded the Design for the
Other 90% exhibition and the Summer
Design Institute at the Cooper-Hewitt
National Design Museum in New York
City. The exhibit focused on issues
such as water, shelter, energy, and
transportation, which are not all readily
available to 90 percent of people
around the world who are not
traditionally served by professional
designers and inventors. The Summer
Design Institute brought together a
diverse group of 35 teachers from
around the country and gave them the
opportunity to learn how to infuse
design into their curricula and apply
design principles, including aesthetics,
cost, and function, to address some of
the world’s most difficult issues. The
Lemelson grant allowed teachers from
a variety of disciplines, including art
history and social studies, to have a
dialogue about how to use design in
the classroom as a catalyst to help
students address issues in their own
lives, communities, and the world.
Prior to her philanthropic career,
Lemelson was a successful interior
designer and owner of Dorothy
Ginsberg Associates in New Jersey.
jason Low, BFA Illustration ’89,
leads Lee & Low, an independent publisher
that specializes in multicultural
books for children ages 5 to 12. Low’s
father, Tom, and his friend Philip Lee
founded the company in 1991 to publish
books dealing with contemporary
issues and people of color. It also
seeks and nurtures authors and illustrators
through its annual New Voices
contest, which offers cash prizes and a
publishing contract. Among this fall’s
new releases are Hiromi’s Hands, the
true story of a Japanese girl who defies
tradition to become one of New York
City’s top sushi chefs, and Chess
Rumble, about a boy who takes up
chess and turns away from street fighting.
Since the first catalogue was
launched in 1993, the company has
grown to publish 15 hardcover titles
per year, and its books have won the
Coretta Scott King Award and the
Asian/Pacific American Award for
Literature. Jason took the helm in
2004 and plans to expand the
company to offer CD-ROM or online
products for schools and libraries.
Fabio Silva, AAS, Fashion Design
‘03, has been promoted to corporate
and intellectual property counsel at
Burberry North America and is now
responsible for managing all legal and
intellectual property matters for the
company. Silva joined Burberry in
2003 as intellectual property counsel.
In addition to holding an AAS from
Parsons, Silva also has degrees from
UC Santa Barbara and Stanford Law
School.
natalia allen, BFA, Fashion
Design ’04, has been hired by Procter
& Gamble as an advisor on design and
emerging markets. She also consults
for corporations such as Donna Karan-
LVMH, Philips, and Quicksilver on the
future of fashion. Allen was recently
interviewed by Reuters for a television
segment on fashion and technology.
Her company, Natalia Allen, is a catalyst
for design and business and
according to Allen, “Innovation shall
have increasing importance as competition
from foreign markets forces companies
to design better products. We
believe there is a real relationship
between innovation and growth.”
Lauren jones, BBA, Design and
Management ’05, recently wrapped up
a month-long stint as the star of the
Fox reality show Anchorwoman. As the
newest reporter and anchor at CBS
affiliate KYTX-TV in Tyler, Texas, Jones
conducted several on-air live shots,
delivered the program’s medical news
segments, and occasionally sat in the
anchor chair during the 5:00 p.m.
broadcast, generally reserved for soft
news and features. A former Miss New
York, Jones has also been one of Bob
Barker’s beauties on The Price is Right
and a ring-card girl for World Wrestling
Entertainment.

1
5 6
2
3
4
7
reunIon 2007
Thank you to everyone who attended Reunion 2007. As you
can tell from the photos, we had a great time. Nearly 200
alumni spanning six decades of graduation years (1947
through 2007) and representing every program were in
attendance. The event was filled with reconnecting, reminiscing,
and … pomegranate martinis.
We hope to build on the success of the last reunion and make
Reunion 2008 even better!
SaVe tHe Date
anD VoLunteer
The next Parsons reunion will take place on the evening of Friday,
April 11, 2008, at Union Square Ballroom. This event will honor
alumni celebrating special reunions—the 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th,
25th, 30th, 35th, 40th, 45th, 50th, and beyond—but as always,
all Parsons graduates are welcome to attend. Formal invitations
will be mailed this winter to all alumni celebrating a special
reunion in 2008. Those not celebrating a special reunion but
wishing to attend can contact the Office of Alumni Relations for
registration details (see contact information below).
We are also looking for alumni to serve on the Reunion 2008
Committee, which will be asked to provide input on some event
details and most importantly, assist us in finding your classmates
and encouraging them to attend. We know our alumni are busy, so
you are welcome to participate at a level that fits your current
schedule. Your help will ensure a fun, successful event!
Those wishing to serve on the reunion committee should contact
us at alumni@newschool.edu or 212.229.5662 x3784. Planning
will begin soon.
PHOTOS FROM REUNION 2007
1. Rima Fujita ’87 and Megan Mardiney ’87
2. Clara Tuma ’95
3. Sergio Baradat ’83, Chris Sharp ’87, and Jami Giovanopoulos ’77
4. Class of ’77 graduates Jean Siegel, Leon Calafiore, Brad Hamann,
Steve Pica, and Patricia Cort Rooney
5. Baron Santiago ’07, Joe Tocci, Lena Velasquez ’07, Bharat Vohra ’07,
and Chu Tam ’07
6. Class of ’79 alumni Martin Kozlowski, Don Morris, Nancy Paladino,
and Richard Scarpa
7. Class of ’81 alumni Kit August, Laura Sybalski, Leesa Schurko Beckmann,
David Stokes, and Jerilyn Shepard
29

FrANk ALvAH pArSONS SOCIetY
Members of the Frank Alvah Parsons
Society demonstrate their passion for and
commitment to Parsons The New School
for Design by making gifts of $1,000 or
more to the annual fund. Members of this
prestigious group receive benefits all year,
including invitations to lectures, exhibit
openings, special member-only events, and
recognition in RE:D. Most important, society
members make a difference in the lives
of tomorrow’s design leaders.
Annual fund gifts to Parsons provide unrestricted
funds that are allocated wherever
the need is greatest. These gifts are key to
Parsons’ ability to meet priorities such as
scholarships, faculty recruitment and retention,
and facilities improvement.
We gratefully acknowledge the generosity
of the Frank Alvah Parsons Society members
listed below:
$50,000+
Edith D’Errecalde Hadamard Charitable
Unitrust
$25,000–$49,999
Pamela Bell
David B. Ford
Eck Meng Goh
Reed Krakoff ’89
Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program
Alan Wanzenberg
$10,000–$24,999
Cem Boyner (P)
Boyner Holding
Gubelmann Family Foundation, Inc.
James B. Gubelmann ’73
Hans-Peter Hamm (P)
Donna Karan ’87
The Karan-Weiss Foundation
Lillian Zucker Revocable Trust
Marie Claire
Andrew and Fatima Ng (P)
Susan Plagemann
The Jayne & Leonard Abess
Foundation, Inc.
Jayne and Leonard Abess
$5,000–$9,999
Paul R. Aaron
Bruce R. and Charlotte Lyeth Burton (P)
Oi Ching Chan (P)
Wen-Chin Chuang (P)
Nuri and Henza Colakoglu (P)
Michael P. Donovan ’69 and
Nancye L. Green ’73
Andra and John B. Ehrenkranz
Fresh, Inc.
Jay Godfrey ’04
Goldman Sachs & Co.
Joseph R. Gromek
Victoria Hagan ’84
Anand and Anuradha Mahindra (P)
Clarence F. and Cora B. Michalis ’51
Lam Chi Poon and Oi Ching Chan (P)
Alina Roytberg ’84
Franz Schwarz (P)
Corita Charitable Trust
The Godfrey Family Foundation
Cora and Douglas Thomas (P)
Lee and Marvin Traub
Marshall and Sally Tycher (P)
Tycher Family Foundation, Inc.
Victoria Hagan Interiors
Jessica M. Weber ’66
$1,000–$4,999
Francis and Frances Abbott (P)
Lucia T. Benton ’00
James Borynack ’67
Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, Inc.
Frick Byers ’96
Rosalind G. Cohen ’29
College Central Network
Jamie Drake ’78
Steven Ehrlich and Nancy Griffin (P)
Steven Ehrlich Architects
Jeffery and Evelyn Engler (P)
Federated Department Stores Inc.
Robert and Marjorie Feeney
Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Garroni (P)
William Hodgins ’63
The Jewish Community Foundation
Chin and Kei Kin Jo (P)
Alexander Kawiilarang (P)
Chan-Kyung and Duk-Yong Kim (P)
Earl and Pamela Kluft (P)
KMW USA, Inc.
Debbie Kuo ’85
Mr. and Mrs. Robert W. Kwan (P)
Eugene M. Lang
Eugene M. Lang Foundation
Kunwoo Lee (P)
Mark Mancini ’85
Thomas and Kitellen Milo (P)
Yoshiye E. Murase ’52
Princeton Development Associates
Steven and Diane Reynolds (P)
Danielle Roberts Interiors ’88
Rosalind G. Cohen Trust
Michael and Marina Shevelev ’95
Sumner A. Slavin (P)
Margaret Smith
Celina Stabell ’98
Steven Ehrlich Architects
Marcy Syms
Sy Syms Foundation
The Teck Foundation
J. Nicholson and Kakuko Oshima Thomas (P)
Vanguard National Trust Company
Wally Findlay Galleries International, Inc.
Cathy Siegel Weiss
Glenn Yusuf (P)
To become a Frank Alvah Parsons Society
member, go to www.newschool.edu/giving,
or contact Joseph McDonald, Development
Officer at 212.229.5662 x4221 or
mcdonalj@newschool.edu
*Donors of $10,000 or more are also
recognized at The New School as
President’s Associates.
(P): parent of a current Parsons student
We have made every attempt to ensure that
this list is accurate. If you notice an error,
please contact the Parsons Development
Office at 212.229.5662 x4396.

INCOrpOrAtINg DeSIgN BY
Every day, the students and the work created at Parsons The New
School for Design touch thousands of lives with the inspiration
and exhilaration that only design of the highest quality can
provide. The excitement of Parsons takes many forms: A young
adult experiences the magic of changing the world through design
for the first time. An alumnus inspires a whole community with an
electrifying new interpretation of fashion, architecture,
communication, or product design. A faculty member weaves
stunning improvisations of artistry and holds his classroom
spellbound as he presents a new way of looking at design.
Parsons students represent the best of the next generation of
designers and design thinkers. Their unswerving pursuit of excellence
and dedication to reaching out make the world a more beautiful,
dynamic, and exciting place to live and work.
Firmly at the center of Parsons are our corporate partners, who
support all of the exhibits, events, seminars, faculty underwriting,
student scholarships, and more with unrestricted funds. Corporate
donors to Parsons have the satisfaction of knowing that with a
single check, they are supporting top-quality education in design,
CHRISTINE MICKLETZ
enabling our students to remain at the pinnacle of achievement
now and into the future. Corporate funds forge close bonds
between business and the arts and design, and are among the
most effective ways to support the myriad programs offered
throughout the school.
This year, hundreds of corporations provided generous support in
the form of scholarships and sponsorships. Among them is Liz
Claiborne, which recently announced the creation of a scholarship
in honor of the Fashion Department’s honorary chair, Tim Gunn.
Perry Ellis, Saks, FAO Schwarz, and BAWLS Guarana, the energy
drink company, sponsored senior exhibitions and shows. This
mutually beneficial program provides each company with exposure
to new potential clients while furthering Parsons’ mission: to educate
the next generation of leading artists and designers.
We are grateful to these companies. Without them, we would not
have been able to meet our ambitious financial goals, continue to
attract a diverse group of students and improve the quality of education
that we provide. Thank you!
LeAD COrpOrAte SpONSOrS FISCAL YeAr 2007
Parsons’ AAS 8th Annual Line Debut Fashion Show, May 10, 2007,
featuring lines from the best and brightest in the Fashion Studies Program.
Introduced by Phillip Bloch and produced by Michelle Alleyne of M Shop
NYC/Parsons. © PhotoFXStudio.com.
$50,000+
Coach
Ecko Unlimited
Estée Lauder
Federated Department Stores
Guess?
Jones Apparel Group, Inc.
Kellwood Company
Liz Claiborne
National Retail Systems
Peerless
Perry Ellis
Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation
Polo Ralph Lauren
Tommy Hilfiger
VF Corporation
Victoria Hagan Interiors
Warnaco Group
$25,000–$49,000
Abercrombie & Fitch
Accessory Network Group
Armani Exchange
Brown Shoe Company, Inc.
Cox Newspapers
Estée Lauder Companies, Inc.
Fossil, Inc.
Herb Mines Associates
JCPenney
Jimlar Corporation
Levi Strauss & Company
Lord & Taylor
L’Oréal Luxury Products Ltd.
Macerich
Marcraft Apparel Group
Movado Group
Sean John
Steve Madden
The TJX Companies, Inc.
31

ALUMNI vOICeS BrIDget De SOCIO ’80
the time has come to protect the living and the
visceral appeal of human evidence.
Maybe this is inspired by my education at Parsons
or maybe the philosophy of my mentor, Henry
Wolf, who forgot it later in life.
How does one grow and remain vibrant as an artist when society
seems to be evolving faster than the people within it? How important
is adaptation versus personal style amid the tide pools of
trends? If growth is about potential and the unknown, then to be
good would be to be done, or virtually “finished.” Today, good is
simply not good enough.
How are we to replenish the real time that quality demands as
simulation anesthetizes an iPod-sated public? As a hybrid of
science and art, my work has always depended upon craftsmanship—from
meticulous surgical technique learned while deftly
altering life with a knife to making an American flag out of caviar
for Town & Country magazine. How did I become the living bridge
between the old and the new, at once drawing from the microscope
to drawing from the nude—from atoms to bits?
Maybe it was the girl in the no. 2 pencil dress whom I followed all
the way to New York City, where I became the protégé of Henry
Wolf. It was the eighties, a time of art stars, living legends, and
Studio 54.
Henry never cared about process; he cared about results. He
never cared how quickly something could be done; he cared about
Above: Self-portrait for an assignment by Henry Wolf in 1979
(to show yourself as you think others see you, and how you see yourself).
Photo by Robert S. de Socio.
32
tHe
INCOMpLete
BeAUtY
OF pOteNtIAL
how well. He never liked modern music or “street” style. He was
a cultivated, multilingual European, whose oeuvre was all about
taste, seduction, and wit.
Today, unlike in Henry’s world, times are restless and made for
those who cannot wait. The legacies that motivate our desire to
work for the best are diminishing, along with first-class design
opportunities. Will it turn out that all the greatest works were
authored by dead legends? Can Parsons, the icon of American art
schools, champion the human factor despite the heavy, scentless
breath of technology—when even the crown jewel of American
luxury, Tiffany, has commodified taste? (In fact, little mention is
made of the director who named Parsons—the man who not only
defined 20th-century taste and style, but also later became the
creative director of Tiffany—Van Day Truex.)
Reinvestment in heritage is an essential ingredient of desirability
and intrinsic value. When a living member of a legacy brand is not
enough to inspire the corporate culture that has replaced its real
DNA, then of what value is any living tradition? Are we all to be
relegated to automation as the prosperity age leaves craftsmanship
behind? Where are art and innovation to take us if technology
supplants skillfulness? Isn’t luxury the hand of man—the well
appreciated, the well practiced—and the wellspring that inspires?
Henry taught me the value of disappointment, and that discomfort
motivates change. He believed that disappointment not only
makes us who we are but also challenges beauty like nothing else.
Make your work a beautiful experiment. New conditions demand a
new way of thinking, which in turn demands new forms of expression.
This is the key, the secret to growth.

E:spond
What did your mother want you to be when
JoHn RUsso ’42
was an esteemed member of Parsons
The New School for Design’s
Communication Design Department
from 1946 to 1985. He served as chair
of the department and is still revered by
countless former students and colleagues
for his unflagging wit, enthusiasm,
creativity, and mentorship. Russo
received the coveted Parsons Medal in
1977 and an honorary Doctorate of Fine
Arts in 1983. Still a dedicated artist,
Russo creates new works in his lakeside
home in Hawley, Pennsylvania. He is
active in his local community and was
recently profiled in Living Treasures, a
new documentary film series sponsored
by the Wayne County Arts Alliance.
Russo’s drawings: his signature bird
(above), and works from a 1960s invitation
to a Parsons Mardi Gras celebration.
you grew up? She never talked about it,
but later I noticed how proud she was.
What is your favorite Parsons memory?
The students. They trusted my words. I still
get notes and letters from them. I go to
many reunions.
Is there one piece of advice you wish you’d
had then? Don’t plan what you are going to
do next. Just do whatever is in your brain.
What was your first job after college?
I did interior drawings for a decorator.
These were made into posters to help customers
with room furniture arrangements.
What was your favorite part of your job?
Getting involved in projects with students.
When did you know that you wanted to be
an artist/communication designer?
In high school.
If you hadn’t gone into communication
design, what would you have become?
An illustrator, which I did freelance for a
few years.
Are there any current trends in the field
that excite you? The use of computers.
What is your most marked characteristic?
I see art in everything.
What’s your current obsession? Scanning
my work into the computer and playing
around with it.
What’s the last book you read? I browse
through all art books.
Whom would you invite to your ideal dinner
party? Fellow artists.
What is your favorite red thing?
The alumni magazine.
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