re:D Magazine 2021

re:D

The Magazine of Parsons School of Design 2021 Health and Wellness for All

news i

Regarding Design (re:D)

2021 Celebrating more than a century of changemaking creativity and critical thought

Health and Wellness for All This issue explores the potential of design to make a world of difference in the realm of health and wellness—and expands the focus of wellness-related work to encompass broader systems, including our natural environment.

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WHERE IT MATTERS MOST: DESIGNING HEALTH AND WELLNESS FROM THE INSIDE OUT Reflections on design and health from Executive Dean Rachel Schreiber

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DESIGNING WELLNESS FOR ALL Designed care from our community for all life stages

Myles Loftin

15 REVOLUTIONIZING CARE THROUGH

BFA Photography ’20

NEW DESIGN DIALOGUES

Depicting a universal gesture of

Parsons–Psychology department collabs

comfort—an embrace—this issue’s

are improving public health

front and back covers feature images from Myles Loftin’s HOODED series,

19 PROFILES

a multimedia project he completed in

Featuring Parsons alumni, faculty, and students

Gigi Polo’s first-year course at Parsons.

representing a range of disciplines

By capturing his subjects smiling and laughing while wearing vibrant

29 HOME FOR GOOD: A HEALTHIER

neon hoodies, Loftin directly counters

FUTURE FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING

overwhelmingly negative media representations of Black men and boys.

Employing safer materials in Pennsylvania

“HOODED was meant to be a response to a long history of media that has

public housing

purposely disenfranchised Black men and warped our social image so much that it negatively impacts the outcome of our lives,” he explains. “My hope

31 RE:WIND Spotlight on Edith d’Errecalde, Costume Design ’41

32 WE’RE PARSONS A few facts about us and what we offer

is that one day everyone sees the Black boys in hoodies I photographed, or any Black person anywhere, the way I do.”

Much of Loftin’s photography is about reclaiming identity and amplifying underrepresented narratives. Through his work, he’s highlighted Black queer life and youth culture. His images often have a playful sensibility and show relatable, strikingly human moments. “I try to open up the space for the person or people I’m photographing to feel comfortable in front of my camera,” says Loftin. “My work seeks to create authentic depictions of the

Connect with alumni @NewSchoolAlumni, join our community at thenewschoolnetwork.com, and learn about alumni programs at newschool.edu/alumni or by emailing alumni@newschool.edu. Support Parsons and The New School at newschool.edu/giving. Seeking student talent? Email careerservices@newschool.edu

people who sit in front of my lens.”

Loftin’s distinctive perspective has helped him forge a groundbreaking career.

Since graduating, he’s worked with brands such as Calvin Klein, Converse, GCDS, Nike, and Under Armour and publications such as The Cut, Garage, i-D, Paper, and Fader. Last year, Loftin was named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in the Art and Style category. As he continues to effect cultural change as a creative

or corporatepartner@newschool.edu.

tastemaker, Loftin is keenly aware of the power an image can carry. “We look

newschool.edu/parsons/red

yourself represented, it’s very hard for you to imagine a future for yourself.”

to the media for ideas of what our future can be,” he says. “And if you don’t see

NEWS

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HOME WORKING

of communication. Her film was nominated for

Students and staff were eagerly welcomed back

Best Experimental Short and Best Visual FX in

to campus this fall after rigorous protocols—

this year’s Indie Film Fest. Outside the classroom,

including requirements for masks, vaccines,

faculty advanced public health creatively. David

and testing—were put in place to ensure the

J. Lewis, dean of Parsons’ School of Constructed

community’s health and safety. Parsons had

Environments and professor of architecture,

gone fully remote last March in response to

and his firm, LTL Architects, researched

the pandemic, and community members

historical urban pandemics to develop their

came together to support one another and

Manual of Physical Distancing, a guide for

imaginatively enrich online learning. Students

practitioners adapting temporary spatial

faced challenges as well as opportunities

adjustments into long-term ones to fight the

for greater access to peers and faculty, who

spread of the coronavirus. The New School

offered virtual office hours and online sessions.

Urban Systems Lab (USL)—supported by the

Students shared work on social media using

National Science Foundation and others—was

the hashtag #ParsonsMakes. Working within

established to equitably build resilient cities

the constraints of home and limited resources

through research, design, and practice. Led

sparked new methods and outcomes. BFA

by The New School’s Timon McPhearson,

Fashion Design student Zara Zaman salvaged

associate professor of urban ecology, MS Data

local palm fronds and used them in sustainable

Visualization program director Daniel Sauter,

garments. Professor Dan Michalik tasked

and lecturer Chris Kennedy, a team of USL

students in the Designing Chairs class with

researchers including students from throughout

creating models using found materials and

the university created COVID-19 resources and

received miniature models including a broccoli

an interactive layered map depicting COVID

bergère by Maximilian Paek, BFA Product Design

data (e.g., testing and mortality) in relation to

’21, and a banana lounge and accompanying

socioeconomic and climate change data and

ottoman by Product Design student Grace

location. The integrated tools both underscore

Wang. BFA Architectural Design student Kohki

the role race and class play in the differential

Hiramatsu used collage and photography to

impacts of health crises and climate change and

cope with pandemic-driven isolation, creating

call for recovery strategies reflecting the special

Resilience Journal. Jiangnan Hou, MFA Design

vulnerabilities of different communities.

and Technology ’21, mastered new software and

newschool.edu/red/parsons-makes

made The Beaks, a VFX film featuring masks

newschool.edu/red/makes-video

like those used for protection against COVID-19,

urbansystemslab.com/covid19

to comment on separation and the challenges

medium.com/resilience news 1

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AWARD-WINNING WORK

the Council of Fashion Designers of America

practice of associate professor of architecture

Bhavya Gupta, MFA Design and Technology

(CFDA) Design Scholar K11 Innovation award and

David Leven and Stella Betts, was recognized

’21, recently received a Schmidt Futures Award

a Judges Recognition Award in the Biodesign

as the 2020 AIA NY State Firm of the Year.

for her project providing resources to migrant

Challenge 2020. Parsons Design and Technology

women business owners in India affected by the

graduates Emily Gobeille, MFA ’05, and

pandemic. The $25,000 prize—given for the new

Theodore Watson, BFA ’05—founders of Design

The New School announced the launch of Parsons

Reimagine Challenge, which called for innovative

I/0, a firm that also includes Nick Hardeman,

Entrepreneur Academy, a digital program headed

ways to rebuild communities and areas heavily

MFA ’05—were recently awarded Cooper

by Christina Long, director of Digital Learning.

hit by COVID-19—will be used for Parsons

Hewitt’s National Design Award for Digital

The program provides entrepreneurially minded

scholarships. Luis Berríos-Negrón, BFA Fine

Design for their interactive storytelling solutions.

creatives with the tools necessary to build a

Arts ’03, was one of four students shortlisted

Gabriel Gianordoli, MFA Design and Technology

business around their art form from their homes.

for Harvard University Graduate School of

’15, and his New York Times colleagues won

The academy was developed by leaders at the

Design’s 2021 Wheelwright Prize, which carries

the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for public service for its

cutting edge of their fields, including Parsons

a $100,000 award. Berríos-Negrón’s project

multimedia COVID-19 coverage. Forbes again

faculty and alumni; the curricula emphasize

proposes greenhouse technology to address

included Parsons on its 30 Under 30 list, naming

collaborative strategy and community-

climate change resulting from colonialism.

Myles Loftin, BFA Photography ’21; Nour

based support. Uniquely tailored to working

Ash—an at-home sexual wellness diagnostics

Chamoun, MFA Design and Technology ’15; Lisa

professionals, the program offers participants the

start-up launched by Mio Akasako, MS Data

Qu, BFA Fashion Design ’19; and Maisie Schloss,

opportunity to receive training and mentorship,

Visualization ’20, and others—won a Cornell

BFA Fashion Design ’13. Recent CFDA Design

attend courses, and connect with a worldwide

Tech 2020 start-up award, which provided

Scholar Award recipient Jacques Agbobly, BFA

network—all online. Long says of the program,

$100,000 in pre-seed funding to help bring

Fashion Design ’20, was featured in Teen Vogue

“We don’t all walk the same path to becoming

the venture to market. BFA Fashion Design

and Hypebeast for design that engages with

an entrepreneur, and our online programs

students Ar’Myiah Lee and Yetunde Sapp

incarceration and Black men. Faculty award

make space for that. Our online community of

won 2021 Gucci Changemakers North America

recipients included Jennifer Bolstad and Walter

instructors, mentors, and peers can help creatives

Scholarships, awards providing financial support,

Meyer, instructors and co-founders of Local

launch, grow, and expand their businesses.”

mentoring, and internship opportunities to

Office, who won a Climathon Global Award

parsonsentrepreneuracademy.com

promising fashion students. Frankie Bingxin Yu,

in the Cities Track category for their public

MFA Interior Design ’21, won in the Best Student

green space project in Miami. Koray Çalışkan,

Design category in Interior Design magazine’s

an associate professor at Parsons’ School of

Last year, the Office of Alumni Engagement

Best of Year awards for her ReDefine chair

Design Strategies, won a 2021 Falling Walls

launched thenewschoolnetwork.com, an online

collection. Tômtex, a compostable biomaterial

Foundation Science Breakthrough Prize for

platform giving community members a new

alternative to leather created by MFA Textiles

work bringing together computational analysis

way to connect and support one another. The

program graduate Uyen Tran ’21, recently won

and global ethnographic research related to

site’s business directory—MadeNEW Market—

cryptocurrencies. LEVENBETTS, the architecture

features hundreds of alumni-owned companies,

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2 Parsons re:D

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ENTRE NOUS

MADENEW MARKET

7 4

YEE YEE

VISUAL DISCOVERIES

Visual Collection of of Sections Sections Visual Discoveries: Discoveries: A A Collection is an an image-forward image-forward book book that that is is devoted devoted to to is showcasing notable notable section section drawings drawings throughout throughout showcasing history and and demonstrating demonstrating that that the the section section history drawing, drawing, while while having having roots roots in in architecture, architecture, has spread spread to to many many other other disciplines. disciplines. has Allen Allen Keith Keith Yee Yee is is co-founder co-founder of of cloudred, cloudred, an an award-winning award-winning digital design design studio studio located located in in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New New York.

York. He He graduated graduated digital with a a B.A. B.A. in in Architecture Architecture from from the the University University of of California, California, with Berkeley and and an an M.F.A M.F.A in in Design Design and and Technology Technology from from Parsons Parsons Berkeley School of of Design.

Design. He He currently currently lives lives in in Greenpoint, Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Brooklyn.

School

$35.00 $35.00

ISBN-13: ISBN-13: 978-1-943532-96-4 978-1-943532-96-4

A COLLECTION OF SECTIONS ALLEN KEITH YEE

53 35 50 00 0 5

9 7 78 81 19 94 43 3 5 53 32 29 96 64 4 9

VISUAL DISCOVERIES

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including ones offering products selected for the

which details the lives of female spies in history.

Kelly Walters collected 12 interviews with

first-ever Alumni Holiday Market. More than 30

Jasmin Hernandez, BBA Strategic Design and

graphic design educators of color showcasing

alumni entrepreneurs from the past 30 years—

Management ’02, the founder of Gallery Gurls,

their stories, which address the complexities

from makers of apparel and jewelry to health

curated We Are Here: Visionaries of Color

of race in design and education. A thought

and wellness experts to branding consultants—

Transforming the Art World, documenting 50

experiment by BFA Integrated Design faculty

presented 250 items on the university’s

groundbreaking Black and Brown artists and art

member Otto von Busch, The Psychopolitics of

merchandise site, The New Store. The Alumni

workers, including queer, trans, and nonbinary

Fashion: Conflict and Courage Under the Current

Holiday Market spiked upon its launch, bringing

subjects. Featured in Vogue magazine, Open

State of Fashion imagines fashion as a state

in the greatest sales and traffic ever on the New

Source Fashion Cookbook—conceived by Angela

and offers a critique and alternative practices

Store website. Available goods included corduroy

Luna, BFA Fashion Design ’16—is aimed at

to produce a more engaging experience that

bucket hats by Amina Suleimanagich, BBA

democratizing fashion and calls for ethical

he calls “deep fashion.” Sam Mejias, associate

Strategic Design and Management ’16; Moonlit

approaches to the industry. Photographer

professor of social justice and community

Skincare products by Stephanie Kim, BFA

and creative director Mayur Tekchandaney,

engagement, and Shakuntala Banaji co-edited

Communication Design ’12, and Krisztina Matyi,

BFA Communication Design ’00, captured the

Youth Active Citizenship in Europe: Ethnographies

BFA Product Design ‘12; and silk head wraps

early-morning colors of Mumbai in Still Bombay.

of Participation, an analysis of what “active

by Chardae Adams, MFA Interior Design ’12.

Allen Yee, MFA Design and Technology ’04,

citizenship” means in and to European youth

The Alumni Holiday Market returns this winter,

published Visual Discoveries: A Collection of

culture. Multidisciplinary artist and instructor

offering pieces by Parsons alumni for seasonal

Sections, a visually rich work that employs

Andrea Geyer published original artwork in

giving. Alumni are encouraged to join The New

architectural section drawings to explore the

Andrea Geyer: Dance in a Future with All Present, a

School Network and list their businesses in

history of medicine, transportation, product

monograph tracing the pivotal role women played

MadeNEW Market. Selected product lines will

design, geology, and landscape architecture. Visit

in the development of American Modernism.

be sold at The New Store.

the 2021 Alumni Bookshelf to see the full list of

newschool.edu/red/fac-books

thenewschoolnetwork.com

alumni authors who released a book this year.

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ALUMNI BOOKSHELF

Rodrigo Sanchez, MFA Design and Technology

newschool.edu/alumni/bookshelf 6

FACULTY IN PRINT

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PARSONS FESTIVAL 2021

The annual Parsons Festival reached a broad audience this past summer, featuring graduating

’04, and instructor Dan Bullock, MA TESOL ’18,

Notable recent faculty publications include MA

students’ exhibitions and research symposia on

co-authored the critically acclaimed How to

Fashion Studies professor Christina Moon’s

an interactive online platform. On view and related

Communicate Effectively with Anyone, Anywhere,

Labor and Creativity in New York’s Global Fashion

to the theme of this issue of re:D were projects

which offers a communication system aimed

Industry, which delineates the various sites and

by a number of students, including Taylor Su,

at changing the way people interact in global

practices of fashion labor and their implications

MFA Design and Technology ’21, who presented

settings. Debut young adult author and illustrator

for the global industry. In Black, Brown + Latinx

COPE, an animation and accompanying tool kit

Veronica Mang, BFA Illustration ’19, published

Design Educators: Conversations on Design and

destigmatizing PTSD; Feras Alhabeeb, MArch ’21,

Secret Spy Society: Case of the Missing Cheetah,

Race, BFA Communication Design professor

who proposed a holistic homeopathic wellness news 3

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space at Fort Tilden, an abandoned site in

Computer modeling is validating their design’s

MA Fashion Studies students also created

Rockaway, New York; Sarah Nguesso, MA Fashion

efficacy, and the team is preparing to test lighting

Printed Dialogues, an exhibition organized with

Studies ’21, who shared Photoshop and Other

gear on both a surrogate virus Smyth developed

Bibliothèque MAD Paris and RareBooksParis.

Drugs: Fashioning the Instagram Self; and Ashley

and building products. The technology represents

printingfashion.fr/printing-fashion-2021

Lehrer, MS Design and Urban Ecologies ’21, who

an alternative to commonly used cleaning

presented Regenerative Growth, a proposal for a

products containing antimicrobials—toxic

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plan to promote equitable urban food systems.

chemicals that disrupt human developmental,

External partnerships connecting the university

Video projections installed at Parsons’ windows

hormonal, and reproductive functioning—and less

to industry continued throughout the pandemic.

on the corner of 13th Street and Fifth Avenue will

effective HVAC-based sanitizing systems.

Recent initiatives paired celebrated interior design

showcase student work publicly until fall.

newschool.edu/red/uvc

firm Sister Parish (a company previously led by

festival.parsons.edu 9 8

SPOTLIGHT ON HEALTH

A SHARED CENTENNIALS

EXTERNAL PARTNERSHIPS

Interior Design program alum Albert Hadley ’49) with MFA Textiles students, who were asked

Parsons Paris and the legendary Paris-based

to address the problem of textile waste. Guided

Since summer 2020, MFA Lighting Design faculty

magazine L’OFFICIEL celebrated their shared

by program director Preeti Gopinath, students

member Craig Bernecker has been collaborating

centennials together with the largest-ever Printing

researched and presented an approach to textile

with Parsons’ Healthy Materials Lab (HML),

Fashion festival. Led by Marco Pecorari, Parsons

making and business based on longevity and

Davida Smyth (associate professor of natural

Paris MA Fashion Studies program director,

reuse. In spring 2020, the BFA Fashion Design

sciences at Lang), and an SCE graduate on a

students were given access to L’OFFICIEL’s physical

program partnered with Special Olympics on a

cross-disciplinary initiative to develop a UVC

and digital archives of nearly 900 issues to use in

class challenging athletes and student designers

germicidal ultraviolet light system for sanitizing

their academic research and for the third edition

to collaboratively create figure-skating warm-up

interiors. Today UVC technology is employed

of the festival. The partnership marked the first

gear and costumes. Organized by faculty leads

in healthcare facilities to quickly kill bacteria

time the archive was opened for academic

Ranjit Lalvani and Yuchen Zhang and faculty

and viruses in the upper air, but it must be used

purposes. Held this past March, Printing Fashion

mentor Grace Jun, MFA Design and Technology

carefully to minimize human exposure to the

included roundtables, lectures, and conversations

’16, the class had students work with Clo3D, a

light, which damages skin and corneal tissue.

on the theme of value and topics such as the

digital 3D fashion design software company, to

(UVC also degrades pigments, wallcoverings,

economic transactions involved in making the

develop a custom body avatar for each athlete.

and fabrics, posing sustainability challenges.)

magazine; the cost and conventions of print,

Acclaimed musician and activist Travis Scott

The design developed by Bernecker’s team,

magazine advertisements, image making, and

recently announced a partnership with Parsons

which includes HML researchers Meryl Smith,

criticism; and pressures to increase magazine

through the Cactus Jack Foundation, which

MArch ’21, and MFA Interior Design/Lighting

revenue. Speakers included Stefano Tonchi

created the HBCU Waymon Webster Scholarship ​

Design double major student Katrina Matejcik,

(L’OFFICIEL), Peter Behrman de Sinety (Purple

program and is now sharing Parsons curricula

discreetly incorporates UVC fixtures into

magazine), Marie Amélie Sauvé (Mastermind),

with Houston youth through Scott’s organization,

architectural lighting to continuously lower a

Yann Weber (Antidote magazine), and Elise By

My Brother’s Keeper. The United Nations recently

room’s viral and bacterial load from occupants.

Olsen (International Library of Fashion Research).

invited students in Parsons’ Global Executive MS

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in Strategic Design and Management (GEMS)

was the provost and executive vice president for

Interior Design ’19—invited industry stewards and

program to assist with the organization’s Global

Academic Affairs at Emory University, where he

social justice scholars to explore opportunities

Communications group’s Decade of Action

was also Asa Griggs Candler Professor of African

to undo systemic oppression with students and

campaign. The GEMS cohort outlined solution-

American Studies, Distinguished Affiliated

the public. Speakers included Canadian artist

based goals to be attained through education

Professor of English, and associated faculty

and architecture scholar Esther Choi; Tasoulla

focused on children and their parents. In a project

in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

Hadjiyanni, a professor and refugee from Cyprus,

led by Christopher Musci, director of Parsons’

Dr. McBride has published award-winning

who founded the nonprofit Culturally Enriched

Art and Design Summer Intensives and Pre-

books, essays, and articles and has edited works

Communities; and TRNK NYC co-founder Tariq

College programs, and faculty members Aneta

examining the connections between race theory,

Dixon. AMT’s fall and spring Artist Lecture Series

Genova and Gregory Gertz, Parsons recently

Black studies, and identity politics. He is also the

offered conversations with local installation artist

partnered with New Jersey’s Newark School

co-founder and co-editor of the James Baldwin

Abigail DeVille, multidisciplinary artist and social

of Fashion & Design to create interdisciplinary

Review. In May 2021, the university announced

practitioner Mary Mattingly, Beijing-based

fashion curricula for the new high school, whose

the appointment of Dr. Renée T. White as

artist Guan Xiao, and others. The Design and

mission is to develop the academic and creative

the university’s next provost and executive

Technology program presented Cloud Salon,

potential of local students through changemaking

vice president for Academic Affairs. Dr. White

a series connecting participants to professional

design practices. IBM collaborated with Parsons’

previously served as provost and professor of

artists and designers including musician and

School of Art, Media, and Technology (AMT) on

sociology at Wheaton College in Massachusetts

theorist DeForrest Brown Jr. Milano and Parsons

Quantum Computing, a new class that provided

and is an accomplished higher-education

faculty member Michele Kahane engaged

students with access to cutting-edge computers

administrator and scholar of race, gender, and

with Jacqueline Novogratz, a New York Times

and opportunities to develop skills critically

social inequality. Both appointees represent the

best-selling author and the CEO and founder

needed in high-tech careers. This past spring and

university’s commitment to interdisciplinary

of Acumen, in an online New School Public

summer, students from Parsons’ BFA Product

inquiry and inclusive leadership in support of

Program discussion of entrepreneurial ventures

Design and BFA Interior Design programs

excellence in teaching, learning, and research.

aimed at addressing global poverty.

teamed up with Shanghai-based NIO, a leading

newschool.edu/red/president

manufacturer of premium smart electric vehicles,

newschool.eud/red/provost

to transform leftover airbags, seat belts, microfiber,

VIRTUAL VOICE BOX

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NEW DIPLOMACY

The university conferred diplomas virtually this

leather, and aluminum into apparel, accessories,

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and home goods. Selected designs were promoted

Speakers often come to campus to share new

Dean Rachel Schreiber and student speaker

throughout the NIO Life product ecosystem.

ideas, and this year, the online format enabled

Sunghyun “Julie” Ahn, BFA Communication

audiences around the world to benefit. Racism,

Design ’21. Honorary degree recipients included

Classism, and the Constructed Environment—

National Medal of Arts winner Ping Chong,

The New School welcomed its ninth president,

a School of Constructed Environments (SCE)

a theater director, choreographer, and video

Dr. Dwight A. McBride, in April 2020. Before his

course led by assistant professor Cotter Christian

artist, who was named a Doctor of Fine Arts

appointment at The New School, Dr. McBride

and adjunct professor Randall Jones, MFA

for his body of work challenging audiences

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NEW LEADERS

past May, with addresses from Parsons Executive

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to reconsider critical topics and communities

musician and innovator Travis Scott; and

and financing investigations. The extended

including racism, colonialism, people with

fine artist Carrie Mae Weems. Entertainment

timetable of the project, which was paused by

disabilities, the casualties of war, and survivors

included performances by R + W (Ricardo Arbiza,

the pandemic, enabled students to create and

of sexual abuse. Forward-thinking community

Mannes ’21, and BFA Fashion Design student

pitch three competing design schemes featuring

philanthropist Darren Walker was named

Weijing Xiao) and the Bergamot Quartet, led

a greenhouse, a common-use building with a

a Doctor of Humane Letters for his work as

by four female musicians. On display was work

green roof, gardens, and even an Airbnb dwelling.

president of the Ford Foundation, whose sales

by the MFA Textiles Class of 2020 and BFA

of a first-of-its-kind Social Bond raised $1 billion

Fashion Design Class of 2021. Parsons Executive

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for nonprofit organizations affected by the

Dean Rachel Schreiber wore a look by Saya

Abrima Erwiah was recently appointed to lead

COVID-19 pandemic. José Alberto and Luz Mery

Zalel, MFA Fashion Design and Society ’18, and

the Joseph and Gail Gromek Institute for Fashion

Gutiérrez of Bogotá, Colombia, were named

Parsons Paris Dean Florence Leclerc-Dickler

Business at Parsons, a new academic center

Doctors of Humane Letters in recognition of their

wore an ensemble by Gabriella Naoum, BFA

aimed at fortifying the university’s educational

efforts to establish a free community library.

Fashion Design ’21.

mission of interdisciplinary design education

The university honored Parsons faculty members

newschool.edu/Parsons-Benefit-2021

and innovation. The position, along with a

Nadia Williams and Matt Whitman with

FARM FRESHENED

NEW FASHION INNOVATOR

new faculty appointment, was made possible

Distinguished University Teaching Awards.

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The complete Commencement 2021 ceremony

Thirteen MArch students taking part in the

individual donor in the school’s history—from

can be viewed online.

Design Workshop—the long-standing signature

Joseph R. Gromek, then the chairman of the

newschoolcommencement.live

design-build program of Parsons’ School

university’s Board of Trustees. Gromek says that

of Constructed Environments (SCE)—have

with the founding of the institute, he hopes to

developed comprehensive site plans for Urban

establish a “crossroads for the study of fashion

Parsons Benefit 2021, coinciding with the

Sprouts, an Atlanta-based organic farm and food

business, retail, and brand management.” Of

school’s 125th anniversary, raised an impressive

education community nonprofit. For the past

her appointment, Erwiah says, “I’m thrilled to

$3 million for scholarships and was held in

year, students collaborated virtually with faculty

expand my work at Parsons, where my goal is

person at The Rooftop at Pier 17, in the city’s

leads Mark Gardner and Dr. Sharon E. Sutton

to create an inclusive and innovative institute

Seaport District, and was streamed to a global

(see p. 24), architect and urban planner Tonja

that leverages the best of business, fashion, and

audience. The event honored visionary figures

Adair, and multidisciplinary artist and Georgia

design in a city I love. The institute will aim to

including Jeff Gennette, chairman and CEO

Tech artist-in-residence Ruth Dusseault. Local

transcend borders, cross-pollinate across the

of Macy’s, Inc., recipient of the Parsons Table

leaders from AgLanta Initiative and students

industry, and disrupt the fashion system

Award; Angela Ahrendts DBE, former SVP of

from Spelman College facilitated the students’

in every way.”

Apple Retail and CEO of Burberry; designer

extensive research and community engagement,

newschool.edu/red/erwiah

Gabriela Hearst, who received the Frank Alvah

which included conducting stakeholder

Parsons Award; Pyer Moss and Reebok designer

interviews, analyses of factors ranging from

Kerby Jean-Raymond; multi-platinum-selling

pollution to sound conditions, and zoning

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PARSONS BENEFIT

6 Parsons re:D

by an $8.5 million gift—the largest from an

A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT Executive Dean Schreiber is shown in her office, designed by Jordana Maisie Design Studio. Maisie, a 2016 graduate of Parsons’ MArch/MFA Lighting Design dual-degree program, created the office, called Stacked Space, using sustainable safer materials sourced with Parsons’ Healthy Materials Lab and provided mainly as in-kind donations. Shown are Columbia Forest Products plywood, made from responsibly sourced wood and a soy-based binder; nontoxic mineralbased Romabio paint; recyclable, biodegradable paper-based flooring from Aronson’s Floorcovering; and custom furnishings held together by mechanical fasteners instead of toxic glues. The artwork is from The New School Art Collection.

Where It Matters Most: Designing Health and Wellness from the Inside Out

BY RACHEL SCHREIBER, EXECUTIVE DEAN OF PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN

Soon after I started at Parsons, we held a Dean’s Council retreat in which

vital role in critiquing the exclusionary nature of mainstream media and

we made an exciting discovery: We found that throughout the college,

advocating for a broadened representation that supports mental health.

research and curricula focusing on health and wellness had expanded

Research including that undertaken at Parsons’ Healthy Materials Lab

significantly. And when we considered wellness on a societal and

(HML) spans disciplines in a mission to improve the health of systemically

ecosystem-wide basis, it emerged as a thematic that intersects and arches

underserved populations. HML promotes the use of nontoxic and

over environmental sustainability and social justice, two long-standing

environmentally responsible materials throughout the building industries,

and fundamental values at Parsons. We began to understand wellness as

but especially in affordable housing, harnessing design to effect change

an umbrella concept enabling us to see, for example, climate justice and

in health-related systems.

racial equity as intersecting challenges. In short, wellness means caring for

Throughout this issue of re:D, you’ll see examples of health- and

ourselves, one another, and the planet—and understanding that to achieve

wellness-focused work coming from these disciplines and research

any one of these, we need to address them all.

initiatives, and you’ll also see evidence of our remarkable community’s

Because art and design both reflect and shape the concerns of the day,

ability to provide mutual support through a global crisis. I’m referring here

it isn’t surprising to find that our community would apply its experience,

to students, faculty, and staff, who modeled the same ability along with

skills, critical thinking, and creativity to fostering wellness at a time marked

creative problem solving, adaptation, collaboration, and a human-centered

by climate collapse and faltering systems, including healthcare and

approach to design in order to persevere with teaching and learning in

political systems—all of which have significantly challenged our well-being.

the face of enormous challenges.

Add the coronavirus pandemic, and one can see why we’ve chosen

In practical terms, it meant that faculty and staff skilled in online

to address health and wellness in this issue of Regarding Design. The fact

instruction shared teaching techniques and made themselves more

that we’re qualifying the theme with an inclusive imperative—well-being

available to students than ever, tailoring courses and workshops in

for all—makes it clear that at Parsons, we seek to examine the ways full

response to the challenges of remote learning. Staff at the Making Center

access to health and well-being have been systemically privileged for some

helped designers and artists create at home with their own tools. Students

and withheld from others.

found ways to collaborate with one another, engage with their local

The COVID-19 outbreak inspired the Parsons community to meet needs

communities, and use available materials—all valuable capacities for

ranging from PPE to new approaches to assessing and communicating

an evolving and uncertain future. Connecting all of these activities were

the pandemic’s unequal effects. These efforts built on our growing

compassion, empathy, and a willingness to listen deeply—all qualities

expertise in systems related to health. Some of this work involves studio

abundantly evident throughout our community and this issue of re:D.

disciplines that have distinguished us for years—including fashion, product, interior, and communication design. In other cases, our healthfostering work has raised awareness of the importance of newer

Read on to learn more about projects that reflect our community’s

fields such as data visualization, transdisciplinary design, and other

wellness-focused work, which is aimed at expanding access to healthcare

approaches. As the critical importance of understanding visual culture

and aligns with our commitment to building a better, more resilient

becomes more widely recognized, our MA programs continue to play a

world through design.

7

Desig Welln for All

by Lilit Markosian

ning ness l

How Parsons designers are enhancing well-being throughout our lives

Superior design offers much more than aesthetic pleasure. In subtle, often

unnoticed ways, it shapes our daily experience by increasing functionality and introducing ease and comfort into challenging tasks and environments. Today more designers are turning their attention to wellness and taking into account the needs of underserved populations, employing collaborative practices in the design of services related to physical and mental health. On the following pages, we present a series of products, prototypes, and conceptual initiatives developed by Parsons students, alumni, and faculty that explore a range of design solutions for every stage of life. Created for children, adolescents, young adults, and people at middle and advanced ages and the end of life, these innovative designs enhance and elevate the human experience.

9

Childhood The early years of childhood are foundational; pre-adolescent experiences shape development and can influence future abilities and chances for success. The designs explored in this section reflect an understanding of young people as individuals whose specific needs can be addressed directly, rather than miniature adults lacking agency. In its own way, each project draws on the imagination and playfulness intrinsic to childhood.

“I wanted to design something for children with type 1 diabetes, something fun, something they could look forward to.”

—RENATA SOUZA LUQUE

Tangible Pain Assessment Tools Aishwarya Janwadkar, BFA Product Design ’18 The numerical pain scales doctors use are limited; it’s impossible to know whether level 5 pain feels the same for all people. Doctors who look only at a number may be more likely to prescribe greater amounts of medication, which can present a host of problems. As an alternative, alumna Aishwarya Janwadkar developed a set of tactile pain scales that facilitate nonverbal communication between doctors and patients, especially children. One of the pain scales is continuous and measures intensity. The other is categorical, enabling patients to choose between pain types, such as sharp, dull, and throbbing. Janwadkar’s project received the 2018 NYCxDESIGN Student Design Honoree Award and a 2019 Core77 Student Notable Health and Wellness Award, and her focus on health-related design continues to earn recognition. newschool.edu/red/tangible

THUMY Renata Souza Luque, BFA Product Design ’17 Created for children with Type 1 diabetes, THUMY is an insulin kit that makes administering insulin to the body easy and fun. The prototype set, intended for children ages four and up, includes an insulin pen designed to fit in a child’s hand and a series of temporary tattoos (available for purchase) that help children remember where they previously made injections. THUMY was a James Dyson Award finalist in the United States in 2017. thumy.org

10 Parsons re:D

Kozyfone Evan Landau, MFA Industrial Design ’20 Managing screen time can be especially challenging for children. Created in collaboration with Dr. Emily Klass, a child psychologist, Kozyfone is a charging station that helps children develop better tech and sleep habits.

The product, designed to resemble a tiny bed, invites children to tuck their smartphones in before going to sleep themselves. With extended use, the goal is to make “putting your phone to bed” a regular part of a child’s bedtime ritual. The team has iteratively developed, focus-group tested, and engineered a production-ready prototype and is currently seeking a partner for manufacturing, marketing, and distribution. kozyfone.org

Young Adulthood and Gen Z Often characterized as tumultuous and challenging years, adolescence and young adulthood are also times of profound change, discovery, and the development of empathy. The following projects celebrate the perspectives of those at this life stage, highlighting the value of being in touch with one’s emotions and curiosity. These designs also engage with values Gen Z is known for: inclusivity and a desire to make space for communities often othered or marginalized.

Research Collaboration on Diversity and Body Positivity Monica Belot (faculty); Isabela Pak and Katie Choi (BBA Strategic Design and Management students) This BBA Strategic Design and Management course partnered students with fashion company KONTOOR Brands to research issues related to inclusivity and body positivity. “It was a unique opportunity for a brand to gather fresh research and insights from a Gen Z perspective,” says Monica Belot, who taught the course. One research project, conducted by students Isabela Pak and Katie Choi, explored deficiencies in plus-size retail. By interviewing real women and analyzing consumer data, Pak and Choi uncovered ongoing problems in the sector and insights into the plus-size shopping experience and market opportunities. newschool.edu/red/research

The Teenage Experience—Emotions Dome Kat Lepak, MS Strategic Design and Management ’18 The Emotions Dome, conceptualized by alumna Kat Lepak for her thesis, is an interactive structure that gauges a community’s emotional state. The dome’s purpose is to help people, especially teenagers, take responsibility for their emotions and understand how others in their surroundings are feeling. Through an app, users submit assessments of their emotions to the dome, which assigns each emotion a color and lights up in patterns. The dome also responds. For example, if the community is agitated, the dome’s interior “safe space” will show calming colors. katlepak.com

11

The Beauty of Being Deaf Haoran Li and Siying Qu, BFA Fashion Design ’15 (Private Policy); Chella Man When Li and Qu crossed paths with Chella Man at a Vogue party, their conversation included the fact that they’d all attended Parsons and ended with a proposed creative collaboration. The Beauty of Being Deaf is the resulting capsule jewelry collection, launched jointly by Private Policy designers and Chella Man, a deaf genderqueer trans-masculine artist, performer, and activist. The calligraphic, expressive jewelry—designed to adorn hearing aids, cochlear implants, and ears—is based on Chella Man’s artwork. The pieces celebrate both the beauty of the deaf and hearingimpaired communities and the mission-driven ethos of the Private Policy brand. A portion of the collection’s proceeds was donated to the Deaf Queer Resource Center.

“Stylists and photographers have tried to avoid getting my cochlear implants into images rather than accepting them as part of me.”

privatepolicyshop.com/collections/all

—CHELLA MAN

Middle Age One of the challenges faced by middle-aged people is maintaining a healthy balance between different aspects of their lives. Those managing competing responsibilities related to family, work, and the future sometimes struggle to pay adequate attention to selfcare. And increased engagement with the broader society brings a heightened awareness of societal needs. Accordingly, the designs in this section address well-being for not only middle-aged people but also the community at large.

MyMeditarium Ilona Vileyn-Salah, BBA Strategic Design and Management ’21 (Parsons Paris) Mental health has become a priority in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak and prolonged shutdowns. For her senior capstone project, Ilona VileynSalah developed an application designed to help people improve their mental wellness through meditation and collaboration. Through the app people can express their needs and share wellness-focused tips with other users. The app also enables users to participate in challenges; set goals; track meditation journeys and progress; create groups on the basis of theme, age, or interests; and even book meditation sessions in wellness centers.

12 Parsons re:D

Bacteria Invasion: Is Your Favorite Food Contaminated?

Yicen Shi, MS Data Visualization ’18 Yicen Shi developed a data visualization tool called Pathogen Contaminations in the Food Industry to help consumers make smart food choices. The digital tool collects and analyzes data on major incidents of food contamination and recalls throughout the United States. Users can search this data through several interactive visualizations and learn more about pathogens commonly found in food products. The goal of the project is to encourage the public to become conscious consumers and be aware of challenges with food safety. newschool.edu/red/bacteria

Rosy Living Mirabelle Kunz, BFA Integrated Design ’21 Rosy Living: A Guide to Caring for Your Mind, Body & Earth is a lifestyle book created by alumna Mirabelle Kunz. This beautifully designed book explores forms of self-care and how we can apply them to create a holistic lifestyle that promotes health and happiness. Kunz’s book goes beyond examining the need to attend to our minds and bodies; it also explores the importance of caring for our planet and the environment. “This book is about self-care and earth care,” explains Kunz. newschool.edu/red/rosy

Advanced Age and the End of Life Aging populations are arguably among the most overlooked in society. End-of-life realities are regularly avoided, both in healthcare and the design world.

But as medical advances increase longevity, it’s more

The Lacer Sarah Lam, BFA Product Design ’21 Alumna Sarah Lam created the ergonomic Lacer for stroke survivors with decreased hand dexterity who struggle to tie their shoelaces. Designed to reduce stigma related to disability, the Lacer prototype fastens to the top

important than ever to design for older individuals.

These designs are aimed at making the world more comfortable for older people. They also tackle taboo topics like the process of death, seeking to make it more manageable and human centered.

of a shoe, enabling users to tie their laces independently with a single hand.

The adaptive accessory also features release slits that make untying easy.

This year, the Lacer was a WantedDesign featured project, and Lam is developing the project further. newschool.edu/red/lacer

13

Poetics of Dying Jenny Liu, MFA Transdisciplinary Design ’19; Amanda Astorga-Pinto, MFA Transdisciplinary Design ’18; Naoki Hashimoto, MFA Transdisciplinary Design ’19

“We began our process by examining how physician attitudes around end of life are formed, starting with the early stages of their medical training.”

—JENNY LIU, AMANDA ASTORGA-PINTO, AND NAOKI HASHIMOTO

Ongoing medical advances have helped prolong life among many demographic groups. Yet as populations age, we lack the tools with which to address their complex needs. In collaboration with New York Presbyterian Hospital, alumni Jenny Liu, Amanda Astorga-Pinto, and Naoki Hashimoto created Poetics of Dying, a tool kit that teaches medical practitioners how to have honest and open conversations with patients about the end of life. designforlivinganddying.com/poetics

Ensemble Aditi Timbadia, BFA Product Design ’19 Ensemble is a product prototype for a set of musical instruments designed especially for older people. While making music can be physically and mentally stimulating and therapeutic, it becomes increasingly difficult with age. Aditi Timbadia designed Ensemble’s unpitched percussion instruments for people with hearing loss, arthritis, dementia, and other conditions.

With Ensemble, music making is a collaborative, multisensory experience, incorporating touch and sight as well as hearing. adititimbadia.com

14 Parsons re:D

Lilit Markosian is a nonfiction writer who covers technology and culture and splits her time between New York City and Yerevan, Armenia.

Revolutionizing

Care through New

Design Dialogues

by David Sokol

A

s an undergraduate deciding between majors in

found she still wanted to explore the relationship between

Essen, Germany, Hanna de Vries realized she could

psychology and design, and in even greater depth. While

pursue communication design without sacrificing her

examining her postgraduate options, she discovered the

passion for exploring the human mind. In creating projects

MFA Transdisciplinary Design program at Parsons. The

like a typeface embedded with pronunciation cues for deaf

examination of complex systemic challenges and embrace

readers and trauma education materials for refugees that

of intense collaboration in “the program allowed me to

replace written language with images, de Vries exercised her

do exactly what I wanted, which was to design across

compassion for and interest in people. “To design for people,

psychology and other disciplines for social impact,” she

it’s crucial to understand why they behave the way they do,”

says. De Vries began the two-year MFA in fall 2018, building

says de Vries of her college experience.

bridges between design and her other fields of interest

After moving to New York for an internship, de Vries

from day one.

15

Dr. Adam Brown, PhD Psychology ’08, an

wanting to bring design perspectives to this

(Shona) Mahata came to Parsons from

associate professor of psychology and the vice

systems-oriented way of thinking,” Brown

a different path: She had helped create more

provost for Research at The New School for

remembers. Particularly impressed by

inclusive classrooms for children with autism and

Social Research (NSSR). Brown joined the NSSR

Transdisciplinary Design students’ big-picture

developed employment opportunities for people

faculty in 2018, at a moment when he was

perspective and capacity for cooperative

with disabilities. In the Transdisciplinary Design

shifting his professional focus. “When I became

efforts, Brown adds, “In that moment, I began

program, she was able to build on her experience

a clinical psychologist, I was interested in why

to realize there’s a whole way of work that

and give her professional life a new direction.

certain people, when exposed to trauma and

designers engage in that I hadn’t known much

In her first semester, Mahata collaborated with

adversity, develop long-standing conditions

about.” He invited students to join in his project

caregivers for pediatric cancer patients to design

whereas other people bounce back and adapt

of democratizing mental healthcare and

care journals for the Design for Living and Dying

quickly,” says Brown, explaining the first phase

psychosocial support.

studio, which is co-led by Transdisciplinary

of his career. But as he studied emotional resilience

Design program director John Bruce. Reflecting

in migrants and refugees, he grew increasingly

the pair conducted a Burnout Innovation Focus

on the resilience of her interview subjects,

aware of inequities in people’s access to

Group on behalf of the UNICEF Staff Counseling

Mahata says, “I wanted to create a safe space

psychological and psychiatric services—

department in spring 2019. Four years earlier,

for participants during the co-creative process

especially among displaced populations like

in surveys of more than 17,000 United Nations

to be able to openly share their experiences

those he had tracked. Meetings with the

employees, Brown had uncovered notable levels

and traumas that may be part of their personal

World Health Organization (WHO) led Brown

of distress among staff. In turn, the counseling

narratives or journeys.” She employed this

to focus on “equipping people with little or

department tapped Brown and de Vries to

inclusive approach as she embarked on her thesis.

no background in mental health to serve as

lead corporate employees of UNICEF through

She also wondered more broadly about combining

additional points of care in their communities.”

exercises dedicated to shedding light on

participatory design processes with evidence-

He launched the Trauma and Global Mental

burnout in their office culture. Bringing together

based research in applied psychology to develop

Health Lab at NSSR in part to conduct these

design thinking and brain science, the activities

inclusive person-centered models of care.

capacity-building interventions.

not only pinpointed causes of burnout among

De Vries’ program classmate Sudeshna

For both de Vries and Mahata, the journey through Transdisciplinary Design led to 16 Parsons re:D

“Within the first week of my arriving, I had Parsons students knocking on my door,

De Vries was among those first collaborators;

UNICEF workers but also helped participants find ways to identify and cope with stress.

“The need to understand what it means to solve

problems for people, which involves all sorts

of issues concerning privilege and power, will challenge designers for decades.”

—Jamer Hunt

In 2020, Brown and Mahata teamed up on

Mahata aimed to make the PM+ remote

T

he alliance taking shape between Brown

a separate mental health capacity-building

training platform easy to use and emotionally

project, this time using the WHO’s short-term

engaging, saying of her efforts, “I didn’t want the

mental health intervention, known as Problem

richness of mental health psychosocial support

unexpected, says Jamer Hunt. The founding

Management Plus (PM+). Although Brown had

content to be overshadowed by the technology.”

director of Transdisciplinary Design, he

a plan in place to pilot PM+ training with NSSR

She was also eager to see if the digital delivery of

currently teaches in the program and has led

students in his Trauma and Global Mental Health

mental health interventions would be effective,

transdisciplinary initiatives for the university

Lab, COVID-19 compelled him to deliver the

as such evidence would represent “a huge win for

through the Provost’s Office. Hunt notes that

training virtually, so that students and community

accessibility of mental health.” By all accounts so

the design professions are increasingly moving

members could provide counseling to New Yorkers

far, both PM+ and the digital training are proving

beyond production expertise and embedding

facing adversity during the pandemic.

successful. Brown’s graduate students used their

user knowledge in practice. “The need to

PM+ tools to provide five weeks of counseling

understand people—and what it means to solve

hours of remote training successfully, we

to ten patients who had been selected from the

problems for people, which involves all sorts

needed someone who could approach training

Safran Center for Psychological Services waitlist.

of issues concerning privilege and power—will

as a designed experience,” Brown says. “From

Equally telling, preliminary data show that these

continue to challenge designers for decades.”

the very beginning, Shona helped us think

recipients of PM+ counseling had made gains

Whereas de Vries came to recognize the need for

through how we wanted to communicate with

in emotional regulation, self-efficacy, social

understanding on her own, Hunt says, Parsons

program participants, how we would streamline

connectivity, and other metrics. Since then,

is uniquely creating conditions to develop this

information sharing, and how we’d evaluate

Mahata has gone on to adapt mental health

awareness: “We have patiently and strategically

whether people were learning the competencies

and psychosocial support (MHPSS) trainings

developed an infrastructure by which the

they were hoping to learn.” Mahata attended

with the International Federation of Red Cross

movement of students across disciplinary

the sessions alongside Brown’s eight graduate

and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), SOS Children’s

boundaries is easier and easier.”

student trainees, and she redesigned the training

Village, the WHO, and other NGOs, offering

on the fly when she and Brown observed that

mental health and psychosocial support to

of the groundwork, as the program was founded

attendees were the most deeply engrossed in

communities in North America, Ukraine and

as a platform from which to engage with large-

the material in interactive group sessions.

other European countries, Africa, and Asia.

scale challenges rather than simply augmenting

“It became very clear that to pull off 80

and Transdisciplinary Design students

like de Vries and Mahata is exciting but not

Transdisciplinary Design is an important piece

17

“THE PROGRAM ALLOWED ME TO DO EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED,

WHICH WAS TO DESIGN

ACROSS PSYCHOLOGY

AND OTHER DISCIPLINES FOR SOCIAL IMPACT.” —Hanna de Vries

students’ skills. The program’s capacity for

As Bruce describes it, “I’m not a fly on the wall.

in access—has been launched under Brown’s

dealing with complexity has encouraged

My presence has an impact and an effect.”

oversight to offer graduate students at The New

inquiries into systemic racism, climate change,

A straight line could be drawn from Bruce’s

School opportunities to gain related skills. Hunt

and other difficult problems critically connected

embrace of reflective practice to Mahata’s

anticipates that this expanded infrastructure

to at-risk communities. Given Transdisciplinary

looking to psychology for techniques to avoid

will yield more Transdisciplinary Design activity

Design’s aversion to formulaic responses, as

re-traumatizating the patients with whom

in the areas of healthcare, education, and

Hunt puts it, “It’s no surprise that mental health

she collaborates.

international development. He adds that greater

would become one of the things that students pay attention to.”

While a program in existence for more than a decade might have settled into its own

exposure to mental health pedagogy will help

I

nstitutional support for a design-psychology

design students align their user research with

exchange is increasing. This fall, Bruce is rolling

the high standards established by institutional

out the Superstudio concept, in which students,

review boards in the psychology field.

Meanwhile, Brown’s original design

orthodoxies by now, Hunt praises faculty

faculty, and collaborators from across disciplines

member John Bruce and others leading the

participate in a series of events representing

collaborators are also deepening their knowledge

program for celebrating a mission of open-

five systems that define our time, after which

of psychology and continuing to apply it in

endedness. “John has a sensibility that allows him

students break into affinity groups and develop

their practice. De Vries, who currently designs

to be comfortable in ambiguous situations and

their own research endeavors. Healthcare is

behavioral change strategies on behalf of UNICEF

see beyond disciplines,” he says of his colleague.

one of the five pillars that Bruce has chosen for

and other NGOs with the consultancy Common

Superstudio, and he will be leading an event

Thread, earned an additional MA in psychology

pursuits as a professor may be behind students’

dedicated to attachment theory—which deals

at The New School this past spring. Mahata is

desire to learn about the human psyche. Now

with the bonds between individuals, including

engaging leaders of NGOs in dialogue about

five years old, his Design for Living and Dying

parents and children—with NSSR psychology

workplace and organizational change strategies in

course examines notions of care from the

professor Miriam Steele and MA Psychology

collaboration with Brown and IFRC in new projects

perspective of end-of-life experience. Besides

candidate Zishan Jiwani. Simultaneously, a new

geared toward reimagining mental health in

focusing on a charged subject, the studio compels

Global Mental Health graduate minor—which

humanitarian settings using the power of design.

participants to consider the various ways their

Brown describes as aimed at addressing gaps

design research creates a psychosocial dynamic.

in mental health treatment and disparities

Bruce, meanwhile, observes that his own

18 Parsons re:D

David Sokol is a New York–based writer specializing in design.

profiles

Using The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Open Access API, Saloni Shah created Disappearance, a data visualization that shows how climate change and pollution are leading to the extinction of the world’s ocean creatures.

Saloni Shah Data Storyteller Data is a language all its own. When it is analyzed, beautiful stories emerge. Complex rhythms can be understood. The hidden patterns of how we live become clear.

For Saloni Shah ’20, data helps tell the complicated story of humans, their environment, and the ways the health of humans and that of the

“Without environmental wellness, there is no human wellness.”

environment are bound together.

When she entered the MS Data Visualization program, Shah noticed a deepening pattern: Environmental wellness was closely linked to human wellness. Where the environment was compromised by increased carbon emissions or deforestation—the subject of her master’s thesis— humans struggled to maintain physical and mental health.

“Without environmental wellness, there is no human wellness,” says Shah.

Shah’s intent is to make information on environmental wellness more comprehensible and compelling through data visualization. That mission has led her to create applications that expand the boundaries of data visualization. A notable example is Disappearance, planned for display as an interactive work at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. For the project, Shah drew inspiration from Ocean Life, a lush 19th-century watercolor by James M. Sommerville, which depicts a thriving underwater ecosystem.

Shah researched and labeled the species present in the painting and explored how climate change and pollution have threatened them. Using an augmented reality app, viewers can point their cell phone cameras at Sommerville’s painting on the museum wall and see on the screen species from eels to sea anemones disappear—just as they have begun to disappear from the world’s oceans. In the app, a list of the species represented in Ocean Life appears alongside the painting shown onscreen. Viewers see the entry for each creature crossed off as its likeness vanishes from the painting.

“We get a glimpse of what is happening beneath the surface,” Shah said.

“You can begin to see what happens if we have an empty ocean. And react as we do to art—emotionally.” salonishah.co/disappearance

profiles 19

Textured fabrics enable users to understand the visual appearance of ve° garments by touch, and smartphone-scannable QR codes trigger audio descriptions of garments.

Camila Chiriboga Sensory Sartorialist When Camila Chiriboga, BFA Fashion Design ’17, arrived at Parsons from

“I couldn’t assume I understood someone else’s lived experience and just start designing.”

her native Ecuador, she was an avid Project Runway fan who wanted to “design pretty clothes.” Once at the school however, her passion for fashion led her to something much bigger.

Chiriboga’s interest in designing for people with different abilities was sparked after her freshman year, when she was recovering from kidney surgery and was unable to get dressed by herself. As her interest in inclusive fashion grew, it led to her senior thesis—a line of clothing designed specifically for blind and visually impaired people. She named it ve°—from the Spanish “to see.”

As a sighted person, Chiriboga says, “I couldn’t assume I understood someone else’s lived experience and just start designing.” So she volunteered at a center for blind people, observing how they went about their daily lives and their relationship to clothes. For three months, Chiriboga got dressed while blindfolded. Her research helped her develop a design system for ve° that promotes independence and confidence.

She tagged 3D-printed and embroidered labels with QR codes that can be scanned with a smartphone, so that the wearer can listen to a description of the garment and information on wearing and caring for it. Zippers are easy to grasp and positioned on pockets to prevent items from falling out or getting lost. Smart navigation pods embedded in shoes provide vibratory feedback to help users navigate streets safely.

As Chiriboga continues her mission to turn ve° into a scalable business, her career has blossomed. A UNIQLO internship brought her to Tokyo for two years. She currently works for CLO, a groundbreaking firm that is transforming apparel design and manufacturing through its 3D garment simulation software. As Chiriboga’s embrace of the new continually takes her into new terrain, she’s bringing the field of fashion along with her. camichiriboga.com

20 Parsons re:D

Harpreet Sareen Cyber botanist The work of Harpreet Sareen, assistant professor of interaction and media design, resembles science fiction. In his lab, he explores “cyber botany,” a new realm where technology converges with nature to reveal wonders like robot-sunflower hybrids, furniture-producing greenhouses, and growable devices.

Sareen joined Parsons’ faculty in 2018 after working for groundbreaking organizations including the National University of Singapore, Linz-based Ars Electronica FutureLab, Microsoft Research, and Google’s Creative Lab and completing a graduate degree in media arts and sciences at MIT. The resources of Parsons and the university as a whole have enabled him to continue cultivating new ideas at the intersection of material science, biology, and electronics. His work here merges theory with real-world application in provocative ways.

Argus, one of Sareen’s ongoing experiments, is a perfect example of cyber botany enhancing the human experience—and health. The project was partly inspired by how weeds in a garden absorb heavy metals. “I was looking at mechanisms where plants could determine whether water is polluted or not,” explains Sareen. By injecting nanosensors into plants, he has been able to create an organic monitor that detects contamination within two hours; if the augmented plant has absorbed lead (toxic industrial waste metals), the leaf with nanosensors begins to glow in the dark. Argus has been prototyped and is currently in development. Sareen envisions its application near nuclear or waste management facilities and says the biotechnology can be used in homes as well.

Argus won a 2019 SXSW Interactive Innovation Award and recently received the Edison Gold Award (in the Clean Water Technology category) and an A’Design award in the category of Cybernetics, Prosthesis, and Implant Design.

Sareen collaborates broadly in his research, maintaining affiliations with the University of Tokyo and MIT Media Lab. He acknowledges that his investigations are a bit unconventional but believes in cyber botany’s potential for creating more sustainable interfaces.

“This research is vision-driven,” he says, “but pursuing technologies that can make nature more resilient, expressive, and functional will help us reevaluate the role of artificial systems in which we not only depend on nature but also integrate and converge with it in a way that it becomes our future.” harpreetsareen.com

Sareen works at the “nano” level— with electronic substrates rather than chips—opening up new possibilities for drawing on plants’ capabilities.

The diagram depicts nanomaterials he injects into plant cells. Sareen exhibits widely, and later this year will present work at the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Dresden, Germany.

profiles 21

Milgrom’s “How Healthy Are We?” (HHAW) Web questionnaire offers a visually appealing tool for increasing users’ awareness of their health-related consumption habits.

Chyelle Milgrom Data artist During her final year as a BBA Strategic Design and Management (SDM)

seeking to better understand their health habits and to governments,

student, Chyelle Milgrom ’20 partnered with Gallo Wine on a project

institutions, and businesses. “HHAW is not attempting to tell individuals

organized by SDM program director Hala Malak. The goal? To explore

whether or not they are healthy,” writes Milgrom. “Instead, it aims to help

market insights into the health and wellness industry. When she

people see the patterns in their health-related consuming habits so they

discovered that the term “health” has a variety of meanings, Milgrom

can understand what prompts them to want, use, and even stop using

set about creating an interactive data tool that could reveal what health

products. The end goal is the self-awareness that factors into health—

means to different people and how that could shape their purchasing

as well as an understanding of the ways marketers can manipulate us

behavior and other activities in health-fostering ways.

toward less health-fostering decisions.”

Milgrom’s solution came in the form of “How Healthy Are We?” (HHAW), a gamified digital questionnaire exploring eight dimensions of health and

Since graduating, Milgrom has worked as a Web designer and quality assurance tester. Reflecting on her education, she says it revealed her

designed to yield information about health habits and perceptions. On

aptitude for “management, recognizing patterns, and decoding data

the website, Milgrom notes that while similar market surveys have been

into valuable insights that help develop strategic business acumen.” As

released, none fully consider design and user experience.

HHAW has shown that an individual’s habits and convictions dramatically influence purchasing. But the survey can offer more than basic market insights. Milgrom says it can be helpful both to individuals

22 Parsons re:D

Milgrom continues to build her career, she says, she’s determined to create work with social impact. chyelle.com

Prachi Gor Design Advocate Menstruation is a part of life that people don’t tend to talk about much.

Prachi Gor, MPS Fashion Management ’20, hopes to change that.

“I grew up with taboos around menstruation, and I’m one of those women who literally cannot function when menstruating,” says Gor, who was born and raised in Oman and studied design as an undergraduate in India. A post-college job in an Indian garment factory inspired her to write Fashionable Flow, her master’s thesis at Parsons; in it, she advocates for better menstrual hygiene provisions for garment workers in India.

“I wondered how these women did it,” says Gor. She observed that women feared losing wages during the time it took to tend to their hygiene needs. She noted the lack of access to feminine hygiene products and found through secondary research that it forced many to use dirty rags and risk infection. She found that male managers were often uncomfortable discussing the women workers’ health-related needs.

Gor’s research-based proposal calls for Indian garment manufacturers to take measures to provide access to menstrual hygiene management and consider education and conversation that would give women

“If my research changes even one factory in India, I’ll be happy.”

opportunities to tend to their menstrual hygiene needs while at work.

She believes that Western brands can play a role in encouraging Indian garment factories they employ to adopt such necessary measures.

Gor arrived at Parsons as the pandemic struck and attended virtual classes on topics ranging from digital branding to supply chains. She formed what she describes as an “amazing network” during the year, crediting it in part for the position she found heading up brand partnerships for the innovative platform Fashwire. She takes every available opportunity to raise public awareness of fashion industry workers’ menstrual hygiene needs in India and their impact on women’s physical, mental, and economic health. “If my research changes even one factory in India, I’ll be happy,” she says. prachigor.com

15%

14%

A slide from Fashionable Flow, Gor’s research and advocacy presentation on menstrual hygiene provisions in Indian garment factories.

86% Women at executive level positions in fashion industry Women graduates from fashion school

85% Female garment workers in India

Male garment workers in India

profiles 23

Sharon Egretta Sutton Architect of Change In her practice, Distinguished Visiting Professor of Architecture Sharon Egretta Sutton has always aimed to provide more than just shelter. “Architecture can either enhance or compromise the well-being of individuals and communities,” Dr. Sutton says, “depending upon whether its affordances align with their needs, capacities, cultural identities, and memories.”

Sutton holds degrees in architecture, music, philosophy, and psychology. She is a recipient of a Medal of Honor from the American Institute of Architects’ New York and Seattle chapters and was the first African American woman in the United States to be promoted to full professor in an accredited professional degree program in architecture.

Threaded through her multifaceted career as an architect, writer, educator, lecturer, and fine artist is a commitment to calling out injustice and creating social change, often by working against the grain. Sutton is currently doing just that by lecturing at universities on the need to prepare students to become agents of change rather than just serving as workers in a global economy. And at Parsons’ School of Constructed Environments, she helps students develop changemaking capacities in a graduate housing seminar and design studios emphasizing collaborative work.

Sutton’s teaching draws on insights shared in her forthcoming book, A Pedagogy of Hope: Pursuing Democracy’s Promise Through PlaceBased Activism. In it, she describes three community-based programs devised to help low-income teenagers “develop the agency to tackle the injustices in their neighborhoods, one through theater, another through organic farming, and a third through critical inquiry.” Sutton challenges her students to take a similarly socially critical approach to fostering urban resilience and equity through design. Her hope is that students come away with an awareness that “a healthy city is a just city, one that promotes equal opportunity and economic equality.” beyondthebuilt.com/see-it-loud

Shown from left to right are artworks by Sutton consisting of lacquered transfer prints with gouache and collage: Series of Fragmentary Memories (1987), Disciplinary Delicia (1b), and City Life On and Off the Grid (A).

24 Parsons re:D

´rı̄ series from 2019 includes Kosar, Malik’s Nā a transfer print on khadi cloth that features gota patti and zardozi embroidery. In it, a subject hides her face to suggest the danger of being seen publicly.

Spandita Malik Collaborative Portraitist Growing up in India, Spandita Malik, MFA Photography ’19, frequently

Malik resolved to “have each woman’s voice be part of the portrait.”

encountered “very beautiful images of poverty,” often depicted from a photographer’s colonial perspective. For her master’s thesis, Malik decided to upend that narrative. The result is a powerful portrait series ´rı̄ —Sanskrit for “woman” or “wife.” called Nā During interviews with Indian women that she hoped to photograph, Malik learned of their struggles with misogyny and domestic abuse as well as cultural stigmas surrounding mental health. She resolved to “have each woman’s voice be part of the portrait.” When she met a group of women who did extraordinary embroidery, a co-created narrative thread came forth.

After photographing each subject, Malik printed the image on fabric from the region and gave it to her subject to embroider. Malik imposed no creative guidelines and was always surprised and delighted with what emerged from the collaboration. “In every portrait, you can see a different personality,” she says. In a culture where handicraft often goes unappreciated, Malik’s collaborators have come to value their creativity and see firsthand how self-expression fosters mental health. “I don’t think they thought of the embroidery they do as art,” says Malik, “but these women are artists.” ´rı̄ subject conceals her face behind a newspaper, reflecting life One Nā in a society in which it can be unsafe for women to leave their homes.

Another subject washed and ironed her portrait, causing some emulsion to come off. “I grew to love that piece,” says Malik. “A lot of making work is happy accidents.”

Malik credits Parsons with giving her a “safe space” in which to grow as an artist. The school lets “you be exactly who you want to be without a trace of doubt.” spandita-malik.com

profiles 25

“Critical thought is healthy and necessary for an industry like fashion that has, for so long, contrived an incomplete narrative.”

Rachel Kinnard Unabridged Historian

Titled The Fabric of Fashion, this collage was created for The Fashion and Race Database by the artist behind the Instagram account Museum de la Moda (@museodemoda).

It metaphorically echoes an aim of the database initiative: to bring together a range of elements to form a composite that has greater impact than its parts.

Rachel Kinnard ’13 dissects the power of representation and the dynamics

but it was hard to criticize without more resources.” The database offers

of oppressive majority cultures through her research and teaching. She

just that: resources for scholars and educators of fashion history.

began her practice as a student in the MA Fashion Studies program at Parsons, where she researched the relationship between plastic surgery

As a lecturer on fashion studies at California State University Los Angeles, Kinnard broadens access to the spectrum of fashion histories

and dress. These early investigations provided a solid foundation for

and encourages debate in the classroom. She says, “Critical thought

her current role guiding students and practitioners in exploring race as

is healthy and necessary for an industry like fashion that has, for so

an means through which majority culture suppresses diverse fashion

long, contrived an incomplete narrative.” She incorporates The Fashion

histories and enforces restrictive definitions of beauty and value.

and Race Database into her syllabus, encouraging her students to look

Kinnard recently partnered with Kimberly M. Jenkins, a colleague from her graduate program, on Jenkins’ research platform, The Fashion and Race Database, for which she now serves as project manager.

beyond canonical sources.

Inspired by like-minded thinkers she met at Parsons, Kinnard is optimistic about her field and its effect on an industry seeking greater

The platform includes tools designed to make fashion history more

representation for the people that built it. She sees education as an

comprehensive and hold the fashion system to a higher standard in

entry point for changemakers looking to tell fashion’s whole story and

terms of representation. “When I was young,” Kinnard says, “the only

empower a new generation.

fashion media was Vogue. I knew things were missing from the narrative,

rachel-kinnard.com/projects

26 Parsons re:D

Penny Wolfson Material Culture Investigator When asked how she came to write her thesis, Enwheeled: Two Centuries of Wheelchair Design, from Furniture to Film, Penny Wolfson ’14 makes it sound like a foregone conclusion.

Wolfson had raised three children and enjoyed a varied writing career by the time she decided to pursue a master’s degree. She’d long been fascinated by material culture studies, a branch of history that examines objects and ephemera to extract sociocultural insights. In fact, she once wrote a magazine article about a meat grinder. Parsons’ MA History of Design and Curatorial Studies program, offered jointly with Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, enabled Wolfson to immerse herself in her passion.

Wolfson’s thesis also grew out of personal experience. Her son Ansel was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy as a child and has used a wheelchair since age 11. “Ansel started me thinking about how crucial wheelchair design is,” says Wolfson. When she took Marilyn Cohen’s course on design in film, “it suddenly struck me that wheelchairs must appear in films.” Thus her Enwheeled thesis was born.

Wolfson had already published a National Magazine Award–winning piece in The Atlantic about her son’s experience in a wheelchair. But

Wolfson prefers to describe wheelchair users as “enwheeled,” which she feels better communicates the way humans and machines move in sync.

with her design historian tools, she explored new ground, tracing the evolution of wheelchair design and the ways wheelchairs are depicted in film. In her thesis, Wolfson considers a range of works—from silent films to classics such as Rear Window and Born on the Fourth of July to documentaries like Murderball—analyzing film’s unique capacity to show wheelchairs in use. With each film, Wolfson delves into the relationship between wheelchair and user and what their story reveals about society’s “prejudices, aspirations, and fears.”

Having observed how her son’s wheelchair helps him navigate the world, Wolfson encourages us not to view wheelchairists as “confined” or “bound.” Instead, she prefers to describe wheelchair users as “enwheeled,” which she feels better communicates the way humans and machines move in sync. “It feels like flying,” she says. pennylynnewolfson.net/index.htm

LEFT Because the disability James Stewart’s character in Rear Window (1954) has is temporary, Wolfson notes, the wheelchair in the film “does not signal tragedy or loss,” as wheelchairs often do in movies.

RIGHT: Wolfson analyzes how “machine and man become one” in the 2005 documentary Murderball, which depicts “quadriplegic men slamming their high-tech sports chairs into each other.”

profiles 27

Noemi Florea Sustainable Solution Finder As the COVID-19 pandemic surged in June 2020, BA Environmental Studies/BFA Integrated Design dual-degree student Noemi Florea sought to apply the lessons in design thinking, sustainability, and economics she had been learning at Parsons and Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts to the global health crisis. “The pandemic really magnified the amount of waste in our system right now,” she says.

Florea began designing with an ambitious goal in mind: to develop a new system to conserve resources. Her solution was Cycleau Sanitation, a compact non-electrical device that sanitizes PPE, washes household items, and uses water four times before disposing of it. Instead of requiring a pump to circulate the water and cleaning solution, Cycleau Sanitation uses the air pressure created by filling the tank to force fluids through narrow tubes connecting the device’s three chambers. The filtration system makes the water and cleaning solution reusable, saving users money while encouraging them to wash items more frequently.

“Designers are being taught to imagine different scenarios and be creative about developing systems and thinking about the products and services within those systems.”

The BA/BFA program has enabled Florea, now in her fourth year, to explore sustainability with the faculty and curricular resources of both Parsons and Lang while pursuing a minor in economics. The interdisciplinary approach has helped her understand the ways water scarcity, inaccessibility, and unaffordability directly affect the health and economic well-being of millions of Americans.

To create a prototype of Cycleau Sanitation that can be massproduced locally, Florea is collaborating with several of her New School professors, including Gary Chwatuk, Raz Godelnik, and Leonardo Helland; engineers at the University of Maryland and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands; and city partners in Baltimore, Cleveland, and Flint, Michigan. The progress she has seen makes her hopeful about the device and its potential for fostering healthy and sustainable cities.

“Designers are being taught how to think differently,” Florea says, “to imagine different scenarios and be creative about developing systems and thinking about the products and services within those systems.” cycleausanitation.com

Rubber stoppers

Glove depository

Pressurized water tanks Drain slots

Florea says her experience at The New School has helped her “leverage design as a skill set for issues you engage with more theoretically in the liberal arts.”

Drain compartment 28 Parsons re:D

Home for Good A Healthier Future for Affordable Housing Passing by 506 Spruce Street in New Castle, Pennsylvania, you might think this early-20th-century house in the former manufacturing capital was simply getting a freshening up. The 800-square-foot dwelling is in fact the site of cutting-edge design and construction research led by Parsons’ Healthy Materials Lab in collaboration with local community partners. But to witness the home’s radical innovations firsthand, you would need to take a chainsaw to a side of the building.

In a typical freestanding American home, an exterior wall has as many layers as the functions it performs. Wood framing is placed between panels and sheets dedicated to waterproofing, blocking drafts, insulating interiors, and finishing surfaces. While the assembly encloses a space effectively, the many individual components add cost and often harm occupants: The building products typically contain known asthmagens, endocrine disruptors, and other compounds that damage human health. Even lumber usually contains endocrine-disrupting flame retardants.

The mission of Parsons’ Healthy Materials Lab (HML) is to reduce human exposure to such chemicals, especially in affordable housing. Jonsara Ruth, who co-founded HML with Alison Mears, says this work reached a turning point in 2017, two years after the collective’s launch. Observing that healthful materials advocacy focused on products that contain toxic substances, Ruth recalls realizing that “removing one harmful ingredient at a time is an important but slow process. So we convened a group of TOP: Project partner DON Enterprise recently purchased 506 Spruce Street to convert the property into a low-cost, nontoxic home for people with disabilities. MIDDLE: Perimeter walls like this one, made with sprayed-in HempLime, typically contain a variety of materials, which introduce added cost and toxics. BOT TOM: Lori Daytner, of the nonprofit developer DON Enterprise; Cameron McIntosh, of the hemp-building firm Americhanvre; HML research fellow Meryl Smith; and HML co-founder and design director Jonsara Ruth outside of 506 Spruce Street.

student researchers to identify available building products that best safeguard health.”

This shift in HML’s perspective—from mitigating the effects of toxic substances in mass-market materials to promoting healthful alternative products—soon led the team to HempLime, a material made from hemp’s woody fibers; lime, a silica material from limestone; and water. The biodegradable mixture can be cast or blown into wall cavities to perform the functions of several layers of a typical wall section. It is naturally mold resistant, flame retardant, antimicrobial, vapor regulating, and insulating. Instead of off-gassing, HempLime continuously absorbs airborne toxics, even sequestering carbon 29

dioxide. HML’s Trace Material podcast

Regarding Design (re:D) 2021

refers to HempLime as a “superstar” of the healthful materials toolbox.

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Anne Adriance

A multipurpose plant, hemp has been grown in the United States since the

EDITORIAL BOARD

17th century but was banned in 1970 for

Jen Rhee, MA Media Studies ’13; Yvette Sobky Shaffer; Yolanda Urrabazo; Simone Varadian

sharing a species category with marijuana.

PARSONS ADVISORY BOARD

Because industrial hemp production

Shana Agid, Ben Barry, Rhonda Garelick, Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo, David J. Lewis, Rachel Schreiber

was re-legalized federally only in 2018, HempLime’s benefits have not yet been

MANAGING EDITORS

thoroughly documented, and designers

Kyle Hansen, Audrey Singer

and builders are only now learning how

EDITOR AND LEAD WRITER

to use it in conjunction with standard

John Haffner Layden

wall section components. In 2019, HML

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

discovered a fellow HempLime champion

Hannah R. Brion, Megan M. Garwood, Lilit Markosian, David Sokol

in the organization DON Enterprise, which renovates and develops affordable,

LEAD DESIGNER

accessible housing in New Castle for people

Jamie Ficker

with disabilities. The nonprofit recognized

PRODUCTION COORDINATORS

that the material could improve the lives

Steven Arnerich, Sung Baik

of its residents while revitalizing the local

COPY EDITOR

agricultural economy, and it teamed with

Leora Harris

HML to explore HempLime’s building applications, ultimately leading to the renovation at 506 Spruce Street.

The collaboration began in earnest in

PRODUCED BY HempLime sprayed into spaces between wood framing replaces a number of layered wall components with an affordable, nontoxic, and breathable material.

January 2020, when classes conducted by HML and Parsons’ Master of Architecture (MArch) program charged students with designing affordable housing for a New Castle site using HempLime as a building material. Inspired by those proposals, DON then tapped HML to prototype a renovation. With Meryl Smith—an MArch student who participated in the HempLime Architecture Studio in spring 2020—Mears and Ruth developed architectural and construction plans in which HempLime blown into the existing balloon frame simplifies the traditional sandwichlike wall section. Mears explains that the interiorfacing wall is then finished with locally sourced lime plaster applied directly to the HempLime. The exterior locally milled hemlock boards, which are visible from the street and set off slightly from the wood frame, serve as a rainscreen; the air barrier between the two surfaces prevents mold from developing inside.

Although the project is just wrapping up, its transformative potential has already attracted considerable notice. The Pennsylvania Housing Research Center has signed on to monitor 506 Spruce Street’s performance, and the groundbreaking renovation method is featured in the television series America by Design, which began airing in June. newschool.edu/red/hml

Marketing and Communication, The New School LETTERS AND SUBMISSIONS

re:D welcomes letters and submissions. Include your year of graduation, the degree completed, and your major or program. Unsolicited materials will not be returned.

CONTACT US/ADDRESS CHANGES

re:D, Parsons School of Design, 79 Fifth Avenue, 17th floor, New York, NY 10003; red@newschool.edu REGARDING DESIGN, SEPTEMBER 2021 POSTMASTER

Send address changes to Regarding Design (re:D), 55 West 13th Street, New York, NY 10011.

CREDITS

Cover—Myles Loftin, BFA Photography ’20; News— Abrams, ADIFF, Luis Berríos-Negrón, Bloomsbury Publishing, Elliott Jerome Brown Jr., Georgiana Dallas, Amenah Dashti and Vidushi Tekriwal, Justin French/ Ford Foundation, Getty Images, Ally Green, Grey & Elle, David Handschuh & Design I/O, Veronica Mang and Kate Renner/Penguin Random House, Adam Nadel, L’OFFICIEL, Rod Sánchez/Career Press, Ragini Siruguri/Tara Books, Tonje Thilesen for the New York Times, Claudia Tomateo, Willy Wong; Where It Matters—Martin Seck; Designing Wellness—Apple; Art of Line; Johannes Bornlöf; CanStock Photo; David Noton Photography; EventDomes Photography; Freepik; Getty Images; Grayscales09; Hello Games Ltd.; Aishwarya Janwadkar; Mirabelle Kunz; Sarah Lam; Evan Landau; Kat Lepak; Jenny Liu, Amanda Astorga-Pinto, and Naoki Hashimoto; Renata Souza Luque; MaryV.; Isabela Pak and Katie Choi; Peter Lik Photography; Sciences Photo Library; Yicen Shi; Syaraku; StrawberrySalads; Teamlab; Aditi Timbadia; Ilona VileynSalah; Design Dialogues—Harper Brown, Hanna de Vries, Ben Ferrari, Shona Mahata; Profiles—(C. Chiriboga) visuals courtesy of Camila Chiriboga; (N. Florea) courtesy Noemi Florea; (P. Gor) visuals courtesy of Prachi Gor; (R. Kinnard) Fabric of Fashion by Museo de Moda; (S. Malik) courtesy of Sarah Hasted (Brooklyn, New York) and Sammlung Klein (Germany); (C. Milgrom) Web development by Mike Anderjaska, visuals courtesy of Chyelle Milgrom; (H. Sareen) portrait by Jeifu Zheng, project photos courtesy of Harpreet Sareen; (S. Shah) courtesy of Saloni Naishad Shah; (S. E. Sutton) courtesy of Sharon Egretta Sutton; (P. Wolfson) Alamy; Home for Good—Google Earth, Healthy Materials Lab, Anthony Vespirini; re:WIND—The New School Archives; We’re Parsons—Martin Seck.

THE NEW SCHOOL does not discriminate on the

A rendering of the completed renovation at 506 Spruce Street, where HempLime insulates the house and provides a surface for breathable interior wall finishes.

30 Parsons re:D

basis of age, race, color, gender, sexual orientation, religion, religious practices, mental or physical disability, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, or veteran or marital status. The New School is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution.

re:wind

Iconic work from Parsons’ archives (1949) This recruiting poster, designed by James Schucker, popularized the nurse’s uniform Edith d’Errecalde designed for Mainbocher in 1949.

D’Errecalde’s practical but stylish new uniform aided in an effort to recruit 8,000 public health nurses in the United States.

Edith d’Errecalde’s original watercolor drawing for Mainbocher is housed in the New School archives.

Public Health Nurse’s Uniform Edith d’Errecalde, Costume Design ’41 The name Edith d’Errecalde (1905–2002)

wake of World War II. The new uniform, it was

work, possibly created in collaboration with

is one that might easily have been lost to

hoped, would help in the effort to recruit the

Mainbocher illustrator and designer Douglas

fashion history. But thanks to The New

8,000 nurses needed by public health nursing

Pollard. How? Because her original sketches

School’s archives, d’Errecalde’s career in

agencies throughout the United States.

are in the New School Archives.

fashion and her groundbreaking design for a nurse’s uniform can be celebrated.

When it was unveiled, Mainbocher’s bold

Edith d’Errecalde’s papers document her

new uniform, which featured a prominent

dynamic career as a fashion director, freelance

bow, ignited an image makeover for the

fashion designer, writer, and editor. After

studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris

nursing profession. A news article from the

working for Mainbocher, she started her own

before immigrating to the United States

era cites the designer’s attention to detail,

sportswear company, Maxmil; she later held

in 1939 and studying costume design at

noting the ensemble’s white coverall apron

positions at Evan-Picone and Cohama Fabrics.

Parsons. In 1941, d’Errecalde went to work for

and navy gabardine coat with “zip-in lining

D’Errecalde was also a critic and a lecturer at

Mainbocher, a Paris couture house established

of fireman red flannel.” The uniform was even

Parsons in 1969–1970.

by Chicago-born Main Rousseau Bocher. For

popularized in a national recruiting poster

11 years, she was in charge of Mainbocher’s

(shown on this page). In it, the nurse looks

life, but her influence on fashion and nursing

workroom and directed many of the fittings,

capable and empowered. The uniform looks

is clear. One can imagine d’Errecalde taking

as all work was made to order.

chic and stylish.

pride in dressing America’s essential workers—

Born in Strasbourg, France, d’Errecalde

In 1949, Mainbocher was enlisted to design a uniform amid a nursing shortage in the

Although Mainbocher took credit for the

Not much is known of d’Errecalde’s personal

impeccably and for impact.

designs, we now know that they are d’Errecalde’s 31

32 Parsons re:D

We’re Parsons— and we’re designing a world you want to live in

WHAT CAN YOU STUDY HERE? Degree Programs Architectural Design (BFA) Architecture (MArch) Architecture and Lighting Design Dual Degree (MArch/MFA)

Parsons School of Design—consistently

Art, Media, and Technology (BFA) Parsons Paris only Communication Design (BFA, MPS, AAS)

named the best art and design school

Data Visualization (MS)

in the United States and ranked third in

Design and Technology (BFA, MFA)

the world—has sent changemaking artists

Design and Urban Ecologies (MS)

and designers out into the world since

Design History and Practice (BFA) Fashion Design (BFA, AAS)

its founding in 1896. Today we’re part

Fashion Design and Society (MFA)

of The New School, a major university

Fashion Design and the Arts (MFA) Parsons Paris only Fashion Management (MPS)

in New York City offering programs in

Fashion Marketing (AAS) Fashion Studies (MA)

subjects ranging from the liberal arts and humanities to the performing arts to

Fine Arts (BFA, MFA) History of Design and Curatorial Studies (MA)

media, management, and more. Here

Illustration (BFA)

and at our Parsons Paris campus, a diverse

Industrial Design (MFA)

community channels its creative and

Integrated Design (BFA) Interior Design (BFA, MFA, AAS)

critical capacities into fostering a more

Interior Design and Lighting Design Double Major (MFA)

equitable, sustainable, and beautiful world through design and innovation.

Lighting Design (MFA) Photography (BFA, MFA) Product Design (BFA) Strategic Design and Management (BBA, MS) Textiles (MFA)

OUR COMMUNITY AT A GLANCE

Transdisciplinary Design (MFA)

#1 art and design school in the U.S.

newschool.edu/parsons/academics

1

5,355 students at Parsons (10,603 at The New School as a whole)

Continuing and Professional Education 2

44% international students at Parsons 41,000 Parsons alumni worldwide

Parsons also offers certificates and courses that help you prepare a portfolio, explore art and design, or fast-track your career or entrepreneurial ambitions. newschool.edu/parsons/continuing-education

CONTACT US Office of Admission admission@newschool.edu newschool.edu/parsons

1. Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings, 2021.

2. For 2019.

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newschool.edu/parsons v Parsons re:D