January Update

Welcoming students back to campus, an exciting Spring Design Conversations Lecture Series, and preparing for NY Design Week; we have much to look forward to in 2025.

Photos by Audrey Gavagan, Bella Bullard, and Bethany Couture

December's Beyond Fashion event was a tremendous success, bringing together students and designers and featuring a range of garments and wearables—inspired by the Vignellis' work—centered around the theme of "On the Table."

Aiden Spicer's rice measuring cup and companion paddle 

 R.I.T. Industrial Design student Aiden Spicer recently placed third in the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Collab Student Design Competition, which invites students from across the country to make a product based on a brief. This year, entries were dinner tabletop pieces following the design principles of Naoto Fukasawa, recipient of the 2024 Design Excellence Award from the museum’s Collab group. 

Vignelli Distinguished Professor of Design Josh Owen, director of the Vignelli Center for Design Studies, served as a faculty mentor to Spicer through the design process.

The Vignelli Center for Design Studies will have a big presence in New York during Design Week this spring. Look for us at ICFF, and stay tuned to hear about other exciting Design Week happenings.

Felicia Ferrone, born in Chicago and educated in the U.S., founded Fferrone Design in 2001. Her creative practice is shaped by her early career as an architect in Milan, and her belief in the interconnectedness of design and context.

Ferrone’s work has been exhibited, distributed, and published widely, with commissions for brands like Audi, Boffi, and The Macallan. She is featured in Woman Made: Great Women Designers (Phaidon, 2021) and has juried for the Cannes Lions Festival, Archiproducts, and Core 77 Design Awards.

As Clinical Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Industrial Design at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), Ferrone encourages students to combine critical thinking with deep research. 

Hector Silva founded Advanced Design in 2016 to address the disconnect between design education and industry demands. As an educator and designer, Silva saw the limitations of traditional academia and built a small team to bridge these gaps through hands-on workshops connecting students and professionals. Over five years, AD has grown into a key player in design education, offering workshops, highlighting industry excellence, and building diversity. Its most ambitious initiative is the creation of its own design school, with a team of over 30 members and a growing global community.

Rarify is a brand specializing in vintage and modern design from the past, present, and future. Founded in 2021 by David Rosenwasser and Jeremy Bilotti, Rarify has amassed a collection of over 12,000 iconic design pieces.

David Rosenwasser (Co-CEO at Rarify) is a researcher, furniture expert, and 15-year business owner. As a teenager, he founded D ROSE MOD, a vintage business focused on collecting and restoring iconic 20th-century design. Rosenwasser was Senior Research Personnel in the Sabin Design Lab at Cornell University and is deeply passionate about design, technology, and authenticity.

Jeremy Bilotti (Co-CEO at Rarify) is a designer, computer scientist, and research scientist. Originally trained as an architect, he has since established a body of work developing new computational technologies for the design industry. Bilotti holds two Masters of Science degrees from MIT in Design Computation and Computer Science, as well as a Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University. Bilotti has worked with numerous design and technology firms, and has held faculty appointments at MIT and Cornell in product design and architecture, respectively.

Can't make it in person?
You can always check out past Design Conversations, as well as a ton of other great content, on the Vignelli Center for Design Studies youtube.

The Vignelli’s Design is One philosophy leaves us with a universal message that design is a lens through which we can envision a more inclusive tomorrow.

- Josh Owen

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