Roberto Vasi collection

The Roberto Vasi line began as  a business partnership formed in a class taught by Accessories Design Professor Vasilios Christofilakos 20+ years ago.

“My God we had fun!” Vasilios recalls of the sketching accessories class (LD261) that Robert Mingione attended. “He had left Bally’s footwear and was seeking more know-how. He was putting together a portfolio for a position at Kenneth Cole. I asked him to develop a men’s line. It was fun and passionate. He got the job. He comes from the business end of the spectrum. He was business-MBA with a creative edge.”

Roberto-Vasi

The Vasilios–Mingione partnership  has yielded the “military-meets-luxury” line of 75 styles. “We’re honing in, replicating some of the sharp tailoring military uniforms offer,” says Vasilios. Styles include casual, dress, athletic and fusion, and a “fabulous boot collection.”  

The line’s rugged masculinity is enhanced by daring combinations of materials and design techniques. “There are leathers with suede and nylons, hardware and decorative stitching, embossed patterns, men’s suiting fabrics, herring bone and hounds-tooth patterns, as well as stripes and plaids for the linings.”

The line debuted at the FN Platform shoe show in Las Vegas in February and will be on shelves at DSW and at Nordstrom.com this fall.

Roberto-Vasi

After studying with Vasilios, Mingione often took on FIT students as interns. “Many  became successful footwear designers,” said Mingione. “I love the creativity and passion that comes from FIT students. Young designers benefit by getting to see their work come to life. “

Roberto-Vasi collection

Now Vasilios and Mingione have to contend with the “other side of the business.” says Vasilios. “The logistists, all the little things you deal with regarding the business of shoes. Shipping — What happens when it lands in port? How do you get it to the corporate office or warehouse and how do they get it to the retailers? There’s the independent retailers. You’ve got 90 days to pay the bills. You make cold calls to buyers and hope they show up: ‘We just made it to Vegas. Hope to see you soon.’ Then you hope they meet with you once you’re back in New York.” 

Roberto-Vasi

Says Vasilios “It’s all about the relationships you make and nurture.”

Find out what your next music hall, brain research center, interactive cinema, special children’s hospital and boutique hotels will look like. From FIT’s interior designers of the future!

Plans for these and other projects were on view last Thursday and Friday in Pomerantz building conference rooms, where seniors spoke of their visions for buildings of the future.  

Minsoo Kim’s “Momentum Immersible Cinema”

“I think interior design is not just about function or a convenient space, but should provide a unique experience,” says Minsoo Kim, graduating ID student. “When you leave the space, not only should it have been comfortable and functional, but the space should give you a new concept, a new memory.”

 “My project is a music hub with the purpose of bridging the gap between the artist and the fan,” said senior Amanda Hibbs. “The design intent was to make music tangible by applying elements that relate to both music and design.”

And then there was Sarah Hatch’s brain center project, which is naturally interactive.  “The integration of design with technology can change the way spaces are perceived and the way we operate within them,” says Hatch. “Spaces can operate for us, responding to our actions, and soon enough, maybe even our thoughts.”

Amanda Hibbs presenting music hub “Interlude” project

Recalling the past four years during which sleep was a “true luxury,” ID senior Hayley Park described the culmination of her studies:

“During the seventh semester we developed what’s called our design programs. It was for an envisioned facility of our choice in an existing building in the tri-state area.”

There were frequent all-nighters leading up to the presentations. “We had to write an approximately 150-page book describing our project, its purpose, justification, type of space, the facility required, and an analysis of the individuals who would be using it,” said Hayley. “For instance mine was a mission center to raise next generation missionaries. My building included educational facilities, a worship area and residential component.”

Hayley receiving the Decorator’s Club award

At the end of the 56 presentations, Hayley was “relieved it was over.” But ID chair Andrew Seifer said “It’s not over yet,” and began reading an award letter. “At first he thought it was a present for himself!” said Hayley.

It was an excellence award in the form of a white iPad from The Decorators Club,  a private interior design organization.  It was for Hayley!

“I was crying the whole time,” said Minsoo. “I was so impressed with her project. Every one was so into the spirituality of it”

Sarah Hatch rocking the house with her thesis project “NeoCortex”

Says Minsoo, “I want to start my career in New York and open my own interior architectural firm for commercial and retail spaces. I also want to do not just permanent space, but exhibition and public instillation interior design. The interactive event between people and their space is what interests me.” 

 Click here to read about Hayley’s Pave-winning men’s store

Photos:  Johannes Knoops 

CEW is mum about the recipient of a bowl-shaped trophy made of precious koa wood, to be awarded this summer, which gives us time to linger over Yothers’ creations.

Eco award by Wendy Yothers

Three of the awards are tapering obelisks made of crystal. “They wanted something to reflect a sense of our great city,” says Yothers. “It takes water and patience and a study of the refraction to create the visual affect you want in crystal.”

CEW eco award by Wendy Yothers

Yothers used koa, considered the “royal wood of Hawaii,” for a bowl-shaped award. Koa can only be “harvested by windfall” says Yothers, meaning only felled branches or trees can be exploited. But like royalty it has a linage. “You can’t cross its grain. You must respect its character or you’re done.” Yothers worked from the side of the koa so the bark could remain as a design element along the bowl’s rim. “You need good control of your craft and you need to know where you want to go,” she said.

Yothers chooses to retire to the sidelines when her work is done. She says she wants the receiver “to look at it and say ‘I’m worth it!’ They don’t need to know about me. When the art is good, it goes straight through; It becomes yours,” she says of the receivers-to-be. 

Photography student Eitan Gamliely got his first opportunity to photograph a fashion runway show, the Future of Fashion graduates collection on May 1. He captured a wide range of looks. There was:

Child’s play

photo: Eitan Gamliely

photo: Eitan Gamliely

photo: Eitan Gamliely

photo: Eitan Gamliely

photo: Eitan Gamliely

photo: Eitan Gamliely

“Poppet,” (a British term of endearment” by Sean Peterson

ART & DESIGN GRADUATING STUDENT EXHIBITION/FIT SENIOR SHOW

MAY 8TH – MAY 23RD

Show Opening – May 7th / 6 – 9 PM
THE MUSEUM at FIT
7th AVE & 27TH STREET
NYC 10001
HOURS:  TUESDAY – FRIDAY 12 – 8 PM
SATURDAY – SUNDAY – MONDAY 10 – 5 PM

For more information on graduating student exhibitions in locations throughout the campus, please go to: A&D graduating student work.

Michael Sheron’s mug shot. Crocheted knight’s helmet

Sheron’s favorite video game is League of Legends.  He also enjoys other “role playing games” where he can play a knight. “He’s obsessed with knights,” says Pachon. “I got inspiration from a crocheted baby’s knight outfit on Etsy.”

This was Pachon’s first crocheted item. She relied on help from “La Madre,” her grandmother in New Jersey. The self-taught La Madre, says Pachon, is  a master of  intricate knitted and crocheted designs.

A crocheted helmet made with help from La Madre

“Now everyone is asking me for hats,” says Pachon.  Sheron’s father and two brothers all want ones of their own.

“Random people are complimenting me. I feel awesome because of it,” says Sheron.

Pachon is clearly tapping into a trend.  Photo: Rachel Ellner

Pachon’s response to this design featured in the FIT’s 2013 Future of Fashion Show: “Knitted knight-wear is clearly the way of the future!”

But for Pachon, Sheron is her one and only true knight.  “He’s my knight in crocheted armor,” she says.

Hat photos provided by: Michael Sheron

Romano was intent on finding a way to better showcase this year’s student portfolios at  GlobalShop, a leading convention for the retail and brand environment industry. She put her foot to the design pedal and brainstormed with her department chair Craig Berger. Soon they were searching their phones for sponsors.

Kiosk loaded with student portfolios from around the world

This year on the GlobalShop exhibition floor stood an enormous, show-stopping, orange-topped interactive kiosk with a 47” monitor, tended to by FIT students. It was loaded with student portfolios from around the world.

Double-sided screen allowed for increased viewing

“The energy of the students working the kiosk made industry pros want to connect with them,” says Romano. “They landed great job leads. It was the hot thing. Industry leaders were literally telling me that it was one of the most innovative experiences at GlobalShop.”

“Veronica is the biggest cheerleader of student work,” says VPED professor Anne Kong. The kiosk isn’t just about FIT, it’s about design students globally.”

FIT students interacting with industry

 “GlobalShop is a rare one-time event for FIT students to show their work to high-level industry professionals,” says Berger. “The kiosk was a unique way to accomplish this in a very public space.”

The kiosk’s inception: Last summer Romano had planned to incorporate interactive technology into her portfolio class. Wouldn’t it be a great idea, mused Romano, to exhibit all the portfolios in a traveling kiosk? A challenge was sent out to students around the globe to create digital portfolios to load into a kiosk.

Romano worked with Mona Lisa Tan, a previous winner of the PAVE [Planning and Visual Education Partnership] Student Design Competition to design the kiosk.

Digital rendering by Mona Lisa Tan

Visitors to the kiosk were able to touch a region of the world on the screen to locate design schools and select individual student’s bios and portfolio pieces. The interactive kiosk was loaded with portfolios representing 14 schools from 5 countries.

“I put together the group of sponsors who helped build and program the interactive kiosk,” said Berger. Each had an individual role and donated in various ways: Fresh Juice Global provided the technology; Panasonic the screens; PAVE helped coordinate; GlobalShop the space for the kiosk; B+N Idustries built the kiosk structure from Romano’s and Tan’s designs; and FIT kicked in for some expenses.

Ready to ship to next student porfolio launch

The student digital portfolios are available for viewing online at PAVE’s web site, www.paveinfo.org. The kiosk is coming to FIT to be adapted by students and faculty to feature future FIT student work.

“My passion is to enable students to create their own unique ‘visual presentation,’ get industry to engage with them, and to promote their talents effectively,” says Romano. “The kiosk accomplished all of this.”

“I stayed in the historic center. The parliament was a block away,” says Arcilesi. “Lawyers and politicians were walking around, conducting business in these ancient buildings.  It’s not just a tourist place, contemporary life goes on. But there’s a new Rome as well that’s built outside the historic center.” 

“Bernini in the Roman Forum I” 20″ x 16″. Oil, 2013 by Vincent Archilesi

“Bernini in the Roman Forum I” is one of Arcilesi’s seven new paintings, many which show a commingling of ancient and contemporary figures.  They will be on display along with eleven drawings named for Roman goddesses.

Playful, anachronistic elements provide scale and humor in Arcilesi’s paintings. There are women on horseback appearing less like conquerors than tourists. In another there’s a tiny Dachshund facing the opposite direction of an imposing  Roman emperor on horseback in Piazza del Campidoglio. In another, four lazy cats appear nonplussed beside ancient nudes and a distressed goddess.

“Dreamer and Her Dream,” by Vincent Arcilesi

Vincent Arcilesi’s daughter, Francesca Arcilesi, runs the Arcilesi-Homberg Fine Art with Norma Homberg. The two recently made the transition from running a pop-up gallery to their current gallery, located at 111 Front Street in Brooklyn.  Hours are: Wednesday through Sunday 12 noon to 6 p.m. 

Photo by: Steven Tucker

A laser cutout of an old Philadelphia fire truck. “They put water in it and a team pumps it and water comes out. In the old days everyone came out to help,” says Zhao. “Otherwise next time no one helps you.”

Zhao’s intent was to help knit the newly built firehouse and adjacent community center together and to connect the entire site more closely to the neighborhood.

“I can’t put up an isolated sculpture and walk away. I have to research the history, talk to firefighters and people in the neighborhood,” said Zhao. His site-specific installation includes elements of historical relevance like Disston saws (originally made nearby), images of old fire engines and an apparatus used to receive fire alarms from call-in boxes before telephones were common.  

“It really challenges the function and communication of art. Constructing permanent public art is a stricter process. Every nut and bolt has to be chosen with care, because it’s going to be up for 50 to 100 years, exposed to the weather.”

The Disston saw was manufactured by Philadelphia industrialist and saw maker Henry Disston. The small blade with disproportionately large teeth on the upper left of the right-hand panel is from a fireman’s saw that was used for demolition. Zhao’s re-creation is made of stainless steel.

“This way of art making – researching and respecting the community and the history that it’s a part of — is a way of integrating art into a sphere that is not necessarily art-savvy outside the universe of galleries and museums,” says Fine Arts Chair Stephanie DeManuelle. “It’s an excellent example for students and artists who are ready to go out into the world.”

“I bring art inside people’s lives,” said Zhao who teaches in the fine arts department. “It has to do with the context of this particular  site — the history of the neighborhood and Philadelphia, and the Disston saw.”

The Disston saw in this photo was from a collectible that Zhao borrowed and made a cast of. “Local kids didn’t know how to use it, or what it was used for,” Zhao said.

“I don’t believe art should superimpose any reality. It’s a part of the texture of reality. That’s why my work has a lot of overlapping, interweaving, texture in form and context.  To me it’s no longer about artifacts. The issue is, artifacts only work within a context in the surrounding environment.”

A fire alarm receiver. “When you pulled the handle on an alarm box — they were on many telephone poles and inside buildings — it sent an electrical signal to this machine, which typed out the alarm-box number indicating where the fire was.”

Hydrant and water gun from 50 years ago arranged as permanent art, sturdy enough for children to play on.

Most people think of public art as beautification, says Zhao. “They even have this term ‘the beautification of the site.’ But I’m ‘challenging’ the site, bringing my thinking process into this reality. Time is not linear but rather treads through different forms of social structures of past, present and future—overlapping simultaneously.”

“For my unique second-semester project for our interior design studio course, I created a retro-futuristic apartment fit for a fashionably nerdy client,” says Silva. “I pulled inspiration from films like ‘Hugo,’ ‘Howl’s Moving Castle,’ and ’20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.’”

Collection of steampunk artifacts

The assignment, given by Prof. Shannon Leddy, was to combine two apartments in New York City. “We were to imagine our clients’ personalities, histories and needs and design the space accordingly,” says Silva.

“I am interested in designing for the less-considered types.  When you think of designing for a client, the more nerdy-inclined doesn’t come to mind as often as the upscale client with refined tastes surrounded by luxury. I can relate more toward that side, having attended the rather nerdy high school, A-Tech in Las Vegas.” 

Brianna’s rendered interior perspective of an apartment fit for fashionably nerdy clients

The interior is a “mixture of the ornamental and the hard-lined, which still feeling very cohesive through the color palate of rich browns, orange, reds and blues set in a more industrial enclosure,” says Silva.

“Brianna actually taught me something by introducing me to the SteamPunk genre,”  says Professor Leddy. “She challenged herself from the beginning of this project and the return on her efforts is an exciting, contrasting yet harmonious solution. The photos are great here in this post, and indicate how Brianna has grown with less than a year under her belt in this program. Her work ethic certainly shines through.”

Victorian, Victorian-inspired and industrial furniture for the retro-futuristic apartment

“In retrospect, I am glad with the way my design came together,” says Silva. “I was worried about the outcome of mixing these styles, but it all came together into one cohesive piece.”

Come to think of it, we all could use a good ray gun to shoot down those angry mechanical birds.

photos: Brianna Silva