FIT School of Art and Design

Author: Rachel Ellner

  • Playground Detroit had its origin in NYC. How Fashion Designer Paulina Petkoski employed her design skills to help make it happen

    It can be easier to be a creative in Detroit, the city where she grew up, says Paulina Petkoski (Fashion Design ’10), but it helps to get a jump-start in New York City. After nearly a decade of working and designing in NYC, she returned to her hometown Detroit in 2014. Petkoski had already co-founded…

  • Harrison Shaw: Innovation is his brand

    FIT’s campus covers little more than a city block, but for their inspiration, students have all of New York City — and sometimes the whole world — to explore. Harrison “Harry” Shaw (Packaging Design ’23), took advantage, starting during the pandemic. His product concepts and presentations come across as almost real…as if we could walk…

  • A conceptual online museum of appropriated art

    When he was a child growing up in Szechuan, China, Harry XiZhuo Lin enjoyed watching television programs on art and culture, such as those on the History Channel. He always noticed where the artwork came from –- places like Egypt, China and India –- and where it had ended up –- places like the British…

  • A postcard with a stark message about school gun violence

    “I started off with the image of the empty classroom, brought in the silhouette of a hand holding a gun, and then, using the pen and star tools in Illustrator, illustrated the American flag behind that in the windows,” says Cindy Choo describing how she created the winning image for FIT’s Constitution Day Postcard Competition.…

  • Daisy Ruiz’s illustrated South Bronx tale

    Daisy Ruiz, Illustration ’16, has released her first book, “Gordita: Built Like This.” In this illustrated long-form comic, a Chicana Bronx teen is bullied for not being curvy, but is helped by friends and mentors. The plot mirrors the author’s own middle school experiences and offers lots of good advice to victims and to folks…