2008 Speakers
Fritz Haeg
Principal, Fritz Haeg Studio
Like a system of crop rotation, Fritz Haeg works between his architecture & design practice Fritz Haeg Studio (though the currently preferred clients are animals), the happenings & gatherings of Sundown Salon (now Sundown Schoolhouse), the ecology initiatives of Gardenlab (including Edible Estates) and his role as an educator. He studied architecture in Italy at the Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia and Carnegie Mellon University, where he received his B. Arch. He has variously taught in architecture, design, and fine art programs at CalArts, Art Center College of Design, Parsons, and the University of Southern California. In 2006 he initiated Sundown Schoolhouse, the alternative educational environment based in his geodesic dome in Los Angeles. He has produced projects and exhibited work at the Tate Modern; the Whitney Museum of American Art; Mass MoCA; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; the Wattis Institute; the Netherlands Architecture Institute, Maastricht; and the MAK Center, Los Angeles, among other institutions. His new on-going series of projects called Animal Estates will debut at the Whitney Biennial in 2008 with a commissioned installation in front of the museum. His first book, Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn, will be published by Metropolis Books and distributed by D.A.P. in February 2008.
Sami Hayek
Principal, Sami Hayek Studio
Sami Hayek was born in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico, to Lebanese and Spanish parents. Growing up he was exposed to the rich colors, flavors and textures found throughout Mexico’s local markets, worn out facades and vibrant natural landscape.. He also experienced the kind of creativity that is born from necessity, which has been fundamental when coming up with design solutions
After receiving a bachelor’s degree in environmental design from the Pasadena Art Center College of Design, he established the Sami Hayek Studio in 2003. Based in Los Angeles, CA, the flexible and multi-disciplinary practice spans residential and commercial architectural design, interior and landscape design, furniture, products and graphic design.
As a designer, he is known for blending styles, materials and scales to create a language specific to each project. By applying the same design principles to the construction of silverware or a park, Sami has been able to engage in the fields of furniture, interiors, architecture, landscape and industrial design. His clients range from National Geographic to Louis Vuitton and from private clients to governments. He has exhibited his studio work in numerous galleries as well as during Art Basel Miami Beach.
Strongly committed to the design world at large, he has held various prestigious positions beyond his studio, as a teacher, critic and lecturer on international design. Sami has lectured at Penn State University, UCLA, New York University, University of Southern California, and SCI-Arc. He has spoken at the International Design Symposium in Monterrey, Mexico, Terra Matters and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. He currently teaches at Art Center College of Design, and is an active Member of the Design Review Committee for the city of Hollywood, CA.
Amy Lau
Principal, Amy Lau Design
Amy Lau founded her interiors firm, Amy Lau Design, in 2001. She also currently serves as an independent adviser to collectors of 20th Century decorative arts. Rooms she creates are organized according to modernist principles — balancing scale, texture, shape, color, and function. She is known for crafting original and personal surroundings — filtering various styles, objects, and preferences through the lens of modernism. After studying Art History at the University of Arizona, she received a Masters Degree in Fine and Decorative Arts from New York’s prestigious Sotheby’s Graduate Program. She served as Director of Aero Ltd. under the studios founder Thomas O’Brien. Later, she was appointed Design Director of New York City’s noted Lin-Weinberg Gallery, specializing in international mid-century modern design.
In 2005, Amy co-founded the prestigious Design Miami Fair, an invitational design event featuring the world’s most significant post-war to contemporary design galleries. The fair, created to run in conjunction with Art Basel Miami Beach, has become a new forum for collecting, exhibiting, discussing and creating design. Amy’s design expertise is also frequently sought by key industry bodies including the Savannah College of Art and Design, as part of their SCAD style week on their Savannah and Atlanta Campuses.
Amy recently added fashion retail design to her resume with the completion of a flagship boutique for Elie Tahari, as published in Interior Design magazine.
David Revere McFadden
Chief Curator, Museum of Arts and Design
David Revere McFadden is Chief Curator at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City. He served as Curator of Decorative Arts and Assistant Director for Collections and Research at Cooper-Hewitt, National DesignMuseum, Smithsonian Institution from 1978 to 1995. For six years, he served as President of the International Council of Museums’ Decorative Arts and Design Committee. McFadden has organized exhibitions on decorative arts, design, and craft, covering developments from the ancient world to the present day and has published and lectured extensively.
Gita Nandan
Co-founder, Thread Collective
Gita Nandan received her masters degree in architecture from the University of California, Berkeley in 1997. Shortly after leaving the bay area in 1999 she co-founded Thread Collective, a multi-disciplinary design firm currently based in New York. Thread Collective’s projects are the coalescence of an integrated design approach and include landscape, architecture and temporary installations. Thread collective is committed to exploring sustainability as a holistic and supple design approach, integral to all aspects of the design process. Thread Collective’s work has been widely recognized — recently being awarded the winning contract to the International Design Competition, Southbank. The project, in South Africa, constitutes a design for a new sustainable town for 3,000 inhabitants and an arts complex dedicated to the art of Africa.
Gita also puts her beliefs into practice as an architectural educator. She has worked with established institutions such as the Urban Assembly School for Design and Construction, Lincoln Center, Learning By Design, and the Museum of Modern Art. She is currently teaching at the New York Art Institute and Pratt Institute, teaching sustainable design courses. Gita is also board president of GreenHomeNYC, a non-profit organization whose mission is to be a hub of resources for small building owners, to promote the understanding of green building issues, and to connect building owners with local green building service and materials providers.