An inspiring look at how museums and global cultures inform trends in fashion and interiors
Hosted by the Museum of New Mexico Foundation and gathering leaders in interiors, design, manufacturing, media and retail, the Museum Design Summit will examine the product design and development process, focusing specifically on the use of museum and culturally-based objects as inspiration. Summit speakers will discuss trends in color, pattern and source material inspired by the world’s artisan, share examples of successful artisan collaborations, examine the revival of ancient materials and delve into some of the ethical issues surrounding the use of indigenous source material.
Since its founding in 1998, the Museum of New Mexico licensing program has forged vital design partnerships with several high-profile manufacturers and retailers who have found great inspiration in the depth and breadth of the collections of the four museums that comprise the Museum of New Mexico. These long lived partnerships, as well as the design industry’s interest in the world’s cultures, have in turn inspired the Foundation to host a conversation examining the nexus of culture and design.
The Museum Design Summit is an invitation only event open to Summit sponsors: Crypton, Designtex, Jaipur Rugs, Kravet, Valdese Weavers and Wolf Gordon, their guests, select retailers and media. The featured speakers are leaders in their field of expertise and among an expanding group of design professionals working with museums and/or artisans to bring to market products inspired by cultural traditions.
MUSEUM DESIGN SUMMIT MISSION
Increasingly, the design industry – home décor and fashion – is looking for inspiration from the world’s cultures, their art, and textile traditions. Because the four Santa Fe-based museums are dedicated to preserving and promoting the artistic traditions of the world’s cultures they are uniquely qualified to host the Summit conversation. When asked about the goal of the Summit, Pamela Kelly, VP Licensing & Brand Management, said: “It is our hope that at the end of the Summit, our guests will leave acquainted with the breadth of the Museum’s collections and clear about their value as a design resource featuring material not just from the Southwest but from the world. Equally we hope our guests will leave understanding the importance of giving credit to the cultures that inspire their products and, if possible, consider creating partnerships with them.”
MUSEUM OF NEW MEXICO – FOUR MUSEUMS, COLLECTIONS THAT SPAN THE GLOBE
Established in Santa Fe in 1909, the Museum of New Mexico is comprised of five historic sites and four distinct cultural institutions each telling a different chapter of the state’s unique and international history – first as home to a large Native American population, next and for the following 223 years, as a colony of Spain; then as a key destination in America’s westward expansion; and finally as a haven for artists, writers and explorers. The four institutions are: the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Museum of International Folk Art, New Mexico History Museum and New Mexico Museum of Art.
West of the Mississippi, the depth and breadth of these four museums’ collections is unrivaled. While each of these museums offers licensors a wealth of unique material, it is the Museum of International Folk Art and the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture that offer the most inspiration for surface design – textiles, rugs, wall coverings, and soft goods. It is also these two museums’ collections that are the focus of the Summit conversations.
With collections drawn from 6 continents and over 100 countries and spanning from the 1600s to the present, The Museum of International Folk Art is the largest museum of its kind in the world. While the Museum offers licensees inspiration across a broad spectrum of material from furniture and ceramics to folk art and jewelry, it is the 26,000 piece textile and ethnographic dress collection – one of the top ten in the world – that is the crown jewel of this Museum.
The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, with its 10,000 piece Pueblo pottery and basketry collection and 5,000 piece Navajo textile collection, offers licensors a wealth of highly graphic and wonderfully modern design inspiration.
LICENSING PARTNERS – PAST AND PRESENT
Since its founding, the MNM Licensing Program has sought out partnerships with the very best home décor partners. Textile partners include Kravet, Brunschwig & Fils, Valdese Weavers and Designtex. Rug partners both past and present include: Odegard Carpets, Shaw, Company C and Jaipur Rugs. Wallcovering partners: Wolf Gordon and Designtex. Furniture partners both past and present include: Hickory Chair, Maitland-Smith, Romweber and Sam Moore. Retail partners include West Elm and Marshall Field’s. For further information about the licensing program, visit: www.mnmlicensing.org
The Museum of New Mexico Foundation (founded in 1962) is a private, non-profit organization that provides essential financial support and services for education, exhibitions, collections, capital improvements and other projects at the four MNM museums. As the licensing agent for the Museum of New Mexico, the Foundation’s licensing department collaborates with major manufacturers to create products inspired by the museum’s extensive collections. Royalty revenues generated from these partnerships provide critical funding for the museums.
For more information on the Museum of New Mexico licensing program, visit our website: www.mmnlicensing.org, or call/write Pamela Kelly at (505) 982-3016 ext. 27, pamela@museumfoundation.org
SCHEDULE OF PRESENTATIONS
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5
8:30-9:00 Check in and coffee service, Museum of International Folk Art Auditorium
9:00-9:30 Welcome and Summit Introduction Pamela Kelly, Vice President of Licensing, Museum of New Mexico Foundation
9:45-10:15 Handmade for the Modern World Lori Weitzner, CEO, Weitzner Ltd.
10:30-11:00 Dawn of a New Century: Rise of the Millenials & the Fall of Marth Stewart Maxwell Ryan, CEO & Founder, Apartment Therapy
11:15-11:45 Where Artisans and Fashion Meet Rebecca Van Bergen, Founder & Executive Director, NEST
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:30-2:15 New Techniques: Technology + Tradition Dr. Eric Blinman, Director of New Mexico Office of Archaeological Studies
2:45-4:45 Collections Tours
3:00-5:00 Hands on Workshops in the Atrium.
1) Block Printing a Canvas Tote Bag with Julianna Kirwin 2) Yucca Spinning and Rabbit Fur Blanket Making with Dr. Eric Blinman
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6
9:00-9:30 Check in and coffee service, Museum of International Folk Art
9:30-10:15 Ethical Considerations: Finding Inspiration in Designs from Native Cultures Tony Chavarria, Curator of Ethnology, Museum of Indian Arts & Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology
10:30-11:30 Title TBA Li Edelkoort, Forecaster, Edelkoort Inc.; Dean of Hybrid Studies, Parsons
11:45-12:00 Closing Remarks, Pamela Kelly
12:00-1:00 Collection’s Tours continue
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
DR. ERIC BLINMAN Director, New Mexico Office of Archaeological Studies
Dr. Eric Blinman has been involved in archaeology in the western United States since 1967, focusing on Ancestral Puebloan archaeology since 1979. His undergraduate training was at UC Berkeley, and his graduate degrees in anthropology are from Washington State University. His research activities have included paleoclimate studies, tribal consultations, archaeomagnetic dating, and reconstructions of the social history of Puebloan peoples. However, he is probably best known for his research on pottery and textiles and for his participation in OAS educational programs throughout New Mexico. In the summer of 2007 he participated in a colloquium, Past Climate Change: Human Survival Strategies, hosted by the king of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, in Narsaq, Greenland.
TONY CHAVARRIA Curator of Ethnology, Museum of Indian Arts & Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology
Tony R. Chavarria is the Curator of Ethnology at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology (MIAC/LAB) in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He has served as a cultural/exhibit consultant for Miami University of Ohio, the Pojoaque Pueblo Poeh Center, the National Park Service, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, the Haak’u Museum at the Sky City Cultural Center and the Southwest Association for Indian Arts. He also served as a Community Liaison and Curator for the inaugural Pueblo exhibition at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC. He resides and abides at Santa Clara Pueblo.
LIDEWIJ EDELKOORT Forecaster, Edelkoort, Inc., Dean of Hybrid Studies, Parsons
Li is one of the world’s most renowned trend forecasters, famous for her inspirational seminars and on-point trend books which are sold to companies from Armani to Zegna. She is an intuitive thinker who constantly travels the planet tracking how socio-cultural trends influence concepts, colors and materials for products in industries as varied as design, art, architecture, interiors, food and fashion. Li is also a curator of international exhibitions and one of the founding members of Heartwear, a non-for-profit organization working with craftspeople in Benin, Morocco and India. She co-founded a Humanitarianism Design Masters program while directing the Design Academy Eindhoven and in 2005 received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Aid to Artisans. In 2011, Li launched the interactive online creative forum TrendTablet.com. Since this fall, she is the Dean of Hybrid Studies at Parsons The New School in New York.
PAMELA KELLY Vice President of Licensing, Museum of New Mexico Foundation
Pamela has worked with Smith & Hawken, Banana Republic, Williams-Sonoma, Cost Plus, and Marshall Field’s, as well as international retailer The Body Shop, in product development, manufacturing, sourcing, retail operations, licensing and franchising. Utilizing her broad business experience and understanding of Santa Fe’s four state-run museums, she created the licensing program for the Museum of New Mexico. Offering manufacturers access to the archives at the Museums and helping them leverage the value of partnering with a 100 year-old historic institution, she has partnered with over 30 well-regarded manufacturers – including Kravet Fabrics, Odegard Carpets, Hickory Chair, Wolf Gordon, Jaipur Rugs, Quoizel Lamps, Shaw Rugs, and Designtex.
MAXWELL RYAN CEO & Founder, Apartment Therapy
Ten years ago, Maxwell Ryan was known as the “apartment therapist,” traveling by scooter to his clients’ homes to help them make their spaces beautiful, organized and healthy. Shortly after launching in 2001, he started a weekly email of tips and recommendations, combining education with decoration. In 2004, Maxwell, with his brother Oliver Ryan, launched Apartment Therapy, turning the weekly email into a daily blog post, reviewing stores, offering tips, posting photos of Maxwell’s design projects and answering readers’ questions. Apartment Therapy, along with it’s sister site, TheKitchn.com, continues to offer its readers different ways to build their own “good life,” based not just on style but on lifestyle. Maxwell’s fourth book, Complete and Happy Home (Clarkson Potter), is due out this fall.
REBECCA van BERGEN Founder & executive Director, NEST
Rebecca van Bergen is the founder and Executive Director of Nest, a New York City non-profit organization that is working side-by-side with the world’s most promising artisans, to sustainably develop their small businesses while simultaneously promoting peace, prosperity, and female empowerment. Nest acts as a matchmaker between artisans and companies in the fashion and home furnishings fields, overseeing those business relationships and offering advice, training and often equipment. Following a long-time dream of making a positive impact on the world through the power of capitalist forces, Rebecca van Bergen graduated with her Masters Degree in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri in 2006, with a firm idea for Nest already planted.
LORI WEITZNER CEO, Weitzner Ltd.
Lori Weitzner, principal and creative director of her eponymous New York-based studio, is internationally known for her contributions to the world of textiles. After designing collections for such brands as Sahco and Larsen, Lori is at the helm of her own innovative textile and wallcovering company, Weitzner Ltd. Over the past twenty-five years, she has translated her signature aesthetic and sophisticated color sense into a range of products, including bedding, dinnerware, rugs, and stationery. Her work belongs to the permanent collections of such museums as the Cooper Hewitt, Les Art Decoratif and London’s Victoria Albert. Known for combining modern techniques with unconventional materials, Lori’s work appeals to the senses, creating spaces that inspire the mind and nurture the soul.
CONTACT: Pamela Kelly, VP Licensing & Brand Management pamelakel26@gmail.com, 505-982-3016, ext.27 or Saro Calewarts, Brand & Media Content Manager, saro@museumfoundation.org, 505-982-3016, ext. 24
