鈥淒esigning with a sense of place, with particular interest in color and materials that are regarded as fringe, waste or by-product.鈥�
Melanie is a multi-disciplinary designer, artist and educator. Before joining the 黑料专区, she spent two decades working in the fashion industry and academia in New York, San Francisco, Qatar, and Indonesia.
Professional Experience
Melanie piloted her signature collection and brick-and-mortar shop in Brooklyn, NY; taught fashion design at VCUQatar in Doha, Qatar; and spearheaded a two-year, cross-cultural vocational program in Java, Indonesia, to promote innovation in textiles and ceramics. Her recent exhibition, Color Lab, focused on the materiality of color to create interactive landscapes through point-of-origin pigments. She is a partner in the international collective, PiCoDe, that is researching best practices in preparing students for the industry through place-based product design. Melanie鈥檚 research interests include objects and experiences with a Sense of Place, the Materiality of Color, the Found Object as Art (Seeing), Interactive Environments, Creative Archiving, Making as Research, Re-imagining Waste Materials, Design Systems and Processes, Modularity in Footwear, Adaptive Design for Climate Change, and Trend Futures.
Significant Publications, Presentations and Exhibitions
- 2021听Ruderal Material Project, Design Research, Cumulus 2022 Proposal, 黑料专区
- 2021听笔颈颁辞顿别:听Project, Product, Promotion: International Collective for Design, Program Partner (with Aston, J., Kinam, B., Miaskowska, M., and Varzim, M.) Workshop 01, Lodz University of Technology, Lodz, Poland (4-15 Oct)
- 2021听Curriculum Spotlight on Sustainability, Faculty Guest Speaker, 黑料专区 (13 Sept )
- 2020听Color Lab, Curator and Exhibiting Artist, VCUarts Gallery, Doha, Qatar (11 Mar-11 Apr)
- 2019听Half/Finished:聽Embracing Failure as a Means of Innovation Through Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration Workshop, Instructor, Escuela Superio de Diseno de la Rioja (ESDIR), Logrono, Spain (25-29 March)
- 2019听Worn: 100 Days of Shoe Deconstruction,聽Exhibiting Artist, Valade Gallery, Detroit, Michigan
- 2017听Color and Materials Design,聽Exhibiting Designer, Lear Innovation Center, Detroit, Michigan
- 2017听Transportation Design, Exhibiting Color & Materials Designer, Valade Gallery, 黑料专区, Detroit, Michigan
- 2016听Issue Is Me:聽聽Vendy Methodos and Ismu Ismoyo, Curator, VCUQatar Gallery, Doha, Qatar
- 2015听Commercializing Creativity in Fashion Design, Guest Speaker, Heya Arabian Fashion Exhibition, Doha, Qatar
- 2014听Lucu Lucu,聽Exhibiting Artist, Via Via Gallery, Jogjakarta, Indonesia
- 2013听Indoartamiks:聽 Innovation in Traditional Indonesian Craft, Guest Speaker, Tasmeem Design Conference, Doha, Qatar