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| Keynote Speaker: Twyla Tharp |
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Greg Gorman
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Since graduating from college in 1963, Twyla Tharp has choreographed more than 135 dances and five Hollywood movies. She has directed and choreographed three Broadway shows, and written two books. She has received one Tony Award, two Emmy Awards, 19 honorary doctorates, the Vietnam Veterans of America President's Award, and the 2004 National Medal of the Arts. She has been awarded many grants, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship. In 1965 Ms. Tharp founded her dance company, Twyla Tharp Dance. In addition to choreographing for her own company, she has also choreographed for many other companies including the American Ballet Theatre, Paris Opera Ballet, Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet, Boston Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance and the Martha Graham Dance Company. Ms. Tharp's work first appeared on Broadway in 1980 with When We Were Very Young, followed in 1981 by her collaboration with David Byrne on The Catherine Wheel. Her 1985 production of Singin' in the Rain was followed by an extensive national tour. Her dance musical Movin' Out, set to the music and lyrics of Billy Joel, premiered in 2002 and ran for three years. For this production she received the 2003 Tony Award, the 2003 Astaire Award, the Drama League Award for Sustained Achievement in Musical Theater, and the Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Choreography. In 2006, Ms. Tharp worked with Bob Dylan’s music and lyrics to create The Times They Are A-Changin’. In film, Tharp has collaborated with director Milos Forman on Hair in 1978, Ragtime in 1980 and Amadeus in 1984, with Taylor Hackford on White Nights in 1985, and with James Brooks in I'll Do Anything in 1994. Her television credits include choreographing Sue’s Leg for the inaugural episode of PBS' Dance in America, co-producing and directing Making Television Dance, which won the Chicago International Film Festival Award, and directing The Catherine Wheel for BBC Television. Ms. Tharp co-directed the television special Baryshnikov By Tharp, which won two Emmy Awards as well as the Director's Guild of America Award for Outstanding Director Achievement. In 1992 Ms. Tharp wrote her autobiography, Push Comes to Shove. Her second book, The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life was published in October 2003. Tharp continues to create and lecture around the world. Speaker's Abstract
www.twylatharp.org/ |
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Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah
Being the nephew of the late Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber al-Sabah, is perhaps not the most conventional background for a luxury fashion retailer. The Al-Sabah family has reigned in Kuwait for over 40 years, and in general they behave much in the way you would expect Middle Eastern royals to behave. Respectable values, religious piety and family loyalty are important chapters in the Al-Sabah life book. It should come as no surprise that certain factions of the family raised an eyebrow at the young prince’s “outlandish” vocation. Sheikh Majed J. Al-Sabah first became interested in fashion when he was a teenager. In 1991, after spending seven months in London, Al-Sabah returned to Kuwait in the wake of the Gulf war with the dream to create the first Villa Moda. He spent many weeks drumming up business around the world. He tirelessly knocked on fashion house doors and attended countless fashion magazine receptions. It was no easy task. What began as a simple intention to provide his compatriots with a frivolous escape from post-war dreariness became a mission to educate the West about his home and quash myths spawned from ignorance. He began by introducing American labels to Kuwait in the early nineties. He introduced New York minimalism to an audience brought up on old-school European brands. However it was persuading Domenico de Sole, then Gucci’s chief executive, to open the first Gucci store in partnership with him in 1997 that put Al-Sabah on the map. Villa Moda was re-launched in 2002 in a glittering glass box in Kuwait’s industrial port district. Al-Sabah set the fashion world ablaze with the sheer audacity of his vision. With stores in Dubai, Doha, Damascus, and Bahrain and with a London store in the works, the Villa Moda brand has blossomed into an international phenomenon. Its success is a reflection of the efforts and unflagging drive of its creator. www.villa-moda.com |
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Sonia Ashour
Sonia Ashour received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Interior Architecture in 1991, from King Faisal University in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, and a Masters of Fine Arts degree in International Hospitality design in 1994, from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. After establishing herself in the U.S. and U.K she returned to Saudi Arabia in 2000. She Co-founded the Department of Interior Design at Dar Al-Hekma private college, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and lectured in Foundation of color, Graphics and Drawing.
In 2001, Ashour established A|G interior design consultants in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia. Her firm handles high profile projects that include hotels, corporate offices, Embassies and ambassador residences for the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Ashour and her firm has been featured in Models of Success (Dream factory documentary film), Women in the Arts (Al-Jazira Int'l), Saudi Contemporaries (MBC), Ladies (Saudi English channel), Middle East interiors, Forbes, Women in Business, Gulf Weekly, and Arabian Homes.
Ashour also plays an active role in the field of academia. She teaches on a volunteer basis at several Gulf based universities and she provides a full summer training program for young female designers in the region. Ms. Ashour is passionate about where she comes from and acts as a design and cultural advisor on many mega-projects in the Gulf.
Speaker's Abstract www.agidconsultants.com
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Stephen Banham
Called a “typographic evangelist” by Eye magazine, Stephen Banham is the founder of Letterbox, a typographic studio based in Melbourne, Australia. Banham has written and produced 12 publications on typography, notably the Qwerty series, the Ampersand series and Fancy. Since 2005 he has run a very successful public forum series on graphic design and typography known as Character, the most recent of which hosted the Australian premiere of Helvetica. His design work has been covered in almost every type annual, as well as magazines such as Eye, Emigré, Adbusters, Face and Typo amongst many others. He has spoken at international design events from Barcelona to Beirut and New Zealand to New York. Coupling a love for words, as well as what they look like, he has written for various international typographic magazines. He has been a lecturer in typography since 1991, and holds a master’s degree in design research. Speaker's Abstract
www.letterbox.net.au |
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Irma Boom
Irma Boom is an Amsterdam-based graphic designer specializing in making books. For five years she worked on the concept and design and edited the 2136-page book, SHV Think Book 1996-1896, commissioned by SHV Holdings in Utrecht, and published in English and Chinese. Irma Boom studied graphic design at the AKI Art Academy in Enschede. After graduation she worked for five years at the Dutch Government Publishing and Printing Office in The Hague. In 1991 she founded Irma Boom Office, which works nationally and internationally in both the cultural and commercial sectors. Clients include the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Museum of Modern Art in New York, the United Nations and the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in Rotterdam. Since 1992 Boom has been a senior critic at Yale University School of Art and gives lectures and workshops worldwide. She has been the recipient of many awards for her book designs, and was the youngest ever laureate to receive the prestigious Gutenberg prize for her complete oeuvre. Speaker's Abstract
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Jill Dumain
Jill Dumain attended the University of California at Davis and majored in Textiles and Clothing. Her studies at Davis included textile science, marketing and production. After she graduated she began working in the Fabric Laboratory at Patagonia Inc. testing and analyzing the technical fabrics in the line. Two years later, she moved into Fabric Development to work on the development of Patagonia's natural fiber fabrics. This position led to her interest in the environmental aspect of her job, and is reflected in the organic cotton project which she has lead since 1994. From 1997-2003, she was the Director of Fabric Development overseeing all material development for the company. She was promoted to Director of Environmental Analysis in 2003, and helped lead the development of the Common Threads Garment Recycling Program. Dumain was elected as Chair of the Board of the Organic Exchange in September 2006. During her tenure at Patagonia, she has traveled extensively through Asia, Europe and the United States. Speaker's Abstract
www.patagonia.com |
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DeeDee Gordon
DeeDee Gordon, renowned youth culture expert, and co-founder of youth marketing company Look-Look, Inc., has been at the forefront of youth culture and trend research for over 15 years. While working as Director of Research and Product Development for ad agency Lambesis, Gordon and colleague Sharon Lee, broke new ground in youth market research by creating the famed L Report, the first national marketing research report to track trend diffusion among youth. In 1999, Gordon and Lee became pioneers in solutionsthe field of research by taking youth culture research “on-line” and co-founded Look-Look, Inc. a one-of-a-kind research, marketing, and trend on-line consulting company specializing in youth culture. Today, Look-Look has the “largest” global community of 14 to 35-year-old youth who report on their own culture. Using proprietary panel and database technology, the company maintains a constant two-way dialogue with trendsetting and mainstream young people from around the world. Clientele such as Coca Cola, Mercedes, Calvin Klein, Nike, Inc., Unilever and Sony Pictures come to Look-Look for expertise and instant access to information on global youth culture. As co-president at Look-Look, Inc., Gordon oversees all research analysis, product development and creative direction for client accounts and Look-Look consumer products, and with co-president Lee, directs the marketing of the company. In the fall of 2003, Gordon and Lee launched Look-Look Magazine, a unique publication that provides a forum and opportunity for young artists, photographers and writers around the world to have their work published. All profits of the magazine go to the Look-Look Arts Foundation, established to assist young people in pursuing their passion for the Arts. Recognized internationally for being a leader in youth culture, Gordon’s research and reputation are featured in numerous media outlets such as Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, Good Morning America, CNN, The New Yorker, Vogue, Time, Los Angeles Times and The New York Times Magazine. Most notably, Look-Look, Inc. was featured on PBS’s Frontline Special Merchants of Cool which is used in marketing curriculum for numerous college classrooms today. Speaker's Abstract
www.look-look.com/look/index.html
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Mohammed Harib
Mohammed Saeed Harib is the creator and Creative Director of Freej, the Middle East’s first three-dimensional animated series that debuted during Ramadan in 2006. Freej is the tale of four traditional, national women living in a secluded neighborhood in modern day Dubai who face new social issues as the city expands around them. Freej was awarded the 2007 Hamburg Animation Award. Harib attended Northeastern University in Boston where he majored in general arts and animation. Speaker's Abstract
www.freej.ae |
Alia Al-Shamsi |
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Harry Zemik |
Karrie Jacobs
Critic and journalist Karrie Jacobs is the author of The Perfect $100,000 House: A Trip Across America and Back in Pursuit of a Place to Call Home, published by Viking in 2006. She is a contributing editor at Metropolis magazine where she writes a regular column about how ideas and strategies in architecture and design play out on the American landscape, and a contributing editor at Travel + Leisure. Also, as the Itinerant Urbanist, she writes an architecture blog for the House & Garden magazine website. Jacobs was the founding editor-in-chief of Dwell, a San Francisco-based magazine about modern residential architecture and design. During her tenure, she established Dwell as a forum for innovative ideas in housing design, and spearheaded the development of a unique, naturalistic approach to photographing homes. Prior to this, she served as the architecture critic of New York magazine, where she championed the cause of architects and builders who were, in a conservative environment, willing to take risks. She has written about design, technology, and visual language for many periodicals including The New York Times, ID and Fortune, and is the co-author of Angry Graphics. In the early 1990s, Jacobs was the founding executive editor of Benetton’s Colors magazine, and part of the team that included graphic designer Tibor Kalman as editor, and photographer Oliviero Toscani as creative director. She was instrumental in devising simple, clear strategies for telling complex stories about world cultures and politics. Speaker's Abstract
www.karriejacobs.com
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Sadik Karamustafa
Sadik Karamustafa studied graphic design at the Fine Arts Academy, Istanbul and completed his MA and PhD studies at Mimar Sinan University, where he has been an associate professor since 1989. After working in advertising agencies and publishing companies, he founded his own design studio in 1979, and in 2000 founded Karamustafa Design Ltd. with his daughter Ayse. From 1983 to 1995, he worked for the Turkish Society of Graphic Designers as board member, secretary general and president, and from 1995 to 1999 he served as a vice president for Icograda. In 1997, he initiated Grafist, an educational-based international graphic design event held at Mimar Sinan University. He has won more than 40 national awards for his posters, book jackets, logos and brochures. In 2000, Karamustafa was awarded a special prize at the Fourth Asia Graphic Poster Triennial in Seoul, and an Honorary Diploma at Plovdiv International Fair Poster Exhibition in Bulgaria. An exhibition of his works was organized in DDD Gallery in Osaka, Japan in 2002, at the GGG Gallery in Tokyo, and the Nagoya Design Museum in 2003. Speaker's Abstract |
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Bernard Khoury
Bernard Khoury studied architecture at the Rhode Island school of Design and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1990, and a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1991. In 1993 he received a Masters in Architectural studies from Harvard University. In 2001, he received an honorable mention for the Borromini prize awarded by the municipality of Rome to architects under 40 years of age. In 2004, he was awarded the Architecture + Award. He has lectured and exhibited his work in prestigious academic institutions in Europe and the U.S., including a solo show of his work given by the International Forum for Contemporary Architecture at the Aedes gallery in Berlin in 2003. His work has been extensively published by the professional press. Khoury started an independent practice in 1993, and over the past ten years his office has developed an international reputation and a significantly diverse portfolio of projects both locally and abroad. Speaker's Abstract
www.bernardkhoury.com
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Chunghie Lee
Chunghie Lee is a fiber artist and writer who lectures in universities in Seoul, Korea and abroad including the Rhode Island School of Design in the United States, and Evtek Institute of Art & Design in Finland. She received her B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees from Hongik University, and was a Fulbright Exchange Scholar to the Rhode Island School of Design in 1994. Chunghie’s study of Pojagi, or Korean Traditional Wrapping Cloths, has inspired wall pieces, sculptures and wearable work. She has exhibited throughout Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Germany, Poland, France, Norway, Finland, Canada, Indonesia, North America and England. She was a guest designer and lecturer for the Victoria & Albert Museum, London “Fashion in Motion” program in April, 2000. Her works have been included in many major publications, and have been featured on the covers of Ornament> (Summer 1996), Fiberarts (Mar/Apr 1996), Surface Design Journal (Fall 1999) and Textile Forum (Germany. 4/1999). Her works are also featured in Techno Textiles: Revolutionary Fabrics for Fashion and Design published by Thames and Hudson, London in 1998. Her work was featured in the 2000 International Designer’s Yearbook published in London. Her works are in the collections of many institutions and museums including the Victoria & Albert Museum, American Museum of Art & Design in New York and the Kwangju Costume Museum in Korea. Speaker's Abstract
www.chunghielee.com |
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Fabio Novembre
Since 1966, I’ve responded to those who call me Fabio Novembre.
Since 1992, I’ve responded to those who also call me “architect”.
I cut out spaces in the vacuum by blowing air bubbles, and I make gifts of sharpened pins so as to insure I never put on airs.
My lungs are imbued with the scent of places that I’ve breathed, and when I hyperventilate it’s only so I can remain in apnea for awhile.
As though I were pollen, I let myself go with the wind, convinced I’m able to seduce everything that surrounds me.
I want to breathe till I choke.
I want to love till I die. Speaker's Abstract
www.novembre.it |
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