Happy New Year from all of us at the Rowena Fund, we hope you had a wonderful holiday season!

Rowena Awards

We started off 2018 welcoming Pratt’s new president, Frances Bronet. She recognized Pratt’s unique status as the origin of industrial design pedagogy and spoke of excellence in design as we awarded GM’s Chief Designer, John Cafaro, BID ’77. We were honored that Susan Skarsgard, Manager of the GM Design Archive & Special Collections, introduced John, who designed Corvettes and Camaros. “Rowena had a profound impact on all of us for sure,” John said. His boss, VP of Global Design, Mike Simcoe, along with John’s whole family, showed up! The Young Designer Award went to Ariana Zarrillo, BID '13, a footwear designer. One of the best examples of a student 3D exercise was transformed into the trophy, and this year, Sam Cotton, with his teacher, Kate Hixon, made 3 trophies that were presented to John, Ariana, and President Bronet.

The annual Rowena Awards celebration is the fund’s major fundraising event and an opportunity for friends, alumni, faculty, and former and current students to honor Miss Reed’s teaching of abstract visual relationships. Special thanks to Karen Stone, Knoll, and Sherri Jones, Executive Director of Alumni Relations, for a spectacular ceremony in 2018! We mourn the passing of StacyAnn White, our friend in the alumni office.

Rowena Prizes and Scholarships

Kathryn Filla organized a beautiful display of the best student work for our jury to select winners of $4,000 in Rowena Prizes. We will be looking at another group in a few short months! Last spring’s class was:

• Grad winner: Jessica Smith
• Senior winner: Zhijian Xiong
• Junior winner: Imaan Sattar
• Sophomore winner: Charlotte Logeais

In addition, from our endowment, Pratt awarded three Rowena ID scholarships to Eunchan Kim, Nicolaus Smith and William Stafford.

Alumni Day

The annual Pratt event was especially exciting for me because I was selected for the Pratt Alumni Achievement Award! Of course, I attributed my success to Rowena teaching me how to make the world more beautiful. Also, Kathryn Filla gave alumni a hands-on experience by leading a workshop in the new 3D Center for alumni eager to create some 3D compositions!

Also, Constantin Boym mounted an exhibit in the ID department called “The First Five Years," focusing on projects done in the first years after graduation of some of the most successful recent BID and MID alumni. Let’s plan some more ways to demonstrate our diverse career paths and practice our skill, taste, sense of responsibility and talent!

Rowena Website

‍The Rowena Fund is updating the website with Seth Kornfeld, who designed the book and the original website. Gail Hannah, who authored the book, has written a more detailed history of the fund, and we are adding more dimensions about the award winners.

Check it out: Rowenafund.org

Linda Celentano is managing the Instagram account. When you follow us, you’ll get inspired by the beautiful forms. Of course, we welcome your contributions!

Follow Us On Instagram: @rowena_reed_kostellow

Rowena Exhibit

Our new fund board member, Tarik Currimbhoy, is working on an exhibit that tells the story and shows the global impact of the ID program. We are looking for artifacts, projects, and objects from the early years. We are beginning to survey what material is available: photos, slides, models, video, notes, etc. When we know what exists, we can curate and develop the narrative, and then begin to assemble a collection and design the show. With possible local venues in mind, Tarik plans to create an exhibit that will travel! With your support, this will be a major project of the fund.

Send a description of items we could use to tarik@currimbhoy.net.

Rowena Mission

It is crucial to offer alumni and students meaningful recognition of their successes to help them advance our field. The Rowena Fund shines a light on achievements and offers vital encouragement, especially to students as they work hard to realize their dreams. Every day, they are building off the fundamentals set forth by Rowena to prepare to become our next generation of designers who know how to make the world more beautiful.

Rowena Contributions

‍This is our annual fundraising letter. We encourage you to make a tax deductible contribution to the Rowena Fund to enable us to continue our awards programs and the new exhibit.

‍Donate Online or send checks to:

The Rowena Reed Kostellow Fund at Pratt
‍Institutional Advancement
Myrtle Hall 3W
200 Willoughby Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11205