Pratt’s Rowena Reed Kostellow Archive Chronicles a Half-Century of Shaping Industrial Design

The new online resource led by a group of alumni, students, faculty, and the School of Design includes ephemera, photographs, objects, and stories of the influential designer and educator.

As a leading educator and designer from the 1930s to 1980s, Rowena Reed Kostellow shaped the global study and practice of industrial design during her over five decades at Pratt Institute. As she once stated, “Not enough time and attention are given to the designer’s first responsibility: to find and develop the visual solutions for living in our environment.” Her career was dedicated to promoting thoughtful design for daily life, and with her husband, Alexander Kostellow, and Donald Dohner, she established Pratt’s Industrial Design program and its foundation curriculum with an attention to form, function, and industry. This pioneering program inspired industrial design courses across the globe.

The newly launched Rowena Reed Kostellow Digital Archive honors that legacy by bringing together archival material from Pratt Libraries and submissions from alumni. It is a publicly accessible resource for students studying industrial design as well as anyone interested in Kostellow’s influence on 20th-century design. Its advisory group of former Pratt students, some of whom studied under Kostellow, included Adjunct Associate Professor of Industrial Design Linda Celentano, BID ’80; Tarik Currimbhoy, BID ’79 and Master of Architecture ’88; Meghan Day, MID ’23; Adjunct Professor-CCE of Industrial Design Kate Hixon, BID ’81; and Rose Moon, BID ’23. The Rowena Reed Kostellow Digital Archive was made possible by the generous support of Lisa Smith, BID ’77.

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