Keeping in Good Company
Otis College Trustee and Fashion Design mentor Leonardo Lawson (seated) with Fashion Design students. Read about Lawson and other Otis partners in this new GRID story.
It doesn’t take much to realize that spring is upon us—the superblooms are so big they can be seen from space!—and this is abundantly apparent in the studios and classrooms at Otis College, where seniors are furiously working toward the finish line that is O-Launch weekend, when their final projects will be displayed for all to see.
It’s also been an exciting year at Otis due to several partnerships with industry leading companies and creatives that are providing students with real-life experience before they graduate. Writer Lisa Butterworth spoke with several key people behind these collaborations for the spring issue of GRID at Otis College and wrote about how mutually beneficial these relationships are. “Partnering with these students is a great way for us to find inspiration and helps us think differently,” says Heidi Gonzalez, Director of Product Development at furniture company Jonathan Louis, which expanded its partnership with Otis to the Product Design department after first working with Otis Design Lab on several projects.
The Access: A Netflix x Otis Entertainment Certificate Program is another remarkable project years in the making that will enroll its first cohort of 18 students this Fall. At the heart of the program is providing students the practical, technical, and creative experience needed for jobs in entertainment marketing, a field where alumna and Trustee Dawn Baillie (’86 BFA Communication Arts, Illustration) has thrived as co-founder of creative agency BLT Communications. Baillie spoke to writer Eva Recinos about this amazing program, which you can read in this issue of GRID.
Also not to be missed in this issue is my interview with Miky Lee, this year’s commencement speaker and honorary degree recipient, who, as vice-chairwoman of Korea’s CJ Group, has been instrumental in bringing Korean music, film, and culture to the United States. The Hollywood Reporter calls her the “most important mogul in South Korean entertainment.” “I want to support talented artists who are able to share their voice with the world. I always want to say to people, ‘Here is the bridge I have built, use it, and reach the other side,’” says the visionary in our interview.
This spring issue of GRID is also brimming with essential new work featured in Alumni Spotlights, including Melanie Abrantes (’12 BFA Product Design), Asia Eng (’07 BFA Communication Arts, Illustration), Gajin Fujita (’97 BFA Fine Arts), Marsha Hopkins (’97 BFA Fine Arts, ’02 MFA Writing), and Danh Tran (’06 BFA Fashion Design). We hope you are inspired by their ingenuity and vision.
Thank you for taking a moment to read this Spring issue of GRID. In the fall, look out for a new home for our longform storytelling. Until then, enjoy spring and see you at O-Launch!
Anna Raya
Editorial Director