New Work: ‘IMPACT: 50 Years of the CFDA’
Video of our graphics, projections and interactive displays at the opening of IMPACT.
This season’s New York Fashion Week kicked off with the opening of IMPACT: 50 Years of the Council of Fashion Designers of America a commemorative exhibition at the Museum at FIT. Founded in 1962, the CFDA is the leading trade organization of the U.S. fashion industry and currently has a membership of over 400 of America’s foremost womenswear, menswear, jewelry and accessory designers. Conceived by CFDA President Diane von Furstenberg, IMPACT is the first museum exhibition to celebrate the organization and features over 100 garments and accessories designed by its members over the past five decades. The show remains on view at FIT through April 20.
Pentagram has a longstanding collaboration with the CFDA—Michael Bierut designed the organization’s identity in 1991—and was invited to create graphics and installations for the exhibition. Eddie Opara and his team have designed dynamic media that highlight the work of the nearly 600 designer-members who have graced the organization since its inception. Michael Bierut and Katie Barcelona contributed a fashionable identity and graphics for the exhibition.
New Work: SCAD Museum of Art
An interactive installation can draw a user into an immersive experience, illuminating an exhibition or object in depth or detail. It may also foster interaction between users, creating a collaborative atmosphere that sets a welcoming social tone for an institution. For an expansion of the SCAD Museum of Art, the contemporary art and design museum at the Savannah College of Art and Design, Pentagram’s Eddie Opara and team have created a unique interactive table that introduces the museum and its programs in a communal experience. Visitors gather around the table to view and exchange a series of “cards” that dynamically present information about the museum exhibitions, collections and programs.
Conceived by Opara and team, the communal table is an ideal form for the museum. SCAD supports a large community of students, artists, designers and educators in Savannah and beyond. The school is a pioneering institution with a campus of over 60 buildings spread throughout the city, many restored in the historic and Victorian districts. Designed by Savannah-based architects Sottile & Sottile, the new $26 million expansion adds 65,000 square feet to the existing 1856 Greek Revival building, originally the headquarters of the Central of Georgia Railway. The expansion creates additional galleries for the museum’s temporary exhibitions and permanent collection, new classrooms and performance spaces.
Video of the table in action, from development to installation.
New Work: ‘The Art of Andy Warhol 2012 Calendar’
Looking to add a little graphic pop to your walls in the new year? Pentagram’s Eddie Opara and his team have designed The Art of Andy Warhol 2012 Calendar, a 16-month wall calendar that celebrates the work of the iconic Pop artist. The coming year marks the 25th anniversary of Warhol’s death (on February 22, 1987) and the calendar, authorized by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and published by Abrams, highlights many of the artist’s most popular and recognizable paintings, prints, drawings and collages, in combination with less familiar works.
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Eddie Opara Named to Ebony Magazine’s Power 100 List
Pentagram is thrilled to announce our partner Eddie Opara has been named to Ebony Magazine’s Power 100, the annual list that celebrates “innovators, movers and shakers…who are shaping the world in new and different ways.” The list, published in Ebony’s December 2011/January 2012 issue (print only), recognizes influential leaders in politics, sports, entertainment and the arts. Eddie is honored alongside President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Jay-Z, Oprah Winfrey, Lil Wayne, Viola Davis, Cory Booker, Kanye West and Marcus Samuelsson, among many others.
Congratulations Eddie!
Awards: AIGA 50 Books/50 Covers
The AIGA’s annual “50 Books/50 Covers” competition showcases the best-designed books of the year, Kindles be damned. Pentagram is pleased to announce three of our books made the cut in the “50 Books” half of this year’s competition: Water Matters: A Design Manual for Water Conservation in Buildings, designed by Eddie Opara and team for the New York City Department of Design and Construction; Team Michael Bierut’s Design Research: The Store That Brought Modern Living to American Homes; and Mah Jongg: Krak Bam Dot!, designed by Abbott Miller to accompany the exhibition “Project Mah Jongg at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York.
The winning selections can be seen online in the AIGA Design Archives, and at an exhibition that opens today at the AIGA National Design Center in New York. (Check out the accompanying survey, What the Book.) The winning books will join the AIGA archives at the Denver Art Museum and Columbia University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Collection at the Butler Library.
Congratulations to our designers, teams and clients for all the great work!
New Work: ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’
On May 25, 2011, Oprah Winfrey ended the incredible 25-year run of “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” the television program that inspired millions of people around the world and made her a cultural icon. Pentagram’s Eddie Opara and team have designed The Oprah Winfrey Show: Reflections on an American Legacy, a new commemorative book that celebrates the show and its impact. Published by Abrams, the book is out this week.
Opara and his team designed the book to function as both elegant homage and pop-culture keepsake. The book combines a compelling narrative of the program’s history with 150 archival photographs and essays, testimonials and remembrances by notable personalities about the importance of Winfrey’s work in various social issues. Contributors to the book include Nelson Mandela, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Elie Wiesel, Bono, Ellen DeGeneres and Julia Roberts; alongside figures from Winfrey’s talk show, such as Dr. Phil McGraw and Dr. Mehmet Oz. The design deftly weaves all these elements together with a grace and clarity of composition that reflects one the most influential and beloved figures of our time.
Eddie Opara to Speak at RGD DesignThinkers Conference
Quick Link: Eddie Opara to Speak at RGD DesignThinkers Conference
New Work: ‘Water Matters’
Recent weather notwithstanding, water remains a precious resource in New York City. Famed for its gravity-fed aqueducts, the city’s water supply is remarkably reliable and known for its quality. However, the city faces growing demand, the continual danger of system shutdowns, and the cost of increasing energy consumption for wastewater treatment. To meet these challenges, PlaNYC 2030, the city’s official strategy for sustainability, has identified conservation as fundamental to protecting the water network, and the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) has established comprehensive guidelines for efficient water use in buildings throughout the city.
Working with the DDC, Pentagram’s Eddie Opara and team have designed Water Matters: A Design Manual for Water Conservation in Buildings. Using a bold and playful system of information graphics, the book presents the city’s recommendations for this important initiative in an engaging and accessible manner. The book has been selected for AIGA’s prestigious 50 Books/50 Covers awards.
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