Noah Howard (BRDD 2025) and ID Classmates Design Objects for Providence's Zoo
This fall, students in RISD's Design for Animal Enrichment course worked to develop engaging puzzle feeders and toys that encourage the animal residents of Providence's Roger Williams Park Zoo to exhibit behaviors typically displayed in the wild. Noah Howard (BRDD 2025, Industrial Design, Anthropology) and his classmates spent hours observing the animals, speaking with zookeepers and researching animal behavior before creating these enrichment devices. Pictured here, a tamandua (a genus of anteater) enjoys yogurt from Noah's puzzle feeder.
Elizabeth Goodspeed (BRDD 2016) is First US Editor-at-Large for It's Nice That
Elizabeth Goodspeed (BRDD 2016, Graphic Design, Cognitive Science) has joined the team of UK art and design website It's Nice That as its first US Editor-at-Large. In addition to her editorial work, Goodspeed is an "independent designer, art director, and writer specializing in branding, packaging, and book and editorial design. She also publishes Casual Archivist, a design history focused newsletter."
In The Architect's Newspaper's "In the Know" Column, Nik Bentel (BRDD 2017, Industrial Design, Modern Culture and Media) is profiled as one of four "architects not making architecture, but forging new lanes in design." After graduating from the Brown|RISD Dual Degree program, Bentel earned a Master of Architecture from Columbia University. Now, he works as "an artist and designer who creates ... limited-edition clothing, furniture, accessories, and homewares that focus on narrative as much as function."
Work by Yukti Agarwal (BRDD 2024.5) Highlighted in Article on Jacquard Design Course
A recent RISD News and Events article titled "RISD Textiles Students Weave Personal Narratives" documents the fall 2023 Jacquard Design course's mid-semester critique. The piece highlights a project in wool, cotton and linen project by Yukti Agarwal(BRDD 2024.5, Textiles, Theory and History of Art and Design, Contemplative Studies, and Psychology) that is based on routes she walked during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ethan Hoskins (BRDD 2024) Featured in Hyperallergic
Ethan Hoskins (BRDD 2024, Apparel Design, Psychology) challenged himself to create a new painting each week for a full year using materials including cardboard, conte crayon, colored pencil, charcoal, graphite, fabric, papier-mâché, and “the forgotten medium we all have at our fingertips: time." In Hyperallergic, Ethan talks with curator Chenoa Baker about markmarking, music, and “the curse of perfectionism.”
"Sometimes we come across promising young talent that we know has a fruitful career ahead of them," writes UK art and design website It's Nice That. "Such is the case with US-based illustrator Joey Han" (BRDD 2022.5, Illustration, Modern Culture and Media). While Joey's illustrations span multiple media and influences, they are tied together by a sense of nostalgia and a deep attention to place and environment.
Biomimetic Designs by Kate Reed (BRDD 2021) in Parametric Architecture
Parametric Architecture highlights the Beyond Biomimicry collection by Kate Reed (BRDD 2021, Industrial Design, Independent Concentration in Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship). The collection "[utilizes] interspecies collaboration in the design process—both computationally and physically." For example, the genesis of the Root Shoe the differential growth logic naturally found in mushrooms.
The Brown|RISD Dual Degree class of 2023 delivered their capstone presentations in the Granoff Center's Martinos Auditorium on May 30 and 31, 2023. The wide-ranging presentation - by graduates Emma T Capps, Rachel Moss, Susie Zhu, Annie Chen, Eugene Rhee, Sofia Karadogan, Seabass Immonen, Hannah Skye Dunnigan, Laney Day, Lara Karadogan, Sarah Woo, and Sherenté Harris - are summarized by an article in RISD News.
Jo Ouyang (BRDD 2026) Interviewed in Brown Daily Herald
Jo Ouyang (BRDD 2026, Painting, Ethnic Studies) is one of three students profiled in a recent Brown Daily Herald article on "art-making as an outlet, exploration, expression of queer identity." “Art has really been helping me explore my own queerness and my own identity … contending [with] what it means to be from Georgia as a queer Asian American," Jo says. Their work "[focuses] on nature, their relationship to land, and futuristic world-building for a 'more radical, more equitable' planet."
Nikolas Bentel (BRDD 2017) Designs Handbags Based on Everyday Objects
The Electric Cord Bag is the latest in a line of limited edition handbags based on everyday objects by Nikolas Bentel (BRDD 2017, Industrial Design, Modern Culture and Media). As Fast Company points out, Bentel's work "frequently deploys the skills he acquired from his joint degree in industrial design from the Rhode Island School of Design and modern culture and media from Brown."
