Commencement 2019
NYSID’s graduating class received the wisdom of two influencers in interior design, Nate Berkus and Elaine Griffin, at the 2019 commencement ceremony. On May 23, cheers rose from the seats of the 92nd Street Y as the New York School of Interior Design’s 111 graduates marched across the stage to accept their diplomas. Berkus and Griffin, who both have expanded the concept of what an interior design career can be, shared powerful messages about taking risks and feeding creativity. As part of the 2019 ceremony, NYSID president David Sprouls presented them with Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts degrees from the New York School of Interior Design.
COMMENCEMENT SPEAKERS NATE BERKUS AND ELAINE GRIFFIN.
After founding her eponymous interior design firm in 1999, Griffin used her expertise to teach the public about interior design, creating a “Makeovers” series as contributing editor for Better Homes & Gardens, bringing style to charitable organizations’ spaces through her “Good Works Makeovers” for Oprah’s O at Home, and authoring the bestselling book Design Rules. Griffin told NYSID’s graduates, “If you will seek the soul of everything you do—of your clients, of a table, of a tree whose colors you look to for inspiration, or of a child who just asks for a pretty pink bedroom—if you will seek the soul, and not yourself, you will be unstoppable.” Berkus established his interior design firm at the age of 24, and since has been named in Elle Decor’s “A-List” as well as to the AD100 list in 2018. Design fans have followed Berkus through his television shows: “The Nate Berkus Show,” 2014’s “American Dream Builders” (NBC), and most recently, “Nate and Jeremiah by Design” (TLC). Berkus advised graduates to “replace the word perfect with permission. Give yourself permission to fall apart and to make mistakes, because it frees us up for what makes us all better.”
For the first time ever, the NYSID community elected two graduating students to speak at the commencement ceremony. Rachel Edelstein, BFA, spoke on behalf of the undergraduate students on the power of taking risks in design and Paula Victoria Edralin Davidsohn, MFA-1, spoke on behalf of the graduate students about designing for the greater good. Davidsohn recounted her experience of creating an interior design for survivors of violence through NYSID’s experiential learning course, conducted at the Queens Child Advocacy Center. She recalled, “There were two siblings, aged six and two …I noticed the little boy had burns and scratches on the side of his face. It was in that moment I was encouraged to design with purpose, empathy, and commitment.”
GRADUATES EMBRACING AFTER THE CEREMONY.
