Students Win Angelo Donghia Foundation Scholarships
New York, NY (June 26, 2013) Two BFA students from New York School of Interior Design, Anne Aristya and Alevtina Vinokur, were awarded the prestigious Angelo Donghia Foundation Scholarship for 2013. They were two of twelve winners from over 200 competitors for the $30,000 award which covers senior year tuition, board and maintenance, books and other requisite student materials. The Angelo Donghia Foundation, Inc. was established by Angelo Donghia, the internationally recognized interior designer.
Aristya’s project is a community workspace for BOLD, a teen magazine that aims to nurture Gen Y’s moral, intellectual, and social development. Aristya was inspired by BOLD’s method of cultivating the individual identities of teenagers and she used the concept of “Writing on a Blank Page” as a starting point for her design concept, Revolution of Ideas Space. She describes her winning entry, “By highlighting the process of creation, both virtually and physically, the space enhances the employees’ creativity and provides flexibility, collaboration, and freedom while working. Both a figurative and literal bold architectural statement, BOLD’s workplace has been designed to reflect the nature of teens and the values of BOLD as a company. Employees, some of whom are teenagers, can choose a working style that best fits their identity, with a wide selection of modular furniture configurations and functions. The space therefore becomes a holistic experience of finding identity, where employees can experience genuine comforts in the working environment, and can express themselves creatively.”
Vinokur created a restaurant design project inspired by the fashion designer, Elie Saab, whose dresses have fluid and layered forms, striking geometric shapes and precise tailoring. Vinokur says of her winning design for the Detras Restaurant, “The inspiration was the garment design process, where the exacting hard lines and measurements of two-dimensional drawing patterns translate into soft and fluid draping fabric that follow a body’s curves. This led me to design hard-edged architectural and ornamental elements like brass screens in front of the windows, contrasted against the soft interior drapes and fluid chandeliers. The choice of materials and fabrics were inspired by Elie’s signature techniques, such as strong layering, the use of raw vs. refined, opaque vs. sheer, soft forms against hard lines. Distinct vantage points are offered by the multi-level space, playing with obscurity and discovery to ensure that the guests uncover additional areas of the space. Each visit presents a unique dining experience.”
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Angelo Donghia (1935–1985) was noted for his classic minimal style applied to celebrity residences, hotels, and corporations and he was one of the first interior designers to extend his design point of view to mass-market products. The New York based Donghia Companies include Donghia Associates, Donghia Furniture, Donghia Textiles, Donghia Showrooms, and Donghia Licensing. To this day, Donghia, Inc. maintains the design philosophy and vision of its founder through the company and also through the Angelo Donghia Foundation, which provides scholarships each year to promising interior design students in the United States.