NYSID Announces Honorary Degree Recipients for 2020 Virtual Commencement Ceremony
Renowned New York-based designers Ellie Cullman of esteemed firm Cullman & Kravis and Tony Chi and Tammy Chou of award-winning studio tonychi will address the Class of 2020, and will be conferred with the New York School of Interior Design’s honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts in Interior Design degrees at the Virtual Commencement Ceremony on Thursday, June 11, at 10:30 AM. For more information, visit nysid.edu/commencement.
Ellie Cullman
Founding Partner, Cullman & Kravis
Ellie Cullman is a founding partner at the esteemed firm Cullman & Kravis. Known for their award-winning traditional designs, best-selling books and leadership in the community, Ellie and her team are redefining the traditional interior with a modern perspective.
Ellie was born and raised in Brooklyn, where her family owns the renowned Peter Luger steak house. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa magna cum laude from Barnard College and pursued East Asian Studies at Columbia Graduate School. Ellie founded Cullman & Kravis along with her business partner the late Hedi Kravis more than 35 years ago. The firm is now led by Ellie and her four partners, Lee Cavanaugh, Sarah Ramsey, Claire Ratliff and Alyssa Urban.
Cullman & Kravis has been included in the AD100 every year since 2000, and was named to the AD Hall of Fame in 2018. The firm is consistently featured on the Elle Décor A-List and the Luxe Interiors + Design Gold List. Ellie has been the recipient of the NYC D&D Building’s Stars of Design” award and the New York School of Interior Design’s Albert Hadley Lifetime Achievement Award.
Ellie is the co-author, along with long-time colleague Tracey Pruzan, of three design books, Decorating Master Class: The Cullman Kravis Way (NY: Harry Abrams, 2008), The Detailed Interior: Decorating Up Close with Cullman & Kravis (NY: Monacelli Press, 2013) and From Classic to Contemporary, Decorating with Cullman & Kravis (NY: Monacelli Press, 2017). Over the years, she has frequently lectured on decorating and chaired a variety of antique shows.
Ellie has been a member of the Museum of Modern Art’s Contemporary Council since 1973, and a board member of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, Inc. since 1974. She was a trustee of Barnard College from 1989 to 1996, and was a member of the board of the Brooklyn Museum of Art from 1998 to 2009. She also sits on the board of “Friends of Florence,” a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the arts of Florence, and the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club.
As a New York City based design firm, Cullman & Kravis has a significant track record of commitment to its urban community. The firm has completed pro bono projects for such organizations as Safe Horizon, the city’s leading provider of domestic violence shelter services; the New York Restoration Project’s Garden of Hope and a medical intensive care unit waiting room at Mount Sinai hospital. C&K is currently designing a teaching kitchen at the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club and a patrons lounge at the Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center.
Tony Chi
Co-Founder, tonychi
Tony Chi is the globally-renowned hospitality guru and founder of tonychi, an award-winning studio based in New York. For over thirty years, he has been bringing visionary insights and a holistic, hands-on approach to developing ground-up, high velocity design projects that transform global business. With a wide-ranging portfolio that includes iconic names, like the Rosewood London, Intercontinental Geneva, Andaz Tokyo, Park Hyatt Shanghai, Rosewood Hong Kong and New York's Carlyle Hotel in the making, Chi’s properties harness the intangible allure of both space and place, where cultures and communities converge, and dualities contrast and interact to create unforgettably unique, transcendent and emotional experiences
Tammy Chou
Co-Founder, tonychi
Whether you are a client, a supplier presenting your new collection, a new designer on your first interview, you will most likely be acquainted with a warm welcome by Tammy Chou upon your arrival at tonychi studio in New York. Since the founding of tonychi in 1984, Tammy has provided an essential management role as Vice President to this reputable and visionary design and lifestyle studio.
In her life and career, Tammy’s experiences and pursuits have been one of connections, transformations and the pursuit of excellence which have all contributed greatly to our design industry.
Being born in Taiwan and immigrating to the United States at the age of 14, Tammy was immediately immersed into American culture at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn.
After graduating from CUNY Baruch College with a Bachelor in Finance, she took her first big step into the world of entrepreneurship in sales for jewelry and manufacturing. Here she learned and mastered the important skills and relationships of connecting buyers and sellers as well as the essentials of an impeccable and sophisticated eye for quality, tradition and durability of products and materials.
This experience gave her the ability for her next venture as a successful restauranteur creating a vegan and organic Asian eatery Zen Palate. Amid the tough and competitive restaurant industry of New York, Zen Palate became a destination for diverse New Yorkers among whom were neighborhood locals, finance executives and media personalities who enjoyed the genuine hospitality, warm ambiance of an organic rooted cuisine.
In this time, she became a mother of two children and co-founded tonychi studio with her husband. Their shared a commitment for design and hospitality culture became the core values of the tonychi studio culture and experience which are admired in the industry and beyond.
In recent years Tammy has also established with her daughter, Alison, a new venture called “tzelan” collaborating with artisans and craftsman to bring to a new generation an intimate and deep appreciation of the art of curation and lifestyle.
Tammy’s skills and passion in creativity and business management have been a bedrock for the tonychi studio and synonymous with tonychi’s reputation as an influencer in lifestyle, design and hospitality culture.