Meet the Alumni: Class of 2016
Isioma Iyamah
Isioma is currently Senior Art Director at Glossier and was previously the Creative Director for VICE Media in New York City where she provided creative direction to project designers and video editors and conceptualizes branded content on VICE’s platforms. Isioma has worked on projects with Nike, Louis Vuitton, MailChimp, JennAir, YouTube, Kering Group, Estée Lauder, YouTube Music, Levis, Samsung, Verizon, Cazadores, Mars (Snickers) & UMG. Her prior experience includes working for Mother New York and PSFK Labs. Before joining MFA Products of Design, Isioma received her BA in molecular and cell biology from UC Berkeley. Her thesis, IN FLUX: Identities Under the Influence, explores how we communicate our identities—both verbally and non-verbally.
Website: isiomaiyamah.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/isioma-iyamah-845b30132
Adam Fujita
Adam is an artist and designer based in New York City. As a freelance design consultant, he has worked with Blue Apron, the Rockefeller Foundation, Ideo.org, Whole Foods, Tomorrow Lab, and Bark Box. Adam has spent the majority of his life crafting and telling stories through various forms of performance. He's worked as a voice-over actor in New York City for many years and can be heard on radio stations across the nation. Adam has a 25-year history of writing graffiti, starting in San Francisco in the early 1990s. He also launched a podcast, My Life in Letters, where he speaks with prominent graffiti artists worldwide about their experiences within graffiti culture. Adam's thesis, XENO: From the Foreign to the Familiar was presented in May 2016.
Website: adamkfujita.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/adamkfujita
Eden Lew
Eden is one of the co-founders and lead designers for Double Take Labs—a transdisciplinary design studio making exhibitions, robots and installations for clients such as MoMA Store. Previously, she worked as a designer and brand strategist at Pentagram in New York City. Eden has had experience in graphic design, UX/UI, packaging, furniture, architecture, exhibition design and design strategy for companies such as Gensler, Finell, Acumen Design, and Blue Genie Art Industries. She received her BFA in Design from the University of Texas at Austin. Eden’s thesis, Masterminds and the Art of Misbehaving, was a year-long experiment in learning the ways of a criminal mastermind with the aim of becoming a braver designer.
Website: edenlew.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/eden-lew-96a44762
Souvik Paul
Souvik is the CEO and Founder of Aurie, where his team is building a patented automated single-user, multi-use, no-touch intermittent urinary catheter system designed to improve health outcomes and quality of life while reducing environmental waste. Aurie was selected to participate in the 2021-2022 cohort of Harvard’s Launch Lab X GEO. Souvik also serves as the Healthcare Solutions Lead for J&J Design in New York City. He graduated from Harvard College in 2011, majoring in Social Studies. Prior to joining Products of Design, he worked as a trader at JP Morgan Chase. Souvik’s thesis, Unbound: Design for Paralysis and Disability, seeks to empower individuals with spinal cord injuries and disorders (SCI/D), and to tackle some of shortcomings in treatment paradigms for SCI.
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/souvik-paul-aurie
Roya Ramezani
Roya is an interdisciplinary and intercultural designer with a background in Physics. She is the Staff Product Designer at SoFi and splits her time between San Francisco and New York City. Previously, Roya was a Design Technologist and Product Manager Lead for JPMorgan Chase & Co, where she worked on products and services to address millennial customers' needs via digital channels and retail branches. She has also worked with Antler, the BBC, Google, and Nest. She completed her Bachelor of Design (BDes) from The York/Sheridan Joint Program in Design (YSDN) in Toronto, where she practiced theoretical, research, and practical aspects of design. Roya's thesis, entitled Exponent: Amplifying the Female Voices in Tech Discourse, attempts to address these issues using product design, service design, and platform design.
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/royaram
Jonathan "Jon" Lung
Jon is an American television personality and industrial designer based in San Francisco. He is currently employed as an Industrial Designer at IDEO, and previously was a co-host on the Discovery Network TV series MythBusters, premiering in November 2017. Jon and his co-host Brian Louden won their hosting duties on the reality television competition series MythBusters: The Search, which aired in January and February 2017. On the show, Jon rapidly designed and built functioning custom devices to test the validity of a wide variety of hypotheses, including a gas-powered sword-swinging rig that accurately mimicked the swing and draw of a human swordsman. Jon's MFA thesis, At the Ready: Preparation for Just About Anything, is an inquiry into "preparedness" in all its forms—from the fancifully speculative, to the soberly real.
Website: jonjuhanlung.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/jonathan-lung-131a9867
Tahnee Pantig
Tahnee is currently employed as a Design Lead at JustFix, a non-profit that builds free tools in support of New York City's housing movement. Some of her recent work has focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, including tools that help tenants avoid eviction. Previously, Tahnee worked with the Center for Urban Pedagogy to break down voting rights and civic engagement for people who have been involved in the justice system, and she created a website to help the City of Seattle improve their homelessness response system while she was employed as a Design Lead at the Future Company. As an Interaction Designer at IDEO, Tahnee was responsible for designing and implementing experiments focused on helping Americans with low-income improve their financial health. Tahnee holds a BA in Geography of Urban Systems, Architecture and Urban Design from McGill University. Her thesis, This Great Violence, was presented in May 2016.
Website: tahneepantig.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/tahneepantig
Panisa Khunprasert
Panisa works as an independent design professional for Blue Ribbon Objects and recently launched her own line called PANISA. She studied Industrial Design at Chulalongkorn University. Inspired by her family’s toy business, many of her projects have focused on children’s learning and playing experience. She has presented her work at Tokyo Designer Week 2014, and has worked as a toy designer and fashion accessories designer for Guidecraft, Blue Ribbon Marketing and Crafactor. Many of her designs have been distributed in trade fairs throughout Europe and Asia. Her thesis, HEREAFTER: Remapping the Landscape of Death and the Way it is Remembered, uses her role as a designer to create products and services that enable us to externalize grief in an empowering and beautiful way.
Website: panisakhunprasert.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/panisa-khunprasert-4189aa120
Adem Önalan
Adem Önalan is an industrial designer for Pensa in New York City. His previous employers include Farm-design, Metaphys and Hers Experimental Design Library, and Akcan Plastic. He received his Bachelor’s from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. His works have been awarded by several international and national design authorities such as Red Dot Design Award, iF Design Award, International Design Excellence Awards. He has contributed to international design fairs and exhibitions such as Tokyo Designers Week and Turkey Innovation Week. In 2013, Adem was nominated for the Student of Asia Award by the Design Association of Japan. His thesis, Vakit: On the Elasticity and Subjectivity of Time, focuses on reframing our relationship with time and identifying opportunities that lead people to spend time well.
Website: ademonalan.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/adem-%C3%B6nalan-113a8970
Judy Chi
Judy is a Brooklyn-based architect and designer who received her BA in Architecture from Barnard College, Columbia University. She is currently the Vice President of Workplace & Project Management at UHURU DESIGN in Brooklyn. Previously, she was the Director of Design and Construction for the D.E. Shaw Group, a global technology investment firm. Judy joined the MFA Products of Design program with over 15 years of experience in the commercial architecture and construction industry. She has also held design positions at MKThink, an architecture and organizational behavioral consulting firm in San Francisco, and as an in-house designer at Bloomberg LP in New York. Her design work has brought her to many places around the globe including Delhi, Tokyo and London. Judy’s thesis, Permanism: Towards the Obsolescence of Disposable Furniture, looks to reengage people with the physical products in their lives as “objects of permanence.”
Website: judy-chi.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/judy-chi-006403129
Oscar de la Hera Gomez
Oscar is a multidisciplinary designer & technologist and is the founder of delasign. He has collaborated on projects such as the Apple Watch Nike+, and his work can be found in MoMA Design Stores and Apple Stores worldwide. His work has won awards and nominations from institutions including Cannes International Festival for Creativity, Industrial Designers Society of America, The CLIOs, The One Show, Webby, The Creative Review, and Core77. Oscar, born in Basel, Switzerland, is Spanish and was raised in The Netherlands. He received his Masters of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London before joining MFA Products of Design. Oscar's thesis, Finding North, was presented in May 2016.
Website: delasign.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/delasign
Marianna Mezhibovskaya
Marianna is a freelance experience designer and design strategist, currently based in New Orleans. Her prior experiences include being a fabrication project manager at Solomon Group, lead welder for John Creech Design and Production, and product designer for SYPartners. She received a bachelor’s degree in Technical Direction from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Marianna’s thesis, Outsiders: Designing Engagement With the Incarcerated, explores how design can foster compassion for the marginalized and disenfranchised incarcerated population through the creation of social support services and products.
Website: mariannamezhibovskaya.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/marianna-mezhibovskaya-1b98517a
Natsuki Hayashi
Natsuki is the Creative Lead for BARK Essentials in New York City, where she designs products for dogs and dog lovers. Natsuki grew up in Tokyo and earned a BFA in Integrated Design, focusing on Service Design and Sustainability from Parsons The New School. Fluent in four languages (Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and English), Natsuki is interested in collaborating with people from different backgrounds and using designed objects and service experiences as catalysts for social and environmental change. Her thesis, SINCERELY, Toward a Contemporary Design of Assisted Suicide, was presented in May 2016.
Website: natsukihayashi.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/natsuki-hayashi-35871b4a
Chelsea Stewart
Chelsea is the Creative Director of Brand Design & Activation at Veev in the San Francisco Bay Area. Previously, Chelsea served as Creative Director at Samba TV and as Senior Visual Designer at Uneka. Before graduating from the Products of Design program, she was a summer designer with Nike's Global Brand Design department in Oregon. During her undergraduate studies in visual design, Chelsea also explored other interests such as furniture design, architecture, and design research from various schools and programs, including a Summer Design Invitational at the Bauhaus. Chelsea's thesis Atto: An Exploration Between Design and Movement, was presented in May 2016.
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/chelsea-stewart
Wan Jung "Long" Hung
Long is a Product Designer at Zillow in New York City. She was previously employed as a Product Designer at Goldman Sachs and before that, at FreshPlanet. After she graduated from the National Taipei University of Education, Long worked for a new design company, focusing on smartphone and tablet accessories in addition to working for an event company as a visual merchandiser. Long specializes in building digital platforms, mobile apps, responsive websites, and social media campaigns. Her recent projects include SongPop Live and SongPop 2 and serving as a mentor at UX East Meets West. Her thesis, Do It Now: Overcoming Procrastination, focuses on the moments when people notice they are procrastinating in order to reverse undesirable habits.
Website: wanjunghung.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/wanjunghung
Leila Santiago de Oliveira Santos
Leila is a Senior Service Designer at Dasa in São Paulo, Brazil. Previously, Leila was a Service Designer at Fjord and a freelance designer at Grupo Tellus where she worked with clients including Ralph Aplebaum, Blumer-Lehman, Ita, Sesc, and Paulo Bruna. She was trained as an architect and urbanist at the University of São Paulo in Brazil. Before joining MFA Products of Design, Leila specialized in architecture, exhibition, and product design for several São Paulo firms, such as Artificio Arquitetura e Exposicoes and Rafic Farah. Her thesis, Here, There & Elsewhere: A Design Journey Around Travel and Place, was presented in May 2016.
Website: cargocollective.com/santiagoleila
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/leila-santiago-89717265
Belen Tenorio
Belen is a Senior Product Designer at Spotify in New York City. Previously, she has worked as a designer for companies including Pinterest, Work & Co, and Method. During her first art direction job at Ogilvy & Mather NY, Belen cut her teeth designing for Fortune 500 clients such as IBM, American Express, Cover Girl, NFL, Met life, BP and Adobe. Born and raised in Ecuador, Belen is a passionate visual creative, pop cultural enthusiast, and food lover. Her thesis, Re-Mind, explores productivity, and re-evaluates Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Hyperactivity Disorder in the context of a quick-fix society that too eagerly medicates individuals.
Website: belentenorio.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/belentenorio
Ziyun Qi
Qi is a freelance designer based in the New York City and a current Fellow at SVA's Groundfloor Incubator. Her projects include package design, industrial design and UI/UX design. Her prior experiences include being the product design lead at Prehype, UX/UI designer for AHT Global, and ID/CMD designer at Ziba Design. She graduated from Beijing Institute of Technology with a MS in Industrial Design. Qi’s thesis, Animate: Bringing Charm and Magic to Everyday Life, aims to help people see the exciting in the mundane.
Website: qiziyun.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/ziyun-qi-332535101
Louise-Anne van 't Riet
Lou is the founder of GANG atelier, an art studio located in Brussels, which serves as a locus for events and temporary exhibitions. She also freelances for private clients, varying between design and architectural projects. After completing her MFA at Products of Design, Lou worked for the Chamber Gallery and designer Katie Stout. She has also exhibited her own artwork, including an exhibition at BOZAR (The Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels). Lou obtained her Bachelor's degree in Interior Architecture & Furniture Design in Brussels. Her thesis, entitled SIDE STEP: A Momentary Escape From the Real World Through Art, was presented in May 2016.
Lijia Yang
Yang is a designer based in Jersey City. He has previously designed for companies including Whipsaw, ECCO Design, and Questto|Nó in New York City. Yang graduated from the Academy of Art & Design, Tsinghua University in China where he majored in product design. He joined international workshops held by the Royal College of Art and LG and won recognition in various design competitions. He has worked in TP-Link Shenzhen Tech Co. Ltd as a product designer and became a design director in Leroy Global Communication Co. Ltd. With great knowledge of the entire manufacturing process from ideation to market, he earned his client’s trust and respect. His designs of the MW316R series of Mercury wireless routers are currently available on the market.