Emerging Designer Residency

In the summer of 2021, NYCxDESIGN and Arts Thread teamed up to present a 3-month Emerging Designer Residency Program at Hudson Yards. Four recent graduates had 13 weeks to work on their impressive portfolios and showcase projects in a highly visible space.

In addition to providing exposure for the emerging designers to launch their businesses, the space offered an opportunity for the public to see a behind-the-scenes look at the design process–from the making of rugs to the fabrication of pendant lights.

The residency took place at the Shops & Restaurants at Hudson Yards, Level 4.

Follow @nycxdesign and @artsthread to learn more about each designer and their work.

Yi Hsuan Sung @yihsuan_sung

Residency Focus: Agar Pendant Lamps

Yi Hsuan is a textile designer who recently received her MFA in Textiles from Parsons School of Design in 2020. As a curious maker who loves to integrate handcraft and technology to create biodegradable textiles, and a fashion-designer-turned textile florist who enjoys discovering the littlest surprises from the natural world, she has been cooking, weaving, braiding and gardening a glorious world of flowers from agar and food waste with the respect to natural materials and the love of organic colors and textures.

Lenny Vuitton @lennyvuitton

Residency Focus: Rugs and Pillows

Lenny Vuitton is truly a dreamer; from inside his surreal conscious out fly creatures with three eyes and slimey noses turning into elaborate doodles, garments and home goods. Lenny takes a daring yet exciting approach in his mission to dismantle society's expectations. A lifestyle brand that unifies art and fashion and design while drawing relations to different aspects of life.

Lenny Vuitton began studying fashion during his undergraduate degree at Columbia College Chicago; afterward he continued on to his studies with a Masters in fashion design at FIT NYC, recently graduating in 2019. Following Lenny Vuitton has continued to work on his own brand with a strong focus on doing collaborations with other brands.

Xin Min @xinmin.studio

Residency Focus: Ceramics

Xin Min graduated from Parsons School of Design. Her work focuses on tabletop designs incorporated with the modern lifestyle. While ceramics is her favorite material, she applies pure color to all her creations to illustrate the minimalist yet delightful aesthetics with maximal practicability.

Aside from her professional work, Xin Min has also been successful in other areas. She emerged second at the 2019 Moroccanoil sustainable product design competition and the 2020 K-Design Design award. She has also been a photographer, marking her presence in 2018 Fashion Week, a producer in 2018 Tmall x Moschino and 2019 Tmall x HM Studio ss live broadcasts.

Lizzy Itzkowitz @lizzyitzkowitz

Residency Focus: Custom Silk Screened Home Accessories

Lizzy Itzkowitz is a cartoonist, illustrator, pattern designer, and GIF creator from New York City. Her love of the visual arts propelled her to NYC’s LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and then The School of Visual Arts, graduating with a BFA in Cartooning in 2018. At SVA she brought her love of bright colors to screen printing and pattern design. She’s now on a mission to spread happiness and energize the world with her fun and intricate designs.