Parsons: Simply Fab
Image by Beth Zimmerman.
This week, 30 works by Parsons BFA Illustration students are on display (and for sale) on the design marketplace startup Fab.com. When Fab.com decided to forge its first-ever partnership with a university, Parsons The New School for Design was the natural fit, for many reasons.
For one thing, the BFA Illustration program has a long history of high-profile partnerships: they’ve worked with The New York Times, vinyl toy-makers Dudebox, and a host of other periodicals, books, and more. Secondly, Fab’s founder, Bradford Shellhammer, is a Parsons alumnus. And then, there are the relentlessly high standards of work the students there hold themselves to.
“The overall quality of the art we received from students at Parsons was overwhelming,” said Fab art buyer Austin Blonde. Fab received hundreds of submissions from Parsons students, which they whittled down to just over two dozen, showing now (and for sale now) on Fab.
The works, which were shepherded along with the help of faculty members Steven Guarnaccia and Noël Claro, are on display at Fab through the end of the week, at the Parsons x Fab store. The proceeds for all sales will go towards the student designers, helping them launch their professional careers (and maybe to pay for some pizza and really nice pencils).