2 IIDA Members to Join College of Fellows

March 26, 2014  by in Designer Weekly   

Honorees for 2014 include Joan Blumenfeld and sitting president Felice Silverman. Both will be introduced and celebrated at the IIDA Annual Meeting to be held Sunday, June 8, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

Admission to the College of Fellows is the highest honor paid by IIDA to its professional members, recognizing those whose activities and efforts have benefitted and enhanced IIDA, and whose design works have influenced and enhanced the Interior Design profession.

“The IIDA College of Fellows proudly receives Felice and Joan as this year’s honored inductees,” said Viveca Bissonnette, College of Fellows chair. “Their contributions to IIDA and to interior design over the years have demonstrated their considerable passion for design and for the profession. Both have been tremendous assets to the design community, bringing valued insight and experience to their leadership roles. I look forward to honoring both of them and their achievements as we welcome them to the College of Fellows at our 20th anniversary celebration at NeoCon in June.”

Silverman is president and a principal at Silverman Trykowski Associates Inc., in Boston. In her 25 years as a practicing interior designer, she has maintained a focus on the design of spaces for education, children, healthcare, fitness, and commercial office interiors. In addition to her role on the IIDA international board of directors, she currently serves IIDA on the finance committee and the perspective editorial advisory board. She also is a past president of the IIDA New England Chapter. She serves on the board of overseers at the Boston Architectural College (BAC),  where she serves as adjunct faculty. Previously, she has served on the BAC’s board of trustees, and as chair of the BAC’s Interior Design Advisory Board and Student Development Committee. She has been an instructor, advisor, representative and guest critic at the BAC, as well as at Wentworth Institute of Technology, Mt. Ida College  and The New England School of Art and Design. 

Blumenfeld is global interior design director at Perkins + Will and has championed innovative thinking and high standards of design for the creation of humane, sustainable workplaces, schools and institutions. At the same time, she has enriched the community through the mentoring of young professionals — particularly young women — and through educating the public on issues relating to the interior design profession. Blumenfeld has sustained a vibrant career, highlights of which include award-winning projects for a diverse base of respected clients, including vente-privee (National Society of American Registered Architects Design Award of Honor, 2013); Haworth (IIDA Best Large Showroom NeoCon award in 2012); NYU Stern School of Business (2010 Lester Dundes Award, Educational/Institutional category, Second Place; Interior Design magazine’s “Best of the Year 2010”); Thomson Reuters Headquarters; Perkins + Will (Interior Design magazine’s “Best of the Year 2007” Merit Award, Sustainable Design); Fidelity Investments; Sotheby’s; Guggenheim Museum, New York; and many more. She currently serves on the advisory board at the New York School of Interior Design,  and until last year had been serving on the executive committee of the Harvard Graduate School of Design Alumni Council.