
Cynthia Rowley
Cynthia Rowley was seven when she constructed her first dress. As a senior at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she sold her first collection of eight pieces to a number of New York’s most prominent stores. Since then, the Cynthia Rowley Collection has grown beyond women’s wear to include beauty, baby, bicycles, active-wear, home sewing patterns, tools, handbags, shoes, legwear, and shapewear.
Rowley is a best-selling author of the Swell series and has five books to date; her most recent, Slim: A Fantasy Memoir, includes her original drawings. She is a mother of two daughters and is married to Bill Powers, co-owner of Half Gallery on the Lower East Side and judge on Bravo’s competition series Work of Art. Bill and Cynthia co-founded the art retail site Exhibition A with Laura Martin and Gabby Munoz, which offers limited-edition contemporary fine artworks to its members. Rowley has collaborated in creative ventures and capsule collections with artists Will Cotton, Nick Cave, Olaf Breuning, and Ryan McNamara, and is constantly pursuing groundbreaking artistic partnerships.
She has appeared on numerous television shows, including The Late Show with David Letterman, Oprah, Good Morning America, and Today. She regularly appears as a guest judge on Project Runway and Design Star. Rowley’s designs have been featured in nearly every major magazine domestically and internationally, including Vogue, Elle, W, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, Marie Claire, Lucky, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Elle Décor, In Style, and Vogue Paris, among many others. The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) honored her with the prestigious Perry Ellis Award for Womenswear and recognized her again with a nomination for New Menswear Design Talent. The Cynthia Rowley Collection is sold in better department, specialty, and online stores, as well as in approximately 60 Cynthia Rowley shops around the world.
Announcements
Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy by John Lobell
Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy
By John Lobell
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: June 2020
Noted Louis I.Kahn expert John Lobell explores how Kahn’s focus on structure, respect for materials, clarity of program, and reverence for details come together to manifest an overall philosophy.
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn by Harriet Pattison
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn
By Harriet Pattison
Publisher: Yale University Press
Forthcoming: October 2020
An intimate glimpse into the professional and romantic relationship between Harriet Pattison and the renowned architect Louis Kahn. Harriet Pattison, FASLA, is a distinguished landscape architect. She was Louis Kahn’s romantic partner from 1959 to 1974, and his collaborator on the landscapes of the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, and the F.D.R. Memorial/Four Freedoms Park, New York. She is the mother of their son, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn.
Louis I. Kahn: The Nordic Latitudes
Louis I. Kahn: The Nordic Latitudes
By Per Olaf Fjeld and Emily Randall Fjeld
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
Published: October 4, 2019
A new and personal reading of the architecture, teachings, and legacy of Louis I. Kahn from Per Olaf Fjeld’s perspective as a former student. The book explores Kahn’s life and work, offering a unique take on one of the twentieth century’s most important architects. Kahn’s Nordic and European ties are emphasized in this study that also covers his early childhood in Estonia, his travels, and his relationships with other architects, including the Norwegian architect Arne Korsmo.
Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context by David Raizman
Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context
By David Raizman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Published: December 2020
An innovative approach to graphic design that uses a series of key artifacts from the history of print culture in light of their specific historical contexts. It encourages the reader to look carefully and critically at print advertising, illustration, posters, magazine art direction, and typography, often addressing issues of class, race, and gender.
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian by Rick Poynor
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian
By Rick Poynor
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: September 2020
A comprehensive overview of the work and legacy of David King (1943–2016), whose fascinating career bridged journalism, graphic design, photography, and collecting. King launched his career at Britain’s Sunday Times Magazine in the 1960s, starting as a designer and later branching out into image-led journalism, blending political activism with his design work.
Teaching Graphic Design History by Steven Heller
Teaching Graphic Design History
By Steven Heller
Publisher: Allworth Press
Published: June 2019
An examination of the concerted efforts, happy accidents, and key influences of the practice throughout the years, Teaching Graphic Design History is an illuminating resource for students, practitioners, and future teachers of the subject.
Recent Articles



