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Gretchen Von Koenig

Historian | Designer | Educator

I am a design historian

I research intersection of the design industry, American capitalism and the history of technology to better understand the material expressions of our everyday enviroments. I historicize objects and buildings, interiors and digital creations. I teach  graduate and undergraduate classes at Parsons School of Design and New Jersey Institute of Technology, and have guest lectured at Pratt Institute, SAIC, and New York School of Interior Design. I am currently a University Lecturer of Design History and Theory (NJIT) and also work as a design director for non-profit Art Fair 14C.  I am a PhD Candidate in the Hagley Program for the History of Capitalism, Technology & Culture (UDel) and hold my MA in History of Design & Curatorial Studies (Parsons) and a BS Industrial Design & BA Theatre Arts & Technology (NJIT).

 

My PhD studies focus on the design and use of home security systems, studying how the home transforms material expressions of surveillence. My past research has investigated the effects of  capitalism on industrial design education in the United States, looking at the complex relationships between industry, design schools, and a consumer society through curricula and pedagogy. I am also interested in American popular cultures, class & social identity issues found in everyday objects of mass production, how the making of objects facilitates global cultural exchanges and influences economic trade structures, and how this informs problematic labor forces both at home and abroad.

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Additionally, I am a grant writer, curator, and design writer for outlets like Metropolis Magazine, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian MuseumDense Magazine and the Carnegie Museum of Art

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