Rhode Island School of Design x Threadless Select Series

Rhode Island School of Design Partners with the Threadless Select Series to Launch First-Ever Guest-Curated Series Collection Curated by RISD President John Maeda to Launch on November 6 Featuring Theme of Newness, with Exclusive Designs by Faculty Members. T-Shirts available @ TheSelectSeries.com.

After an open call for submissions and a request for suggestions by RISD alumni and students via his blog, Maeda assembled four professors as creatives for the project. Nancy Skolos from Graphic Design, Soojung Ham from Industrial Design, and Trent Burleson and Randy Willier, both from Illustration – all incredible practitioners in their respective professional fields – agreed to join on as artists and designers in giving a unique meaning to Maeda’s chosen theme of Newness.

“We’re part of this amazing community of learners, doers, and mentors that pursues the art and philosophy of human expression – and newness -with exhausting intensity,” said Maeda. “This project with Threadless has been a great opportunity to explore this timely theme together. We are amidst the election season here in the U.S., and a movement is arising driven by a palpable desire for change. Human nature and the creative spirit drive our desire for new tastes and new sensations, all of which can be synthesized into fresh perspectives and new experiences.”

The final products will be launched and celebrated in the same way a gallery show would be – with the shirts serving as pieces of fine art. They will be unveiled at an opening reception in the lobby of RISD’s new Chace Center [20 N. Main Street] on Thursday, November 6 from 7 – 9PM. Shirts can be purchased in the weeks following the event at risd|works, the retail space on the first floor of the Chace Center that specializes in the curation and sales of alumni and faculty works of art and design, as well as at TheSelectSeries.com.

“When we thought about who we wanted to have launch the Curator editions for the Select Series, John Maeda seemed like the perfect choice,” said Dustin Hostetler, Special Projects Curator for Threadless. “Not only is he involved in some amazing art-related projects, but his new position at RISD represents the same artistic community involvement we love to support at Threadless.”

The resulting sales and artists’ commissions from this project will amount to a $15,000 donation by Threadless to RISD’s scholarship fund.