Adjunct Professor of Industrial Design

Email: hihy@comcast.net

Office Phone: TBA

B.I.D. Industrial Design, Syracuse University

Hy Zelkowitz's experience as a designer spans 35 years, during which time he has worked on a large range of projects. As a staff designer for Lippincott & Margulies, Zelkowitz worked with the environmental design group on projects including Coca Cola special events, Chevrolet showrooms, Amtrak, Hazeltine, Picker X-ray and service stations for Petrofina of Canada. As an in-house designer with Steelcase he worked on office systems, side chair design and task seating. With Knoll International as a product developer he invented the upholstery systems for Knoll's Niels Diffrient task seating system for office and airport seating. Zelkowitz was then Manager of the Fine Furniture Group which was responsible for furniture collections by Robert Venturi, Richard Meier, and work with many other architects and designers including Ettore Sottsass, Gaetano Pesce, Paola Navone, Fahnstrom & McCoy and Lucia Mercer. After leaving the internal development group at Knoll to work on his sculptural activities, Zelkowitz was brought back as the Principal Outside Design Consultant working with the VP of Design on new product decisions and development. He holds a number of mechanical patents on the upholstery and assembly of office furniture, production fixtures and related equipment. Zelkowitz has taught design at various levels including two sessions at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, Colorado where he conducted peer seminars for designers and craftsmen interested in working in the contract furniture industry. He has also been an outside design consultant to Stendig International, Reiss Industries, Amstore, Inc., E.I Dupont and Company, Irwin Lambeth Residential Furniture, and numerous other clients. During this time Zelkowitz also created several sculptural works that are represented in museum and corporate collections. He has also designed sets for a number of theatrical company productions. Zelkowitz continues to operate a small independent design studio while teaching senior design studio at Philadelphia University.