People, Agents, and Metaphors: An Evening with Rob Giampietro

FIT's Visiting Artist Program Marks a Quarter Century

The Fashion Institute of Technology's Visiting Artist Program was scheduled to begin on September 16, 2001. Five days earlier, in the aftermath of September 11th, the lecture was canceled.

It launched instead one month later, on October 16, when David Carson took the stage as its first speaker. Twenty-five years later, the program has brought to FIT a roster that reads like a survey of modern graphic design: Massimo Vignelli, Milton Glaser, Ivan Chermayeff, Paula Scher, Michael Bierut, Stefan Sagmeister, Louise Fili, Chip Kidd, Jessica Walsh, and Jessica Hische, among others.

Its next speaker is Rob Giampietro, who will lecture on Thursday, November 19th, at 6:30 pm in the Katie Murphy Amphitheatre at FIT. A conversation with Rocco Piscatello will follow. The event is open to all students, faculty, and design professionals.

Rob Giampietro

Rob Giampietro is a designer, writer, and creative leader on the Applied AI Solutions team at Amazon Web Services (AWS). Based in New York, his career spans technology, art, education, and culture.

Previously, Rob was VP of Creative at Notion and held design leadership roles at Google across Insight＋Innovation, Material Design, and Google Research & Machine Intelligence (now Google AI). From 2018 to 2020, he served as Director of Design at MoMA, helping reimagine the museum’s visitor experience for its reopening.

Beyond his industry roles, Rob’s contributions to design include teaching positions at RISD, Yale, Princeton, and SVA, and recognition from the American Academy in Rome, MacDowell, the National Design Awards, and the Aspen Ideas Festival. He is a trustee of the Aperture Foundation.

Media Inquiries
High-resolution art is available to media on request.

Next Speaker

43- Rob Giampietro

Past Speakers

42- Milton Glaser

41- Glen Cummings

40- Jessica Walsh

39- Jake Barton

38- Julia Hoffmann

37- Jessica Hische

36- Matteo Bologna

35- David Gibson

34- David Carson

33- Stefan Sagmeister

32- Paula Scher

31- Takaaki Matsumoto

29 & 30- Jessica Helfand & William Drenttel

28- Ivan Chermayeff

27- Michael Bierut

26- Massimo Vignelli

24,25- Hjalti Karlsson & Jan Wilker

23- Philippe Apeloig

22- Eileen Hedy Schultz

21- Michael Rock

20- Willi Kunz

19- Julia Hasting

18- Marshall Arisman

17- Scott Stowell

16- Bridget de Socio

15- Ed Benguiat

14- Kenneth Cooke

13- Lisa Strausfeld

12- Steven Heller

11- Milton Glaser

10- Donny Deutsch

9- Louise Fili

8- Chip Kidd

7- Gail Anderson

6- Ken Carbone

5- Richard Poulin

4- Neil Powell

3- Attik

2- Steff Geissbuhler

1- David Carson