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A Q&A with Visionary Entrepreneur Stephanie Benedetto

Spotlight articles shine a light on designers and design materials we admire. Our founder and principal designer Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman has met many wonderful designers as an educator and career designer, and in our Spotlight interviews we ask them about their work and their design journey. In this interview we spoke with Stephanie Benedetto, the attorney-turned-fintech entrepreneur and visionary founder of Queen of Raw, the company that created Materia MX, a groundbreaking excess inventory management software. Stephanie is on a mission to make fashion more sustainable by tackling one of the industry’s most persistent problems: waste. Her platform leverages blockchain technology to connect brands, retailers, and factories in a cloud-based marketplace where unused textiles, once destined for landfills, can be sold to new buyers. Her company has already saved over a billion gallons of water— enough to provide clean drinking water for 1.43 million people for three years—and has turned the concept of a circular economy into a profitable and scalable business model. Stephanie’s approach is not only about reducing environmental impact but also about transforming the industry’s supply and demand dynamics to benefit people, the planet, and profits. We asked her about how she was inspired to start the company, the challenges along the way, how the platform works, and how she measures impact.

Q: What was the turning point when you realized the extent of the waste in the fashion industry, and how did this inspire the creation of Queen of Raw?

A: Before Queen of Raw I was a Wall Street attorney, but I ended up specializing in fashion, technology and sustainability. And then the market crashed in 2008, and we were seeing the height of waste and greed and excess around the world. I took that as my opportunity to go out on my own. I always wanted to go build a business and change the world and I had a prior startup before Queen of Raw, which was called Paper No. 9. My co-founder and I had invented a new leather alternative and it was truly unlike any other leather alternative I had ever seen out in the market. As we were building that business, we would go to all these companies and brands and manufacturers around the world, and they would be buying this new innovative sustainable leather alternative from us. But we would go to the warehouses and see all this perfectly good stuff just sitting there, and we’d ask them, It’s great, you’re buying this from us, but what are you doing with all that stuff? And they said, Nothing, I’m going to landfill it, or burn it. That just seemed amazing. I was proud of what we were doing but we were still making something new. So that became this bigger problem that I really dove in early on and wanted to tackle head on: what could we do with all that perfectly good stuff?

When we started trying to solve it, the next step was trying to figure out how much stuff like that is out there. We did a survey. We sent it around to a couple thousand companies and manufacturers. It was a one question survey: How much do you have in excess inventory every year? And some numbers were lower, some numbers were higher, but the average was fifteen percent. Fifteen percent of every single step of every production run ended up as waste. It was crazy. Some were as high as thirty percent. Some claimed it to be as low as six to nine percent, but the clear average was fifteen percent. And at that point, when we started looking at those numbers, we knew this was a huge opportunity.

Stephanie Benedetto NASDAQ feature — *Photo courtesy of Stephanie Benedetto.*

Q: How did you know you had a great idea on your hands? At what point did you know that this business could be profitable?

A: When we were just starting to look at the market and validate the idea, it was 2013, 2014. There was a lot of amazing work happening with companies like Thread Up, Poshmark, Depop, and the RealReal. I loved what they were doing. It was the hottest market, and it’s still growing, but at the time they all were dealing in one unit at a time finished goods. Don’t get me wrong, every unit matters, and for finished goods that matters. But that led me to ask, What about all this other excess in inventory and supply chains? What about all the regular stuff; all the fabrics and trims and some finished goods, too, but the business to business stuff? And nobody seemed to be paying attention to that side.

The thesis was that if we could solve that up-the-chain waste for businesses, maybe that could help inform and support all the downstream supply chain waste. That’s when we started to see that this was a huge opportunity, and we started with the low hanging fruit. We had to test it, so we put up a marketplace. We barely even had a product to sell, but we had this point of view that a B2B resale marketplace for raw materials was a huge opportunity and we posted the site. The first few SKUs were actually our Paper No. 9 sustainable leather excess fabric. People started coming to the site like crazy, asking questions and looking for more. We saw the demand and we knew we had a real opportunity.

We want buyers and sellers who are participating in the circular economy and buying and selling with each other to recoup all the value with each other. Making money on materials is not our business model. We sell SAS software subscription fees to companies. They pay us annual membership fees to be a part of our platform and to use a whole suite of tools, and that’s it. All the reuse, resale, recycling, and donation happens on our platform. Everyone gets the best prices for participating in the network.

Q: You’ve been at the head of Queen of Raw for many years now. What challenges did you encounter along the way, especially early on?

A: We were early to the market for sure. We would go knock on doors in the fashion district, talking about this problem. And the world was not where it is today, we got plenty of doors slammed in our faces. But all it took was two. We had two early adopters: Marc Jacobson and Kering. They keyed in early on and believed in what we were doing and saw that there was an economic and an environmental opportunity here. All you need is one or two early adopters to really believe and then you can grow from there; get the case studies, get the learnings, and keep doing it. So, fortunately, some of those slammed doors have since turned into clients, but we had to find those early believers and keep pushing forward.

Q: How has your personal journey shaped your vision for Queen of Raw?

A: It’s why I do what I do. I had my first child right as I was starting to get the company out there, and the moment I had my eldest son, Jacob, right at that moment, I knew we were on to something. When your kid is born, it’s not about your life anymore. It’s about your children’s life and their children’s life and future generations. You want to do everything you can to ensure that that life is going to be a positive one. We had to build for this future. I want my kids to have clean water to drink, clothes that aren’t toxic to the earth, a planet to live on, and I think that’s what inspires me every single day. Early on as a working mom I was pushing the stroller in the New York City streets, and there was all this noise because it’s New York. I remember hearing something coming out of the stroller, he was four five at the time. I leaned into the stroller to hear what he was saying and I heard, Are you naked right now? You’re not. You’re using fabric. It’s everywhere, it’s polluting your water. I mean, he was literally doing my 60 second pitch! And on the one hand I’m thinking, I’ve been pushing this stroller and doing this damn pitch way too many times! But then I laughed and thought, You know what? If my five year old can get it, anyone can get it.

Stephanie Benedetto - Queen of Raw — *Photo courtesy of Stephanie Benedetto.*

Q: What’s the most surprising material or fabric you’ve seen saved from waste through Queen of Raw?

A: You’re not just getting a fabric when you deal with clothing and fabrics. There’s plastic and paper packaging around it, there are hang tags, there are labels, there is metal on the zippers, there are trims. There are all these other commodities and materials involved. So, although we got known for our work in textiles, we realized very quickly that our platform could also handle finished goods, trims, metals, packaging, and so on. We’ve grown in those verticals and categories into food and beverage and CPG [Consumer Packaged Goods] and other industries. Now in food and beverage we have hops and flavors from Anheuser-Busch and other things I never imagined when we started.

Working in fashion is amazing and it’s powerful. But I wondered what it would look like if companies could cross industries and leverage each other’s resources. Textiles are used in everything; car interiors, carpets. How do we get industries across industries to participate in these kinds of exchanges? That definitely got me excited, just to see what was possible. We’ve done some amazing work with Ralph Lauren, with Nike, with Cotopaxi, with Victoria’s Secret. These companies are participating and they’re selling, but they’re also buying and making incredible products while saving a lot of water, chemicals, carbon emissions, and waste while doing it.

Q: Can you discuss the role that technology and innovation play in making this all possible?

A: Our CTO always had this view of platforms and systems-baked thinking. We can create the coolest technology in the world, we can use machine learning and blockchain and all the buzzwords but it still needs to make sense. We use this cool technology to deliver a good business result. You need to have platforms to facilitate, to make it quick and easy to participate and to have a network and a community that trusts and is willing to participate while incentivizing everyone to act. That kind of point of view is embodied in the platform that we’ve created. Yes, it’s great technology. Yes, we want everyone to be able to participate in the circular economy while also making it fun to do so. At the end of the day, we just wanted to deliver a kickass result and save a lot of time, money, and resources for everyone.

Q: Could you walk us through how a typical transaction works on Queen of Raw?

A: Once we’ve done our work with the sellers and we have centralized in one place all the excess they have with clean images and clear product histories, and we know what is available to sell, then it’s about matching it to the greatest buyers in the world who want what this company has. As a buyer, when you log into our portal, it’s in the cloud. You don’t need to download anything. You don’t need to integrate. You login and, like any good software, you have your own private dashboard, which starts to learn based on your actions. What kind of volume are you looking for? What materials? Where are you in the world? The platform analyzes it and brings you the inventory that you want to see. And the beauty as a buyer is that this is not just a marketplace where you want to buy and click a button. You want to swatch something, you want to sample it, you want to produce it, you may want to reorder it. We manage that entire process but out of excess and deadstock. Our platform is a full suite of tools to help you do that.

Q: Can anyone shop your platform?

A: Yes, we have two versions. If you just want to see what we have and buy, we’ve got a freemium version for anyone to participate, especially at a smaller volume. If you do need the swatching, the sampling, all the data, all the procurement tools, we have kind of pay to play structure at different price points based on how big you are to be very fair and to cover our needs.

Q: What do you see influencing decisions about material selection? Are you seeing more of a shift toward the use of sustainable materials?

A: I use “circular economy” as opposed to “sustainability” because we talk about why we’re doing things for people and the planet, but it has to also be about the economy. If it does not make economic sense, why would a company adopt your solution? And we’ve said that since day one. The reason companies come to us is not just about sustainability. You get great stuff at a discount where you need it. The fact that it has a sustainable story to tell is a value add but that doesn’t have to be the only decision. That’s been what we spend a lot of time showing; the time, money, and resources saved by doing this will also doing good. And if you can say it’s a win-win, then how can they say no to that? Consumer demands and regulations are all supporting this move to sustainable materials and procurement, but they also need to deal with what’s there right now. Our hot and most searched fibers right now are cotton and polyester, but the fact that it’s dead stock means that you can cut down on your consumption of new polyester by using what’s already been made: deadstock polyester. So it’s a great way to fill out your portfolio sustainably while also saving money.

Q: How do you measure the water and environmental savings for businesses? Could you talk about why this focus is so important?

A: There are a lot of tools out there. I’m sure you’ve seen LCAs, Life Cycle Analyses, and other tools that say that they are measuring and reporting tools. What we found is that there was not a good methodology for excess and deadstock. It’s one thing if you’re making it from scratch and you can measure every step, but how do we think about excess and deadstock? We spent over two years with MIT, which is an investor in our company. MIT gave us a team of data scientists and we researched the hell out of this to come up with a methodology to measure the water, chemicals, the carbon emissions, and the waste that is avoided and offset by you rescuing this material instead of making new material. That’s what we’re measuring. So we can verify what the material is, what it’s made of, where it comes from, and who it ships to. And based on those touch points, we use our methodology and we measure and report. It’s been fully audited by Deloitte and other auditors so it is an accepted methodology, and we did it because we had to be specific.This is about excess inventory kept in circulation and what is avoided and offset by doing that.

We tied a lot to water because we felt like everybody talks about carbon emissions and waste, but in the volumes we’re dealing with—it’s trillions of dollars worth of waste and metric tonnage—people don’t understand those numbers. But everybody understood a clean glass of water to drink. So orienting it to water was relatable. By some accounts the textile industry is the number two polluter of clean water globally. Oil and agriculture are number one, which of course fashion contributes to it as well, but textile production at the current pace is number two. But we love seeing the flip side of that. The flip side is that fashion and textiles can solve the world’s water crisis if we rethink how we do things at scale. That’s why we’re here.

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The Dual Identity: Navigating the Roles of Artist and Designer

The line between artist and designer often blurs, marrying two distinct yet complementary identities in the creative world. Both roles thrive on innovation, imagination, and a deep understanding of the human experience. That said, their purposes, approaches, and impacts often differ. This duality presents a fascinating interplay of challenges and opportunities for those who navigate both worlds, raising an important question: how can the distinct roles of artist and designer complement one another to create meaningful work? Here at Interwoven, we are especially interested in how the identity and approach of the artist can enhance our work as designers. In this Insight article we outline the key aspects of the artist and the designer, noting where they align and where they converge, and discuss the challenges and benefits of a dual identity.

Understanding the Core Roles

To appreciate the dual identity, it’s important to explore the foundations of these roles and how they differ in intent and execution.

The Artist: A Voice of Expression

Artists are creators of culture, crafting works that communicate ideas, emotions, and critiques of society. Their work stems from a deep well of personal expression and exploration, often unbound by external limitations. Artists revel in ambiguity and invite their audiences to interpret their creations freely. A painting, sculpture, or installation may not serve a direct functional purpose, but its power lies in its ability to evoke emotions, provoke thought, and inspire dialogue.

Think of artists like Frida Kahlo, whose paintings delve into personal pain and identity, or Jean-Michel Basquiat, who used his art to challenge racial and social inequities. Their work is timeless, not because it solves a problem, but because it captures the human experience and prompts an emotional response from the viewer.

The Designer: A Problem Solver

Designers, in contrast, take a more structured approach to creativity, aiming to solve specific problems or improve an experience. Their work must meet functional, aesthetic, and practical requirements, often operating within constraints like budgets, material limitations, deadlines, and client specifications.

Designers create for utility and accessibility, ensuring their products or solutions align with the needs of the audience. The work of Dieter Rams, with his “less, but better” philosophy, exemplifies this ethos. Every curve, button, and material choice in his designs is intentional, aimed at enhancing usability and delighting the user.

Points of Intersection

Despite these differences, artists and designers share several key similarities that can serve as bridges between their practices, or as common territory for those artist designers who wear both hats and live in both worlds.

1. Creativity as a Core Driver

At the heart of both roles lies a deep well of creativity. Whether an artist is sketching a concept for a mural or a designer is iterating on a prototype, both rely on imagination and out-of-the-box thinking to bring their visions to life. They are both admired for their ability to think differently, to see what has previously been overlooked, and to present the familiar in a way that makes it feel new.

2. Mastery of Tools and Mediums

Artists and designers often share tools and techniques, though their applications differ. Both might work with digital software, physical materials, or even artificial intelligence to explore their ideas. The difference lies in intent: while an artist might use 3D modeling software to sculpt a conceptual piece and the intent to make a political statement, a designer might use the same software to perfect the ergonomics of a new chair to meet the needs of a niche user group.

3. A Deep Understanding of Human Experience

Both artists and designers connect with people, albeit in different ways. Artists aim to provoke emotion, spark curiosity, or challenge perceptions, while designers focus on improving daily lives through functional and user-friendly creations. In either case, the human experience is central to their work, and deep empathy and insight are core skills.

Contrasting Mindsets

The differences between artists and designers are often most evident in how they approach their work and the mindset they bring to their practice:

1. Purpose vs. Process

For artists, the process of creation can be as meaningful as the final product, or even more so. Many artists begin their work without a predefined goal, letting their intuition and emotions guide the journey. Designers, however, are inherently purpose-driven, working toward a clear objective: solving a problem, fulfilling a need, or meeting a client’s expectations. This objective is typically approached with a consistent process, pre-defined and used, at least to some degree, across challenges.

2. Constraints as Catalysts

Constraints play very different roles in these disciplines. Designers thrive on limitations—time, budget, materials—which often inspire innovative solutions. Artists, in contrast, may set their own constraints, such as working within a particular medium or theme, but they often enjoy greater creative freedom.

3. Audience and Feedback

The relationship with the audience also differs significantly. Artists typically create with a broad, undefined audience in mind, inviting subjective interpretation. Artists are also free to create with a single, specific audience in mind, a pitfall for designers. Designers cater to a specific user base, relying on research and feedback to refine their work and ensure it meets practical needs.

The Power of Synergy

The intersection of art and design offers rich opportunities for innovation and expression. By blending the two disciplines, creatives can elevate their work, creating pieces that are both functional and emotionally resonant.

Zaha Hadid’s architectural masterpieces stand as a prime example of art and design coexisting harmoniously. Her structures are not just functional spaces but also sculptural works of art that transform urban landscapes. Similarly, Virgil Abloh’s approach to fashion blurred the line between streetwear and high art, using Off-White as a platform for cultural commentary and design innovation. In product design, companies like Apple have embraced this duality. The sleek, minimalist aesthetics of their products reflect artistic sensibilities, while their intuitive functionality speaks to rigorous design principles.

Artists who adopt design thinking bring intentionality and structure to their work. For example, when an artist creates a public mural, they may consider the surrounding environment, community needs, and the logistics of scale—elements rooted in design thinking.

Designers who embrace an artist’s mindset can imbue their work with deeper meaning and originality. By allowing room for experimentation and intuition, they push the boundaries of conventional design, creating products and experiences that resonate emotionally.

The Challenges of Duality

Balancing the roles of artist and designer comes with a unique set of challenges. The freedom and introspection of artistic expression can often feel at odds with the structured, outcome-driven nature of design. Artists may feel constrained by the demands of functionality, client needs, or market trends, while designers might struggle to embrace the unstructured, exploratory process that defines art. This tension can lead to creative friction, where satisfying both the emotional depth of art and the practicality of design becomes a difficult balancing act.

Another challenge lies in audience perception and reception. The open-ended, interpretive nature of art might conflict with the clarity and direct usability that design often requires. A creative work that tries to blend both may risk alienating audiences—being too abstract for functional purposes yet too utilitarian to evoke profound emotional impact.

The duality can also create internal conflict for creatives who wear both hats. Switching between the roles of artist and designer requires significant mental flexibility. An artist may need to step away from personal expression to meet a design brief, while a designer must sometimes abandon the comfort of structure to embrace uncertainty. Navigating this mental shift can be draining, particularly when projects demand the coexistence of both mindsets simultaneously.

Collaborations can add another layer of complexity. When artists and designers work together, differing priorities and communication styles can lead to misunderstandings. Artists may prioritize originality and autonomy, while designers may focus on functionality and user feedback, potentially leading to compromises that feel unsatisfactory to both parties.

Finally, external pressures, such as commercial viability or societal expectations, can exacerbate these challenges. The art world values risk-taking and personal authenticity, while the design industry often prioritizes scalability and consistency. Striking a balance between these external demands can stretch creatives thin, requiring them to manage not only their dual identities but also the expectations of their audiences and stakeholders.

The Benefits of Duality

Embracing the duality of being both an artist and a designer opens up a world of creative possibilities and offers a unique edge in the creative industries. This fusion enables individuals to approach their work with a balance of emotional depth and practical problem-solving, combining the imaginative freedom of art with the structured logic of design. By blending these perspectives, creatives can produce work that is not only visually compelling but also highly functional, creating solutions that resonate on both aesthetic and practical levels.

This duality encourages innovation by allowing for a broader exploration of ideas. Designers can push the boundaries of convention by borrowing an artist’s willingness to experiment with form, texture, and abstraction. Meanwhile, artists who embrace design thinking can make their work more accessible and relevant by considering usability, audience needs, and real-world applications. This synergy often leads to the creation of groundbreaking work that bridges the gap between personal expression and universal appeal.

Another significant benefit of duality is the ability to foster emotional engagement in practical contexts. A designer who thinks like an artist can infuse their work with narrative and meaning, elevating a product or space beyond mere functionality. Whether it’s a beautifully designed object that tells a story or an interactive experience that evokes an emotional response, the combination of artistic storytelling and design utility creates a powerful connection with users.

Duality also cultivates versatility, allowing creatives to navigate diverse types of projects and roles. From designing user-centered products to crafting emotionally resonant campaigns, the ability to shift seamlessly between these identities makes individuals more adaptable in a rapidly evolving creative landscape. It also enables collaboration across disciplines, as dual practitioners can serve as bridges between artistic and design-focused teams, fostering richer, more integrated projects.

Finally, duality nurtures a deeper personal fulfillment in creative practice. By incorporating both the introspective, expressive aspects of art and the purpose-driven, problem-solving nature of design, individuals can experience the satisfaction of creating work that is both deeply meaningful and broadly impactful. This holistic approach allows for the cultivation of a dynamic, multidimensional creative voice that stands out in today’s saturated market.

What Designers Can Learn from Artists

Designers can greatly enhance their work by adopting certain practices from the world of art. One of the most valuable lessons is the power of embracing ambiguity and intuition. Artists often dive into the creative process without a clear end goal, allowing their instincts and emotions to guide them. This openness can help designers break free from rigid constraints and explore unconventional solutions. Additionally, artists prioritize storytelling and personal expression, which can inspire designers to infuse their projects with deeper meaning and narrative. By viewing their designs as not just functional objects but also as opportunities for emotional connection, designers can create work that resonates on a human level. Exploring abstraction, experimenting with mediums, and challenging traditional norms—hallmarks of artistic practice—can lead to innovative breakthroughs in design.

Conclusion

Navigating the dual identity of artist and designer is both a challenge and an opportunity. By embracing the strengths of each role, creatives can unlock new dimensions in their work, enriching their practice and leaving a lasting impact.

In this convergence lies a powerful truth: art and design are not opposites but companions, offering unique lenses through which to view and shape the world. Whether through a masterpiece that moves hearts or a design that changes lives, the synergy of these roles continues to drive humanity forward—proof that when art and design meet, magic happens.

A Q&A with Designer Artist Joshua Longo

Spotlight articles shine a light on designers and design materials we admire. Our founder and principal designer Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman has met many wonderful designers as an educator and career designer, and in our Spotlight interviews we ask them about their work and their design journey. In this interview we spoke with Joshua Longo, an artist and product designer who is currently the Creative Director of Hardgoods at Crate & Barrel. Joshua brings a designer’s strategic thinking as well an artist’s sensitivity to his remarkable work (we also love his Instagram). With a foundation in industrial design from Pratt Institute and a master’s in design research from Drexel University, he harnesses storytelling, innovation, research, and problem-solving to bring human-centered designs to life. His clients and collaborators include familiar names like Anthropologie, Free People, MIT School of Architecture, Adult Swim, and Ralph Lauren. We asked him about balancing art and design, how the two inform one another, how he approaches material selection, and more.

Designer Joshua Longo — *Photo courtesy of Joshua Longo.*

Q: Which came first, the artist, or the designer? Or perhaps it is more complicated than that?

A: This is a lesson in brevity, because I feel like we could spend a half an hour just on this question. I was interested in using my hands and making stuff for as long as I can remember. I knew I wanted to go to art school. I didn’t know about industrial design then, I went for computer graphics. I wanted to be a part of the movie industry and do special effects. I started making with my hands and then drawing.

I wasn’t a star artist. I wasn’t everyone’s most-likely-to-be-Van Gogh. That wasn’t me until I got to college and Foundation kicked my ass at Pratt. After the first semester I switched out of computer graphics because I didn’t want to spend all of my time in front of the computer. I realized that I liked to work with my hands. I stuck with my very difficult drawing teacher, who had a 50% fail rate, and drawing became a passion. To this day I draw every day, all the time. I realized that I want to make stuff and industrial design seemed to be a practical place where I could get a job but also just get an education in making things.

In my junior year I was up for an internship at General Motors. I was in Martin Skalski’s Transportation Design studio. He had a relationship with General Motors, and there were students he preselected beforehand, letting them know, Look out for Josh. Look out for these two other guys. These are the people I recommend for the internship. I didn’t wind up getting the internship. Instead, I spent the summer making stuff. I went home and it was the first summer I didn’t have a job. I started sewing sophomore year, so I had a sewing machine and—if you’ve been through some sort of design curriculum, you understand the rigor of it—you don’t just come off of junior year or Martin Scalski’s class just doing nothing, your brain is going 500 miles an hour. So I wound up working on design and art as if I was still in my regular school practice. I started making sculptures that summer. That’s when sculpture started. It was very rudimentary but that was the beginning of me realizing my own voice through a material process, which could be either design or art. Up until then it was all student projects. That was the beginning.

sculpture by artist designer Josh Longo — Sculpture. *Photo courtesy of Joshua Longo.*

Q: Some of your sculptures turned into animations and design work for clients. How does your art inform your design and vice versa?

A: It’s something that happened organically at first but then I started applying it as I got older and wiser. This is layered. I always needed a job, because I think it’s important to share for other people who come from blue collar or lower income families that I came from a blue collar family. We didn’t have a lot of money so I always needed a job. I always had to make sure I was paying the rent, no one was going to take care of it for me. So I always had a foot in the industry; whether it was freelance or full-time, I was always working in industrial design or product design.

My first job was at Macy’s, and while I was doing that I was making all this soft stuff because I just felt compelled. I had to do it. There was no not doing it. I had to do it and I did it at night. During the day I would work at my job and then at night and on the weekends, I would spend time making art. Around 2006, people started to take notice. That was also the beginning of social media. I started putting my work out there. I was putting it out on MySpace, Friendster, and then eventually Facebook and Instagram. Once you get one thing, you get some momentum and it snowballs. Then what happened was 10 years of making stuff, promoting myself, small gallery shows, coffee shops, really small. Nothing crazy.

Mask by Josh Longo — Mask. *Photo courtesy of Joshua Longo.*

The Creative Director for a company in Germany bought one of my sculptures, and then, five years later, he started a company and he wanted to work with me. Next, I’m doing puppets for a German commercial, getting paid handsomely for maybe a month of work. In actuality it was 10 years of not really making money from the soft sculptures that led to this gig. Since then I have confidence that if I spend a few years on an idea, a family, a style—creating a cohesive visual language—something will happen. I pivoted into illustration later on, I did a bunch of illustration, promoted it, and after a few years Adult Swim contacted me and asked if I could do some animation for them.

There is definitely a time period where you do a bunch of stuff, you make it good enough and, if you promote it, it leads to commercial work. I don’t get as much of that recently because my job is so time-consuming but you just make stuff that you love and eventually get paid for it. Somehow.

Q: Do you ever have nightmares about your creatures?

A: I used to, before I went to therapy regularly. I don’t have go anymore but there was a period in my 30s where I went very regularly. Extreme anxiety and just not dealing with things led to night terrors and waking dreams, walking around. I haven’t in a long time because therapy works.

I’ve been working on these current sculptures for about a year because I’ve moved, done renovations, all that stuff, but the scale is manageable because I can take it with me. So I’ve been working on smaller things that I can work on on the couch if I have an hour. They’re really hand intensive; everything’s hand sewn or handmade and combination materials. My current job-life situation allows for either drawing or small scale sculpture but I would like to get to larger things again.

Q: Could you tell us about your drawing materials and how you select materials for sculpture? Do you have an approach to how you select or work with materials?

A: My drawing is mostly black and white. I do some color drawing here and there but not as often. It’s mostly black and white in sketchbooks. I fill sketchbooks pretty regularly, once a month I’ll fill one, but I have three going at any given time. When it comes to design, it’s usually more structured in that I have to do a collection. We’re trying to hit a certain amount of price points. Wood, metal, etc. I think I have enough manufacturing knowledge in me that, when I start sketching, I’m keeping all of those things in mind as I’m sketching: manufacturing capability, what’s actually possible, gravity, cost.

I’m a figurative sculptor in that I’m making figures. Generally the outcome is going to be a figure of some sort, whether it’s an animal, or a person, or some sort of imagined form of that. I start either with material or with a gesture. It’s one or the other. For example, say I want to play with leather. I wonder, What does that do? So I start boiling leather, I start shaping it, I start backing it, forming it, and then seeing what happens; letting the material dictate the outcome instead of trying to dictate the outcome before I start. For me, it’s the discovery through the play of the material that’s fun. I ask, What can the material do? What expression can it generate? Then I can then play. So the material tells me where to go.

Monster Skin Rug by Joshua Longo — Monster Skin Rug. *Photo courtesy of Joshua Longo.*

When I was teaching at Drexel, where I got my master’s degree, I spent my time just exploring that, how it can inform a design process given the time and how you don’t always have to start off with the end result. First I let the materials dictate and then I just play. With leather, linen, wood, ceramic…Oftentimes I make pieces and they’ll sit around for years—there are these ceramic heads that I made 10 years ago—and then they finally find a home as I start making other things because I have all these pieces.

I visited Jim Henson on Long Island and it was so amazing to see the Sesame Street studios. There were drawers of eyes, drawers of noses, drawers of hands, drawers of just ties. That was a huge inspiration. I realized, I could do this for my own practice. I don’t have to start and finish. I can just make pieces. Then, as I’m making stuff, I have an alphabet of pieces that lend themselves to my projects.

Q: How do you balance the spontaneity of your creative process with the more structured aspects of industrial design?

A: If I had the luxury of time, I would spend more time designing in the same way I make art. When I make art I create boundaries but I allow myself freedom within those boundaries, whether it’s a medium or even time, it’s allowing yourself x amount of time to play to arrive at a certain conclusion, whether it be a show or commercial product. Especially as I get older, time is the most precious thing. That’s all I want. I just want enough time to get into a flow state and to create without worrying about what the end result will be. That’s wonderful.

The commercial pressure of design, especially as I’ve been doing it a little over 20 years now, the amount of time you get from concept to deliverable has decreased by… I’m going to say 50%. I don’t have an exact number but in my world, it’s insane. It’s super compressed. I manage something like several hundred products a season [at Crate & Barrel] and we do four seasons a year, and there’s just no way to explore an idea that intensely.

kitchenbycrate gadgets by Joshua Longo — KitchenbyCrate Gadgets. *Photo courtesy of Joshua Longo.*

That said, sometimes you do get to do design and you get to play and you carve out a certain amount of time for process. I helped integrate AI processes into our current product design, and I carved time out of my schedule to figure that out. That was fun and that it allowed me to play, and then I was supported. Once my bosses and leaders saw what was happening, they allowed me more time and they put their thumb of approval on it, and that allowed me to play more. So, it’s a juggling act.

Q: I’m sure you see students who are struggling to balance their inner artist with their inner designer. As a professor, what advice do you offer students trying to find their voice in the creative industry?

A: This is the question I get asked most by students because whenever I present, I present all sides of my life, personal and commercial work. They ask, How do you do that? Well, I didn’t sleep in my 20s, I have a lot of energy, and I’m naturally obsessive. That’s something I can’t train or encourage, that’s something that’s innate for me. But creating a practice and discipline is something I got from school.

I am someone who gets highly distracted easily and often, and the more structure I have in my day, the better off I am. The minute I go off my own calendar, it’s not good for me. So for me, it’s about simple things that I can control. I keep on a very structured schedule. I brush my teeth. I eat the same thing every day. I am close to one of those people that would wear the same thing every day. There are certain things that I keep highly structured and then, where most people might sit and watch TV, I’ll sit and draw and watch TV. So I do relax. It’s just that I’m usually multitasking. Because let’s say I have a thousand ideas, which is not underselling it. I know, I’m only going to get to 1% of them out, and I can’t stop thinking about them until I put them in the real world. There’s a cycle that happens in my head where if I don’t get an idea out, it will keep on coming up and remind me, Hey, Josh! I love it. It’s also exhausting but if I didn’t do it, I feel like I’d be missing out. We only have one life to live. I’m thinking of Jeff Goldblum quoting George Bernard Shaw and I can’t recall the quote but the essence is that you only have one life to live, why not burn the candle at both ends?

Q: What’s next for Longoland? Can we expect to see your work expand into new mediums or spaces?

A: That’s a great question, and it’s just the question I’m asking myself. I’ve been drawing on cardboard and that’s been fun. The drawings are super simple cartoons.

illustration by josh longo — *Photo courtesy of Joshua Longo.*

I’ve been doing Crate & Barrel for five years and I feel like I’ve accomplished what I wanted to accomplish. I’m still excited. I still want to do more. But I’ve accomplished what I set out to accomplish commercially with the brand. Before I started, I had a show at a church. I rented out of church for an evening and had 21 kinetic sculptures that created sound, and a team of 11 or 12 people to help me activate the sculptures. But what I didn’t tell you is that we emptied the church completely and took out all the furniture. So it’s an empty church in Philadelphia, we put 21 sculptures inside, and then we essentially played the church like a giant instrument. Then a month later, I got a job offer from Crate & Barrel, and I was designing pots and pans. So, my artistic practice was heading towards a performative, all encompassing space; creating the entirety of the environment through object-person relationships. I would love to get back to that but I think it would require me to get into a different job setting. It’s not something I can do on the couch.

I believe that making art or design, or whatever you want to commit to truly for yourself, is one of the most enriching and rewarding experiences that a person can have. If you can get past hating what you make. There are a lot of people that can’t get past that, they can’t enjoy the process regardless of the outcome. I’m not working towards a gallery show. I’m not working for acclaim anymore, because I’ve achieved some success. And trust me, it’s nice and I’ll keep on taking it, but it’s not the ultimate goal. Now I want to get to the space where I get to play, and play with stuff with other people.

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Innovation and Expression: Why Designers Love Chairs So Much

Few objects in the world of design hold the allure and fascination of the chair. It’s a product that has been reimagined countless times by designers across generations and yet, designers never seem to get tired of it. No matter how many chairs get designed, designers return to the challenge of the chair again and again. As a design challenge, the chair has the capacity to blend art, technology, and human-centered functionality into a single, everyday object. This Insight article explores why designers love chairs so much, outlining how the chair is a prime platform for innovation in materials and technology as well as a vehicle for personal expression, with a rich tradition of modeling new design ideas.

Eames 1946 LCW chair — *The 1946 LCW Chair by Ray and Charles Eames.*

A Tradition of Innovation

Chairs aren’t just practical objects; they are design icons that have continually pushed the boundaries of what’s possible. The molded plywood chairs by Ray and Charles Eames were proof-of-concept products that demonstrated the incalculable value of the plywood molding technology, which added strength and versatility to the previously overlooked material. In 1859, Michael Thonet revolutionized production with his Era chairs, the first chairs made of solid bent wood, a modular design that was efficient to produce and populated cafes all over Vienna, and then all over the world. Chairs have often led the way in material and manufacturing innovation, and served as a vehicle for showcasing a fresh approach to an existing material, or a pioneering approach to a novel material.

These iconic innovative designs set the stage for generations of designers to follow, challenging them to rethink both the form and function of the chair. It’s no surprise that many of the world’s most iconic designs are chairs, which have not only defined the spaces they inhabit but have also shaped broader design movements. There is a long design tradition of the chair leading the pack, serving as the ideal model for a new aesthetic or manufacturing technique.

1859 Thonet Era Chair — *The 1859 Era Chair by Michael Thonet.*

Balancing Form, Function, and Innovation

Designing a chair is about more than aesthetics; it’s about problem-solving. A chair must be comfortable, structurally sound, and versatile enough to serve different purposes and users. At the same time, provided it will hold a person, and perhaps even this is not required for some concept chairs, the parameters are wide open. This combination of complexity and fluidity makes it a perfect canvas for innovation and play. Chairs are a unique product that interacts directly with the human body, requiring a precise blend of form and function. Achieving this balance is a designer’s ultimate challenge, but it’s also a key driver of design breakthroughs. Chairs force designers to think critically about ergonomics, proportions, and engineering, all while maintaining artistic vision and preserving artistic freedom.

Pioneering New Materials

One of the most exciting aspects of chair design is the opportunity to experiment with new materials. Over the years, designers have worked with everything from bent wood (Thonet) and tubular steel to cutting-edge composites, plastic polymers, and even recycled materials.

Marcel Breuer’s 1925 Wassily chair was the first bent tubular steel chair design and remains a classic, highly popular today. It breaks a classic club chair down to the absolute essential form and the modular design can be seamlessly assembled on an industrial scale.

Philippe Starck’s injection-molded Louis Ghost Chair was one of the first to show how polycarbonate could be used to create transparent, durable, and lightweight furniture, changing the way designers think about both materiality and sustainability. Like Breuer, he was playing on a traditional chair design that everyone would recognize, the ornate 18th century chairs of King Louis XVI. New materials like carbon fiber and bio-based plastics have also paved the way for more sustainable and lightweight chair designs, addressing environmental concerns while pushing aesthetic boundaries.

*The 1925 Wassily Chair by Marcel Breuer.*

Technological Innovation in Chair Design

Technological advancements are also transforming the way chairs are designed and produced. CNC cutting, 3D printing, and robotic manufacturing have enabled designers to explore previously unimaginable forms. These technologies reduce waste and allow for more precise, customized designs.

The Master’s Chair by Philippe Starck, for example, uses injection-molding technology to fuse together the outlines of three iconic chairs into a single, seamless piece, paying homage to three masterful designs: Arne Jacobsen’s “Serie 7” chair, Eero Saarinen’s “Tulip Armchair” and Charles Eames’ “Eiffel Chair”. Similarly, the elegantly molded Diamond Chair by Harry Bertoia exemplifies how industrial manufacturing techniques can be applied to create intricate, sculptural forms.

*The 1952 Diamond Chair by Harry Bertoia.*

Chairs as Personal Narratives

Chairs are much more than objects of utility. They are reflections of the designers who create them, often embodying their personal stories, values, and design ethos. For many designers, creating a chair is akin to writing a personal narrative.

The iconic Egg Chair by Arne Jacobsen, for instance, was not just a modernist response to form and function. It also reflected Jacobsen’s desire to create a sense of comfort and enclosure in an increasingly fast-paced world. It was designed for the reception areas of the Royal Hotel in Copenhagen in 1958, created to provide a sense of privacy in public spaces. Each curve and contour (or the absolute absence of curves and contours!) of a chair tells a story about the designer’s worldview and creative journey. Chairs are not only functional solutions, they are the cumulation of hundreds of aesthetic decisions made by the designer, and walk the line between art and design.

For designers, a chair is a blank canvas, ready to be filled with their unique artistic voice. The simplicity of its form offers endless possibilities for experimentation. Whether it’s playing with organic shapes, bold colors, or unconventional materials, chair design allows for unfiltered creative expression. In the case of the Wiggle Chair by Frank Gehry, the use of layered cardboard wasn’t just a material choice—it was a statement about impermanence, sustainability, and the rejection of traditional materials. The chair’s playful, fluid form echoed Gehry’s architectural style, bridging the gap between furniture and art.

Small Object, Big Impact

So why do designers love chairs? Despite their compact size, chairs often act as catalysts for larger design trends. They allow designers to experiment with new ideas on a manageable scale. Success in chair design can reverberate across the design world, influencing everything from architecture to product design. We suspect that chairs will always be a designer’s dream object. They invite endless opportunities for innovation. Whether it’s through new materials, manufacturing techniques, or technological advancements, the humble chair has repeatedly redefined the possibilities of design. And as technology continues to evolve, so too will the chair—pushing the boundaries of what we think is possible in design, all while remaining a functional part of everyday life.

Design History Series N. 020

Eileen Gray and the Bibendum Chair

In our Design History Series we highlight iconic women in design history and their innovative work. The historic contributions of women to design are many, and we aim to increase the awareness of these contributions in order to counteract a general trend of underrepresentation. In this issue we celebrate Eileen Gray, an Irish designer and architect who transformed the principles of modern design.

Interior Decadence

Eileen Gray, born in Ireland in 1878, was a pioneering figure in modern design. She studied fine art before undertaking an apprenticeship in a London lacquer workshop. Gray moved to Paris and swiftly established herself as a leading designer of lacquered screens and decorative panels. Her interior design style was modern and decadent, featuring luxurious, theatrical touches and unexpected materials. Gray exhibited chrome, steel tube, and glass furniture in 1925, well ahead of her design contemporaries Mies van der Rohe and Marcel Breuer.

At 46 Gray took up architecture, where her style embodied avant-garde modernism, departing from the rigid rationality of architectural contemporaries like Le Corbusier. Gray’s approach to modernism prioritized lived experiences, featuring personal, bespoke touches that spoke directly to the needs of the client. Like Charlotte Perriand, she felt that architecture and furnishings should be developed in tandem to create a harmonious home.

Totally Tubular

One of her iconic creations is the Bibendum Chair, a timeless classic from the 1920s. Designed specifically for lounging and socializing, the Bibendum Chair features a distinctive back and armrests composed of two semi-circular, padded tubes encased in black leather. The name “Bibendum” was inspired by the Michelin Man, a character of stacked tires created by French artist Marius Rossillon. The chair was commissioned by French hat designer Madame Mathieu Lévy, for whom Gray redesigned an apartment in Paris. The Bibendum Chair, along with other furnishings, rugs, and lamps, became a highlight of the project.

Constructed with a polished, chromium-plated stainless steel tube frame—a groundbreaking material at the time—the Bibendum Chair was unusually large. The frame featured beechwood and rubber webbing for added comfort. Gray intentionally opted for plain coverings to maintain a simple aesthetic, complementing the bold art that shared the space. The success of the design instilled confidence in Gray, prompting her to open her own gallery in 1922. The Bibendum Chair would go on to be featured in a number of Gray’s interior projects.

The Bibendum Chair marked a departure from Gray’s earlier traditional work, aligning with the modernist movement. The Bibendum Chair continues to be celebrated as a design classic though, during Gray’s lifetime, her success was modest. Her legacy was overshadowed by Le Corbusier, who famously painted murals in the nude all over E-1027, a brilliant house designed by Gray with which he was obsessed and which was often misattributed to him (and in front of which he drowned). Only in her nineties did Gray receive international acclaim for her contributions to architecture and design. She passed away in Paris in 1976, leaving behind a legacy of innovation and timeless design.

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