May 23, 2013

IIDA NY Honors Local Leaders

At today’s International Interior Design Association‘s Leaders breakfast at Cipriani Wall Street in New York, keynote speaker Cameron Sinclair, founder of Architecture for Humanity, concluded his speech by noting that “the most sustainable buildings are the ones that are loved!” That elicited the loudest applause from the crowded room, with many thoughts likely turning to the neighborhood’s most famous sustainable—and well on its way to being beloved—building: One World Trade Center.

The annual breakfast, sponsored in part by Interior Design and presented by the IIDA’s New York chapter, honored Harriet Karr-McDonald as this year’s Leader for her work as founder of The Doe Fund, which helps the homeless in New York rebuild their lives. Also celebrated was George Oliphant of “George to the Rescue“, a weekly TV show that highlights Oliphant and his team of designers and architects as they help local families and communities in need of home improvements.

Introduced by Interior Design president and publisher Mark Strauss, Sinclair pointed out that he got his start thanks to four influential New York women, one of them being Interior Design editor in chief Cindy Allen. Sinclair founded the non-profit design firm in 1999 with the goal of using sustainable design and architecture to help solve global needs and problems. On its website today, for example, the homepage asks for donations to support long-term recovery efforts in Moore, Oklahoma, following the deadly tornado that devastated most of the town earlier this week.

The annual IIDA Leaders breakfasts celebrate regional successes and celebrate one particular Leader who embodies singular leadership characteristics through his/her contributions to the design industry. Founded in 1989 by Jeannie Bochette of Steelcase, the Leaders Breakfast launched as a single event in New York and has since expanded to include nine cities.

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