The AIGA/NY 30th Anniversary Gala was held on June 1, 2012 at the Wooly in NYC. The gala brought out some of NYC’s best designers to celebrate the last 30 years of the New York Chapter of AIGA.
The gala featured sale of posters, contributed by 30 designers, such as Maira Kalman, James Victore, Michael Beirut, Emily Oberman and many more.
Guests enjoyed wine sponsored by entwine and beer sponsored by Six Point and lovely bites provided by The Wooly Kitchen. DJ Watson kept the dance floor moving. AIGA/NY President Jennifer Kinon raffled off limited edition Jack Spade bags and a custom surfboard by James Victore during the evening.
The AIGA/NY Blog talked with the guests to find out their thoughts on the AIGA.
AIGA/NY: How long have you been a member of the AIGA and what has it meant for your career?
Paul Sahre: I’ve been a proud member since way back in 2011. I’m not kidding. It’s been pivotal to my career. AIGA has always been there for me.
Scott Stowell: I’ve been a member since 1994. I got a free membership because I made a poster and I said “I want to have a free membership for year.” I should’ve asked for a lifetime membership.” AIGA is where you meet everybody and see everything. I don’t know what it would be like without it.
Jan Wilker: I have never been a member of the AIGA.
Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich: Since 1998.
Matteo Bologna: I actually was the second member of AIGA in 1942.
Skyler Challand: I enjoy the AIGA mostly for the community. It’s nice having the community around you and going to events like this.
Leslie Smolan: If the organization is 30 years old, I’ve been a member for 30 years. The best thing about the AIGA is definitely the parties.
Ken Carbone: I’ve been a member since 1914.
Johnny Lim: I’ve been a member for 4 years through my company. The best thing about the AIGA is accessibility. It’s about making the design accessible to all the young artists coming up. I’ve been in the industry for so long but I think it’s one of the rare opportunities for a young designer even designers in school in the vicinity to actually have access to a lot of the luminaries that they aspire to be and admire and read about in school–to actually see them, attend events, get exposed to a lot of the culture makes new york one of the hot spots for design.
AIGA/NY: What were you doing in 1982 when the AIGA/NY chapter was first founded?
Seung Woo Suh: I was in elementary school, learning drawing, starting design.
Jan Wilker: in 1982, I was dancing to Michael Jackson, I think. I was also wearing 2 white gloves and I was trying to do some break dancing. I was 10 years old.
Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich: I just arrived to the United States from Brazil. The first AIGA event I came to was the Vancouver Conference. That was great. That was my first memory of the AIGA. First was Washington, Vancouver and then Boston.
Laura Des Enfants: I had just graduated from the University of Illinois with a BFA in Graphic Design into a job market where the starting salary in a major city was less than $10,000 a year. Woohoo!!
Creighton Mershon: I was 8 years old either getting in trouble in school for not being able to keep my mouth shut or trying to win the speed skate at the roller rink. I was pretty fast.
Thank you to everyone who came out to have fun and supported the New York Chapter of AIGA!
To view event details, visit:
AIGA/NY 30th Anniversary Benefit Gala
To view additional photos, please visit our Flickr photostream. We encourage our members to contribute their photos to the AIGA New York Flickr group.