Fellows

Plug in for a short period

Previously only offered in summers, our year-round fellowship program gives project support to those who can make use of the space and/or membership.

↓ Previous fellows

↓ How to apply

Purpose

The fellowship encourages designers of all levels to pursue a diverse practice – one that mixes uncommissioned projects with client service work. Fellowships are ideal for those exiting educational environments, or transitioning more generally in their practice, and are hoping to commit to independent work that furthers their own practice, the Office culture, and perhaps the design discipline in general.

2014 fellow Chris Novello gave a talk titled ‘Computer Utopias.’ His talk was the basis for a course he developed and taught at Rhode Island School of Design in the spring of 2015 under the same name.

Basic terms

  1. Fellow has priveleges equal to that of a full-time member
  2. Fellowship period is agreed upon at start, but is usually between 2 weeks and 3 months.
  3. Fellow agrees to share work with membership in the form of an event or object

How to apply

  1. Email us a brief statement about how you plan to use the space, for how long.
  2. Include CV/Bio and a link to your work
  3. Because ‘need’ is considered, let us know how the fellowship would fit into your career (recent graduate, relocating, temporarily in Providence, financial need, etc.)
  4. Current members review the info
  5. We can generally respond within two weeks. If your application is not complete, you may not hear back from us at all.

Acceptance criteria

  1. Quality of work/project
  2. Person/project/need can be furthered by the Office
  3. Level of need
  4. We have space and bandwidth to help
  5. There is no one person we're looking for. Diverse ideas, backgrounds, practices, and personalties are pluses.

Recipients

We have hosted a range of practitioners since the program began in 2013. Meet the fellows.

Christopher Bird

Developing several ground up projects. Fall 2020.

Atlas Alvarado Estrada

Currently exploring queer, POC identity through the use of photography and graphic mediums. Fall 2020.

Elliot Keeler

Elliot is an artist and illustrator. He worked on various projects including: analog virtual reality, ideas around architectural representation, and a children's book.

Melissa Weiss

Melissa is a writer-designer who works with artists, curators, editors, environmentalists, and leftists. She hopes you’ll join her book club. Fall 2018

Anther Kiley

Anther Kiley is a designer and educator. He is returning to Providence from a stint directing the graduate Graphic Design program at CalArts to develop a line of paper children’s toys. Summer 2018

Michelle Site

Michelle is a writer and design researcher. She is working on a multilingual wayfinding system for a local clinic in Providence and a communication toolkit for emotional vocabulary. Fall 2017

Tristan Rodman

Tristan is a musician and web designer. He works on new systems for circulating sound online and off. Summer 2016

Lukas WinklerPrins

Lukas was a recent graduate from the Division of Applied Math at Brown University. He used the fellowship to develop web projects and make clothing. Spring 2016

Catherine Schmidt

Catherine worked on a devanagari typeface and a collection of essays about typography. Fall 2015.

Chris Novello

Chris worked on mobile software, and built the material for a RISD course titled Computer Utopias. Summer 2014.

Nic Schumann

Nic worked on software projects, and began a formal collaboration with Greg Nemes under the name Work-Shop. Summer 2013.

Allon Kapeller-Libermann

Allon came to Providence as a recent Product Design graduate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He worked on his own project and with Nic Schumann on the software and hardware for a 3D printing machine. Early Fall 2013.