Felicia Ferrone was born in Chicago and educated in the U.S. Her research and creative practice—operating since 2001 under the namesake brand Fferrone Design—is deeply informed by early professional experiences as an architect in Milan. While working in the studios of some of Italy’s most notable architects (Antonio Citterio, Vittorio Gregotti, Piero Lissoni, and Silvana Sermisoni), Ferrone was taught to “blur the boundaries” of design as she solidified a belief in the interdependence of all aspects of design and of the relationship between design and context.
Ferrone’s work has been widely exhibited, distributed, and published. In addition to her self-initiated work, she has completed commissions for Audi, Boffi, Cool Hunting, and The Macallan. Ferrone is featured in Woman Made: Great Women Designers, a celebration of 200 product designers from the early twentieth century to the present day (Phaidon, 2021). She has served as a juror for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and for Archiproducts and Core 77 Design Awards.
In addition to her practice, Ferrone is director of Undergraduate Studies and Clinical Associate Professor of Industrial Design in the School of Design at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) where she seeks to inspire the next generation of dynamic thinkers and makers who—while taught to create the singular, highly resolved formal object—are guided to arrive at their design solutions through a process of deep research and critical thinking. Ferrone served as Director of Graduate Studies of Industrial Design at UIC from 2015–2022 and taught as Lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from 2010–2015.
Recognition
- Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago: Creator of the Year, 2022
- Newcity Design Hall of Fame: Interior Architecture & Design for Home, 2022
- German Design Award, 2022
- Women Made: Great Women Designers: Jane Hall, Phaidon, 2019
- 1stDibs: The Study: 10 Trailblazing Female Designers: Karine Monié, 2019
- The Art Institute of Chicago: Permanent Collection, 2019
- Newcity: Top 50 Designers: 2019, 2016, 2014
- Architectural Digest: Cleverest Award, 2018
- NYNOW Accent on Design: Best Collection, 2014
- ICFF: American Society of Interior Designers: Best Furniture Collection, 2014
- The Art Institute of Chicago: Permanent Collection, 2009
- Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design: GOOD DESIGN Award, 2004
Lectures / Panels
Advanced Design, SQ1, 2023
Invited Lecturer: Design Entrepreneurship as Empowerment
Chicago IL
October 4
Square One design conference, a unique event that delves into the thrilling and transformative influence of modern tools and methodologies on the industrial design and education landscape. It explores the world of tomorrow, where cutting-edge objects, graphic design, and groundbreaking educational approaches are revolutionizing the way we learn, create, and comprehend design.
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), 2022
Virtual Presentation: Fferrone Design
October 27
Delivered a talk on Fferrone Design to SOM global offices. The presentation explored ways in which design can challenge assumptions, subvert expectations, and shape visual culture through seemingly simple gestures. SOM is an internationally renowned and historically significant architecture, urban planning, and engineering firm with offices throughout the US and the world.
SOM has designed some of the most iconic buildings in the world including John Hancock Center and Sears Tower, Chicago. One World Trade Center, New York, and the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa, Dubai UAE.
European Design School: Design Support Talks, 2022
Virtual Presentation:
Felicia Ferrone: Empowerment Through Design Entrepreneurship
March 14
Presentation on the role of agency and empowerment in design entrepreneurship.
European Design School (EDS) is a worldwide center for business training and collaboration between designers based in Kyiv, Ukraine. Design Support Talks is a series of online sessions that feature internationally recognized architects, interior designers, and product designers who present in support of the EDS mission to connect and expand the Ukrainian design community.
Be Original Americas: Virtual Student Fellowship, 2022
Virtual Presentation:
Felicia Ferrone: Pathways of Design Entrepreneurship
November 8
Career pathway presentation tracking migrations from Milan to Chicago, and back, as a designer and design entrepreneur. The talk focused on the importance of producing original work and the role of originality and authenticity in shaping visual culture. Attendees were students and faculty from national and international universities.
Be Original Americas is a nonprofit organization committed to informing and educating manufacturers, design professionals, and individuals about the economic, ethical, and environmental value of authentic and original design.
Pomellato Showroom, 2022
Invited Panelist
Pomellato & Women Made: Great Women Designers by Phaidon
Milan, Italy
June 7
Invited along with Professor Alba Cappellieri (Politecnico di Milano) to discuss issues around gender in the field and the ways in which female designs are challenging assumptions and archetypes. Pomellato is an Italian jewelry company founded by Pino Rabolini in 1967. The event took place during Milan Design Week.
Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago, 2022
Virtual Presentation
May 17
Presentation that connected the ways in which design can challenge assumptions, subvert expectations, and shape visual culture through seemingly simple gestures. And how this approach might result in designs with the potential for patent protection.
The Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago (IPLAC) is the first Intellectual Property (IP) law bar association in the country composed of leaders and professionals who are committed to protecting innovation in Chicago and nationally, by advancing the tenets of IP law.
America ByDesign | Innovations, 2021
TV Host
Milwaukee WI
America By Design | Season 1 Episode 1 | CBS
America By Design | Season 1 Episode 5 | CBS
ByDesign produces a television series that provides broadcast audiences with insight into what it takes to imagine, create, and bring to life new innovative designs in furniture, healthcare, housing, and more. Episodes showcase impactful design and new concepts from the most innovative emerging and established brands in the United States. America ByDesign is available on CBS News Streaming Network and the ByDesign YouTube channel.
Kent State College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology, 2019
Invited Lecturer: What is Design? A Designer's View
Chicago IL
March 11
Provided the designer’s perspective in a dialog with Edward Lee, Professor of Law and Director of the IID Program in Intellectual Property Law, that focused on the importance of originality and authenticity in the future of design.
Maryland Institute College of Art, 2017
Invited Lecturer
Baltimore MD
February 1
Invited to deliver a talk on the studio practice of Fferrone Design.
Be Original Americas, Chicago 2017, 2016, 2014
Designtex Showroom
Chicago IL
March 9, 2017
Ligne Roset Showroom
Chicago IL
October 8, 2016
Cranbrook Academy of Art
Bloomfield Hills MI
October 8, 2014
Regularly invited as one of four nationally recognized participants to discuss intellectual property and the importance of originality and authenticity in the future of design.
Be Original Americas is a nonprofit organization committed to informing and educating manufacturers, design professionals, and individuals about the economic, ethical, and environmental value of authentic and original design.
Portland Design Week, 2016
Invited Lecturer: Crossover
Portland OR
April 15-23
Invited presentation in a Portland Design Week event sponsored by Ziba Design and the League of Women Designers. The theme explored ways in which participating designers connect interdisciplinary design thinking to specific projects in their practice.
IDEO, 2016
Invited Lecturer
Chicago IL
April 8
Invited to deliver a talk about the studio practice of Fferrone Design at the Chicago office of IDEO, an international design and innovation consulting firm.
Soho House: The Art of Glassware, 2016
Invited Panelist: The Art of Glassware
Chicago IL
March 10
Invited to present the work of Fferrone Design and participated in a panel discussion with Martin Kastner of Crucial Design on process and innovation in contemporary glassware design.
Segal Institute, Northwestern University, 2016
Invited Lecturer
Chicago IL
March 8
Invited to deliver a talk on the studio practice of Fferrone Design and to meet with students in the Multidisciplinary MBA + MS Design Innovation (MMM) Program.
Segal Design Institute is dedicated to the study of human-centered design within Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Rhode Island School of Design, 2015
Invited Lecturer and Juror
Providence RI
April 3
Invited to lecture about the studio practice of Fferrone Design and to serve as a guest critic in the RISD Industrial Design department.
ICFF Lecture Series, 2015
Invited Panelist: Design and the Hand
New York NY
Invited as one of four internationally recognized designers to discuss the role of craft in contemporary design.
The International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) serves as the North American showcase for “what's best and what's next” in objects of interior design. The exhibition and related lecture series features leading international furniture brands along with emerging and independent talent.
Cranbrook Academy of Art, 2014
Invited Lecturer and Critic
Bloomfield Hills MI
October 9
Invited to lecture about the studio practice of Fferrone Design and to serve as a guest critic for the Cranbrook 3D Form course.
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Featured in Films/Series
Designed with intent to challenge archetype and expectation, Fferrone Design glassware collections have been featured as props for film and television productions, at times, hand-selected by the director to play a critical role in the development of a scene.
When used effectively, a distinctive prop can move a story forward, define a character, or become a symbol in and of itself. As an example, the plot of the thriller, Old (Director: M. Night Shyamalan, 2021), involves drinks offered to guests at a tropical resort that unknowingly advance the aging process. As such, the glassware (Fferrone May, Flight, and Dearborn collections) assume the role of a minor character—appearing as vessels of focus for delivery of the affected drinks and also as glassware in the hotel’s chemical lab. In the food-focused romantic comedy, Always Be My Maybe (Director: Kahnatchka Khan, 2019), the Revolution collection is used to support the film’s narrative in a key dining scene as an expression of experimental haute cuisine. Most often, when Fferrone glassware is selected as film prop, it is for science fiction productions set far into the future. In this context, often as one of the few props on set, the distinctive glassware is used to support futuristic speculative worldbuilding.
John Wick: Chapter 4, 2023
Director: Chad Stahelski
Performers: Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Laurence Fishburne
Lionsgate, 2023.
Featuring the May Collection
Star Wars Andor, 2022
Director: Tony Gilroy
Performers: Diego Luna, Kyle Soller, Stellan Skarsgård
Disney+
Featuring the May Collection
“Preparing to Live.” Foundation Series, 2021
AppleTV+. September 24, 2021. TV/Streaming
Featuring the Tulip Collection
Old, 2021
Director: M. Knight Shyamalan
Performers: Gael García Bernal, Vicky Krieps, Rufus Sewell
Universal Pictures, 2021
Featuring the May, Flight, and Dearborn Collection
Always Be My Maybe, 2019
Directors: Nahnatchka Khan
Performers: Ali Wong, Randall Park, Keanu Reeves
Netflix, 2019
Featuring the Revolution Collection
Solo: A Star Wars Story, 2018
Director: Ron Howard
Performers: Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke
Lucasfilms, 2018
Featuring the Tulip Collection
Alien: Covenant, 2017
Director: Ridley Scott
Performers: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup
Twentieth Century Fox, 2017
Featuring the Tulip Collection
“Chestnut.” / “The Adversary.” episodes, Westworld, 2016
HBO. November 6, 2016. TV/Streaming
Featuring the Revolution Collection
October 7, 2016. TV/Streaming
Featuring the Revolution Collection
“The Body.” Stranger Things, 2016
Netflix. July 15, 2016. Streaming
Featuring the Dearborn Collection
Oblivion, 2013
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Performers: Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Andrea Riseborough
Universal Pictures, 2013.
Featuring the Revolution Collection
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Jury Participation
Core77 Design Award, 2023
Invited Juror for Product Design: Home & Living
Chicago IL
Core77 is the leading American website and online magazine dedicated to industrial design. The Core77 Design Awards recognize the broad spectrum of design and celebrate principles of inclusivity, innovation, and excellence.
Archiproducts Design Award, 2023, 2022
IInvited Juror for Product Design
Virtual
Archiproducts is a multiplatform publisher and resource repository that serves as the “ultimate source of inspiration” for architecture and design professionals. Each year, the Archiproducts Design Awards program assembles a jury of design leaders to reflect upon the creative scene and to reward products that by means of new materials, shapes or functions are able to revolutionize and improve the quality of life.
ADC 97th Annual Awards, 2018
Invited Juror for Product Design
New York NY
The Art Directors Club (ADC) produces an international awards program celebrating creative excellence in advertising and design. The jury for the 97th Annual ADC Awards consisted of 23 women and 18 men representing nine countries who selected awardees based on the program’s historic focus of honoring the best in craft, design, and innovation.
Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, 2017
Invited Juror for Lions Awards: Product Design
Cannes France
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is a global event for those working in creative communications, advertising, and related fields. The five day festival, which incorporates the Lions awards, is held annually at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès during the last week of June. The event draws 15,000 registered delegates from 90 countries to celebrate the best in international creativity in brand communication. Cannes Lions juries are drawn from experts in each field from around the world.
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Exhibitions
- Chicago Architecture Center - Archetypes: A Designed Object Pop-up Shop, 2023
- Walker Art Center - Idea House 3, 2023
- Salon Art + Design, 2023
- STILL NOW. The Dinner, 2023
- ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair), 2017
- Maison & Objet, 2017
- ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair), 2016
- Object Reflection, 2016
- ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair), 2015
- NYNOW 2015, 2014
- ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair), 2014
- NYNOW, 2014
- CHGO DSGN: Recent Object and Graphic Design, 2014
- American Design: Contemporary American Landscape, 2014
- NeoCon: Relationship by Design, 2012
- Felicia Ferrone: On Space, 2010