Industry Roundtable Designer Picks

Mar 21, 2021 By IIDA HQ

Designers who joined IIDA’s recent Industry Roundtable discussion, share their current favorite books, movies, tv, music, art, and guilty pleasures.

By IIDA HQ Mar 21, 2021

Recently IIDA Industry Roundtable members and alumni convened virtually to discuss what the past year revealed about life, work, and what the future might hold for the design industry, for our clients, and for ourselves.

IIDA also took a moment to survey this inspiring group to find out what art, design, literature, culture, and media have kept them engaged and excited. Who doesn’t love a great cultural resource list?

We received so many great recommendations we are going to share them in a three-part series. Part one of three—our group shares here their favorite books, music, podcasts, art, and guilty pleasures.

Gabrielle Bullock, IIDA, FAIA, NOMA
Principal and Director of Global Diversity | Perkins+Will
Books: Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, and The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration both by Isabel Wilkerson, The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
Music: 80’s soul, and R&B
Podcasts: My own with Karen Compton! Breaking The Silence of Design
Art: Felice Silverman's daily sketches and African American artists
Guilty Pleasures: Bernie Sanders memes and Pluto the dog posts

Royce Epstein, Ind. IIDA
A&D Design Director | Mohawk Group
Books: I have been reading about music, I just finished a 600-page book about British new wave called Sweet Dreams: The Story of the New Romantics by Dylan Jones. For design, I just finished Alice Rawsthorn's book called Design As An Attitude–a must for design thinkers.
Music: Ambient stuff like Peggy Gou and Tycho, 60's ska as always, The Style Council’s new compilation on limited edition colored vinyl, new wave, and 60s garage.
Podcasts: Does watching CNN nonstop count?
Art: Through Instagram - following many design historians and art critics like Alice Rawsthorn (@alice.rawsthorn), Design Emergency (@design.emergency), etc.
Guilty Pleasures: I re-watched all of Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place for nostalgia and comfort.

James Kerrigan Vice President, IIDA International Board of Directors
Design Principal of Interiors | Jacobs
Books: Audio Books! Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell, Team of Teams by Stanley McChrystal, Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World by Michael Lewis, The Future of Professions: How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human Experts by Richard Susskind and Daniel Susskind, Beastie Boys Book (SPIEGEL & GRAU), and Paul McCartney: The Life by Philip Norman
Music: Almost anything by Queen, The Ultimate Bee Gees, and Blackstar by David Bowie
Podcasts: WTF with Marc Maron, The Adam Buxton Podcast, Revisionist History by Malcolm Gladwell, Rockonteurs with Gary Kemp and Guy Pratt, OFS’s Imagine a Place with Doug Shapiro
Art: The Modern D/FW, The Musical Instrument Museum, and Taliesin West, Phoenix AZ
Guilty Pleasures: An awful lot of YouTube car & motorbike-related content.

Angie Lee, IIDA
Principal and Design Director, Interiors | FXCollaborative
Books: Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design by Kat Holmes, Invisible Women: Data Bias In a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez, Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong, White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo, PhD, Whose Story Is This?: Old Conflicts, New Chapters by Rebecca Solnit, and Surface Magazine
Music: Jeff Buckley, kd lang, Billie Eilish, and Mozart's The Magic Flute
Podcasts: The Mic, Design is Everywhere, OFS's Imagine a Place podcast, Code Switch, Bowery Boys
Art: Theaster Gates, Joseph Lee, and street photographers on Instagram like @f22bestphoto, @moises_levy_street, or @Magnumphotos
Guilty Pleasures: Netflix, Netflix, Hulu, Netflix…Walking Dead (yikes), Bridgerton, The Expanse, the list goes on!

Nita Posada, IIDA
Principal | Skylab Architecture
Books: I've been reading about mindfulness and journaling a lot. I've picked up some books that are journaling prompts which have been great. I've also gone back to some of the murder mystery and old sci-fi books that I loved—it's been fun to get lost in those stories. I've also been hooked on sites and books about cabins, the mountains, A-frame renovations.
Music: There are some favorite Spotify playlists, Golden Hour is one of them. We also have some playlists that are collaborations with the entire studio, or music venues in Portland that have been creating collaborative playlists. It's nice to get music inspiration from others, almost like when we were in the studio together sharing a Sonos.
Podcasts: I've also been listening to a lot of podcasts. Old ones that I loved including My Favorite Murder and a particularly favorite new one that made me laugh and cry, An Oral History of the Office. Another fave is The Endless Honeymoon Podcast.
Art: Even though I don't have any tattoos, I've been really into following tattoo artists and seeing the work they're doing. Also graffiti and urban artists. Been digging more into mountain and leisure design—the less precious woodsy aesthetic
Guilty Pleasures: Cooking competition shows! I'm so tired of cooking, but so happy to watch someone else make a 5 tiered cake or giant BBQ feast.

Mavis Wiggins, IIDA
Studio Design Director | TPG Architecture
Books: Going back to some early reads because I need to: Toni Morrison's Sula and Octavia Butler's Kindred
Music: Cassandra Wilson, Gil Scott-Heron, Al Jarreau, Stevie Wonder, Meshell Ndegeocello. These are comforting for me.
Podcasts/Video: Yoga, yoga, and yoga and Thelma Golden's

(Director of the Studio Museum in Harlem) talks with artists have been illuminating.
Art: Art is my muse. CCH Pounder (@cchpounder) has been keeping me abreast of talent on an international platform.
Guilty Pleasures: IIDA, Interior Design, and Dezeen