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Cia works across a broad range of opportunities from furniture and product design to interior spaces and museum exhibition design for clients in the U.S. and abroad.
in addition to her independent design work, cia serves as chair of the MFA program in industrial design at the oregon college of art and craft in portland. she is the former vp of product design and development for watson, a pacific northwest contract furniture manufacturer recognized for leadership in sustainable practices. prior to joining watson, she served as vp of product development and launch for brayton, a design-forward subsidiary of steelcase, the office furniture giant.
after obtaining her graduate degree in industrial design from milan's domus academy in 1989, she returned stateside to design the exhibitions for the new motorola museum of electronics, schaumburg, il. an experienced museum planner and exhibition designer, she has created master plan exhibitions for science, technology and children's museums. her interest in learning and education has led to teaching assignments at rhode island school of design, miami's design + architecture senior high school and the art institute of california.
cia has been a guest lecturer and panelist at the university of north carolina, idc canada, the arango design foundation in miami and numerous steelcase-sponsored events. she has worked in the pioneering milan studios of ettore sottsass and aldo cibic on furniture, product and exhibition design programs for international clients. independently, her design work has been exhibited at euroluce, salone del mobile and with isao hosoe at the milan triennale. in 1993, she established her studio in miami, fl, where she continued to design extensively for motorola completing exhibition assignments in beijing, china, the epcot center in florida and retail plans for latin america.
cia received her undergraduate degree in industrial design from pratt institute, brooklyn, ny, and her graduate degree in industrial design from domus academy, milan, italy. while at domus, she studied under andrea branzi, isao hosoe, daniel libeskind, anna castelli, and stefano giovanonni.
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