Gala 2023: A Resounding Success!

On Tuesday, April 11, the New York School of Interior Design held its Gala 2023 in a private club in New York City, securing more than $605,000 for scholarships. NYSID Trustee Alexa Hampton, emceed, lending both humor and insight to the evening. On the subject of why she has served on the NYSID Board of Trustees for more than 11 years and helped endow the Mark Hampton Scholarship, Hampton said, “I give to the New York School of Interior Design because it’s a college that establishes, for our profession, the credibility it’s due. Through its seriousness, its commitment to producing professionals, and its academic rigor, NYSID elevates interior design—this profession that has given me so much.”

NYSID President David Sprouls said to the crowd of 309 attendees,  “When I’m addressing you at this annual event, it feels like I’m welcoming friends home. And that’s how I’d like you to think about The New York School of Interior Design, as your home in the interior design community.” NYSID’s signature fundraising event for scholarships attracts the vanguard of the interior design profession, and there is something about it that feels very intimate and collegial.

At the end of the cocktail hour, friends and colleagues embraced and continued to chat as the waiters struck xylophones multiple times, calling the crowd to dinner and the awards ceremony.

NYSID president David Sprouls, Suzanne Tucker, John Edelman, Peti Lau‘11, and chairman of the NYSID Board of Trustees Ellen Kravet

This year NYSID honored three design innovators who are also known for their deep knowledge of diverse historical design traditions. NYSID awarded, Suzanne Tucker, co-founder of Tucker & Marks and owner of Suzanne Tucker Home, with the ALBERT HADLEY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD, intended for individuals who have made contributions of outstanding artistic significance to interior design. NYSID alumna Peti Lau ’11 won THE RISING STAR AWARD, intended for a designer who has just hit their stride in the profession, a person who demonstrates great promise and vision. (The Shade Store has sponsored this award since its inception in 2019). John Edelman, CEO and President of Heller, and the former co-owner of Design Within Reach who is known for the turnaround of that company, became the 2023 winner of NYSID’s LARRY KRAVET DESIGN INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP AWARD. This award is named in memory of the late Larry Kravet, the longtime leader of Kravet Inc., the father of NYSID Board President Ellen Kravet, and an icon in the interior design field. The Kravet Award is awarded to an individual who has helped advance the field of interior design and is a leader in the industry. The evening was punctuated with films about the honorees produced by Boatman Media.

NYSID Trustee David Kleinberg, founder of David Kleinberg Design Associates, himself an Albert Hadley award winner in 2017,  introduced his friend Suzanne Tucker. Kleinberg began his career at Parish-Hadley and worked there for more than 16 years. He said “I am certain Albert Hadley would have approved of Suzanne as the winner of an award that bears his name.” After David Sprouls bestowed the Albert Hadley Award on Tucker, she said, “I am the poster child for doing what you love. . . .I am grateful for every mentor I ever had. My advice for the students is always seek out that mentor.”

Zach Gibbs, co-founder of The Shade Store, the company that has sponsored the Rising Star Award since its inception, introduced alumna Peti Lau. After receiving the Rising Star Award from NYSID board chair Ellen Kravet, Lau said, “At NYSID, I felt promising, talented, directed, and on my way to finally doing exactly what I was meant to do. The reason I am invested in this College is because I want to give other students the same opportunity to discover themselves in design.”

Cindy Allen, editor in chief of Interior Design magazine since 2001, introduced John Edelman with personal photographs and stories that dated back 22 years to the moment they met in her offices at Interior Design, and became fast friends. She said, “We are both design junkies. . . . It’s [John’s] insatiable passion for design that has guided many of his brilliant business decisions.” Ellen Kravet bestowed the award that bears her father’s name on Edelman, who accepted the Larry Kravet Design Industry Leadership award with the words, “I feel like the luckiest man alive. To be awarded for doing something I love seems unfair, but I’ll accept it!” He advised the crowd, “Always be sure you have a great brand and a great product, and tell the truth!”

Each of the honorees received an engraved crystal Octogone vase, generously donated by Baccarat.  

NYSID Alumni Council president Marie Aiello (left) and Alumni Scholarship recipient Ashley Abaunza

This year, for the first time ever, NYSID’s Alumni Council banded together to raise funds for the new Alumni Scholarship. An initial fundraising goal of $10,000 toward the alumni scholarship fund was set. The Alumni Council exceeded that goal, raising more than $20,000 from NYSID graduates, and making it possible for Marie Aiello, NYSID’s Alumni Council President, to present Ashley Abaunza, a second year MFA1 student with an outstanding GPA and president of NYSID’s chapter of IIDA, with the first Alumni Scholarship of $5000 at the gala. (The remainder of money raised will be put toward endowing the alumni scholarship fund so it can help students in perpetuity). “Thanks to the Alumni Scholarship, I now can go deeper into projects without having to devote time to another part-time job,” said Abaunza. “I will be able to pursue internships based on how they fit in with my future goals versus how they fit in with my financial picture.”

The success of Gala 2023 would not have been possible without the hard work and planning of Board chair Ellen Kravet and Gala co-chairs Chesie Breen, Ingrid Ongaro Edelman, Alexa Hampton, David Kleinberg, and Betsey Ruprecht.

“Every dollar raised at this gala will go toward student scholarships,” said NYSID president David Sprouls. . . .“Your donations give us the power to attract and retain the most talented students. We can’t thank you enough.”          

If you could not make it and want to support the next generation of design innovators, it’s never too late to support NYSID scholarships.