Design and Community: The Female Design Council's Lora Appleton on Impact, Connection, and Creativity
By Julia Gamolina
Lora Appleton is a recognized curator, designer, and leading voice advocating for equity in design. She is the Executive Director and Founder of the Female Design Council (FDC) and the founder of kinder MODERN. Appleton’s curatorial and design work has been exhibited at many art and design fairs and she has collaborated with numerous brands and design institutions. Appleton serves on the NYCxDesign Steering Committee and has been the recipient of industry prizes, including Apartment Therapy’s Changemaker Award.
Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, Cultured, Whitewall, Surface, Dezeen, Vogue, Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, and more. In her interview with Julia Gamolina, Lora talks about seeing gaps in the market and creating connections, advising those just starting their careers to invest in themselves and their art.
JG: Tell me about your foundational years — where did you grow up and what did you like to do as a kid?
LA: I grew up in South Florida, which was flat and largely cultureless. It was, however, flush with estate sales and flea markets which sparked my love of vintage design and art very early, thanks to my artist grandmother and vintage-picking family. I still have not lost that excitement and love for history and other people’s stuff. I am a sentimentalist at heart.
You studied fine arts at NYU — why the fine arts, what was your concentration, and why NYU?
I focused on all fine arts with a concentration in directing and acting. I left school wanting to work in documentary filmmaking and landed my first gig with American Masters at PBS. NYU was an opportunity to both get into Tisch School of the Arts, but also to ultimately leave Florida. I transferred in from FSU.
kinder MODERN Hex Swizzel Rug. Photo courtesy of Lora Appleton.
kinder MODERN for Design Within Reach with Lunar & Eclipse Set. Photo courtesy of Lora Appleton.
Tell me about kinder MODERN — why you started it and how it has evolved over the years. What are you focused on these days?
Kinder MODERN came out of my interest in starting a family. I was astonished at how poorly children’s furniture was made at the time and didn’t understand why it had to be disposable and unattractive. I also noticed that there were very few magazines featuring homes with children. It was as if kids and living with family were hidden. I wanted to change that and bring family into the editorial design focus.
Kinder started as 99% vintage and I wanted to lean into the contemporary space as I hadn’t seen that at the time. Eventually, I chartered the contemporary design landscape for design for children, representing and partnering with designers globally to bring the best of the industry to kids. I built the kinder MODERN design studio and also started designing collections for the family home, which included furniture and rugs. Currently, I am working with other brands to bring kinder MODERN collaborations to market. Stay tuned!
Tell me also about the Female Design Council, which is such a wonderful initiative and organization. Where are you taking it in 2024?
2023 marked our fifth year of operations, and we have major plans for 2024! We have created a regional ambassadors program, allowing us to expand our programming nationwide. We kicked it off in Vancouver in January and are onboarding regional ambassadors for Los Angeles and San Francisco. The regional ambassadors act as hubs for the design communities in those cities, and we have more cities to come.
We are also further developing our Mentor Match program, which is a free community driven program in which leaders in the field volunteer their time to mentor an aspiring designer. Since 2020, we have served over 250 college students and early-career architects, designers, and applied artists.
Another key initiative is that we are now offering corporate memberships to design and architecture studios. When we partner with a firm, we create bespoke programming for their employees, which can be a panel discussion and mixer, an FDC Showcase in which select FDC members present their work to the studio’s designers, professional development workshops, and more. We’ve been very heartened by how excited our partners have been to become supporters of the FDC’s mission.
“If you are creative, then focus on being creative. Your art and design work is your intellectual property, so putting time, energy, and money into that — aka into yourself — pays back in bucketfuls.”
Looking back at it all, what have been the biggest challenges? How did you both manage through perceived disappointments or setbacks?
Starting FDC was happenstance; it wasn’t something I had planned or had ever done. The challenges began with how to create an ecosystem to properly service the full female-identified design community, as we are quite diverse in both disciplines and backgrounds. We have totally been a grassroots operation from Day One. Our programs run on volunteer labor, people have donated spaces and time to make projects happen, and funding continues to be the biggest mountain to overcome, not unlike every community organization in the nation.
What have you also learned in the last six months?
I have learned that if you are patient and continue to work hard the plans start to fall into place, even if they take longer than you want. Bringing on our first Director, Angharad Coates, has set up our next trajectory and we can't wait to launch FDC to this next level of sustainability as an organization and serviceability to our community.
kinder MODERN + Chen Chen & Kai Williams, Pulse Miami. Photo courtesy of Lora Appleton.
Lora Appleton x Cody Hoyt Ray Rug & kM Heritage Collection Stool. Photo courtesy of Lora Appleton.
What are you most excited about right now?
I am super excited that we will be shortly launching the third cycle of the FDC’s Grant Program for Women Designers of Color. Our first two cycles were wildly successful; beyond representation and publicity, the opportunity for direct financial support of their design business was a game-changer for a historically underrepresented group in design.
Who are you admiring now and why?
I am most inspired by creators, and our membership is no exception. Our grant program has been an incredible talent-spotting engine and exposed me to so many up-and-coming designers. The winner of our 2022 grant, Little Wing Lee, was also awarded the commission for the redesign of the National Black Theater of Harlem, and has her own incredible initiative Black Folks in Design. I'm inspired by her passion and dedication. Also, Liz Collins, an artist and textile designer, and an OG FDC member, will show work in the upcoming 2024 Venice Biennale. I could not be more excited to see her installation — knowing Liz, it will be transformative.
“When I think about impact, I think about connection . . . I want to continue to work with and connect creatives to engage in conversations and exhibitions that are focused on equity, love, support and artistry.”
What is the impact you’d like to have on the world? What is your core mission? And what does success in that look like to you?
When I think about impact, I think about connection. I aim to create meaningful work with talented and inspiring people. I want to continue to work with and connect creatives to engage in conversations and exhibitions that are focused on equity, love, support and artistry. I hope to inspire others, to keep building a strong, supportive community for myself and all womxn in creativity.
Finally, what advice do you have for those starting their career? Would your advice be any different for women?
Listen to others but don’t necessarily believe everything. Make unique efforts to expand your knowledge and network. Try working different jobs so you can learn how different businesses work. If you are creative, then focus on being creative. Your art and design work is your intellectual property, so putting time, energy, and money into that — aka into yourself — pays back in bucketfuls.
If you are a woman, you may have to work harder. If being a woman is less common in the area where you're looking to practice — for example, architecture, real estate development, metal fabrication — it is important to find mentors who look like you and who reflect excellence. You want to find a community that you can see yourself in and relate to. The more ways that you feel at home in the industry that you want to be in, the more emboldened and confident you will feel, and that will help you grow your success.