Nicole Feller-Johnson, IDSA
Product & UX Designer | Hermès of Paris
Nicole is a design researcher, educator, product and UX designer. HER Broad multidisciplinary work spans luxury, innovation and new technologies, digital fabrication, haute couture, surface development, UX/UI, EdTech, speculative design, and product cycles. She specializes in client experience, design thinking, synthesis and presentation, and product design technologies. Her debut fashion collection, which features the world’s first dress made of 3D printed yarn, walked Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Russia, SS2019.
Nicole teaches Disruptive Design and Making, Research and Fabrication, Professional Landscapes, Design Thinking, Applied Design Visualization, and Soft Goods for Assistive Wearables for Product Design and Design Research Masters Programs, Dept. of Architecture Design and Urbanism, at Drexel University.
She is currently the Manhattan-based Embroidery Specialist for Hermès of Paris, and is a member of the Corporate Client Experience team.
Nicole has garnered extensive experience around the world and across the United States with some of the most influential names in design, including Hermes of Paris, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Wings Team, CD Greene, Prabal Gurung, Vogue Knitting, Jessica Min Ahn, and Free People. In addition, Nicole has collaborated with and worked for the PennDesign Fabrication Laboratory, Drexel University’s ExCite Center, the Drexel University Hybrid Making Lab, The Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection, URBN SteamLab, Emergency Information Systems, The National Liberty Museum, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Barnes Foundation, Inliquid, Design Within Reach, The Clay Studio, Hot Soup Glass, Dance to the Music and the Horsham Dance Ensemble. Nicole’s graduate thesis work “Knit Evolution in Digital Couture” was recognized as the “Most Original and Creative Graduate Research 2018” at Drexel University. Nicole was named a CFDA+ Design Graduate for 2018, in the Futurists category, and with the statement “I AM a Fashion Disrupter.”
Nicole was a Student Technologist at “2 x 4, An Innovation Forum” at The Barnes Foundation, and was recognized by the Greater Philadelphia Innovation Awards, 2nd place “Education Entrepreneurship, Social Mobility”, as Design Lead with Emergency Information Systems. Her writings and design works have been featured in a wide variety of media, including Fashionating World, Vogue Knitting, and Telegraph UK. In 2020, Nicole joined the Advisory Board of The Compuseum, a Philadelphia non-profit interactive computer science museum, as a key leader in design, fashion, 3D tech, and break-out concepts in haute couture.
Statement of Candidacy (Women in Design Committee – Northeast | 2022-2023 term)
As candidate for the role of IDSA Northeast District Representative for the Women in Design Committee, I feel strongly that our advocacy of Female Identifying Designers cannot come at a more needful time. I believe that my broad experience in various avenues of Industrial Design would allow me to provide representation and collaborative leadership. I think it is especially pertinent at this moment to provide support for women as they navigate the multi-faceted challenges of a discipline which has not always proven equitable to women at various intersections of personal responsibility and their careers.
I was motivated to run for this position because I hope I can excite other Designers into small, everyday actions that can help shift the current narrative of what it means to be a Woman in Industrial Design. I believe we need to acknowledge and honor the struggles we face as we navigate this field for which we all have such a passion! As Female Identifying Designers of diverse experiences, we want to be here: to be seen, heard, and appreciated.
I aim to foster conversation, community, and actionable foundational shifts around Female Identifying issues in Industrial Design. I would especially like to address topics surrounding invisible biases, pay and opportunity challenges, and the need for better systems supporting diverse work environments of women with varied cultural, financial, and societal pressures.
Ideally, through workshops and Design-focused events, I would like to collaborate with our IDSA members of the Northeast Chapter to provide inspiration and work together to generate innovative and considerate infrastructure change, as I know we have so many incredible voices and resources within IDSA to draw from. My goal would be to represent a safe, transparent, and equitable chapter to foster the growth of Women in Design.
