About
Lisa Albin has worked across several design disciplines since graduating from The Rhode Island School of Design with a Bachelor of Architecture and Bachelor Fine Arts. After assisting landscape architect Alexandre Chemetoff in Paris and renowned installation artist Vito Acconci in Brooklyn, Albin spent the next 10 years designing feature films and high end residential interiors (first at Pierce Allen and then on her own).
Inspired by her two daughters, Albin combined her fascination with children and her understanding of design and usability to create the furniture collection Iglooplay. The work incorporates bent plywood, rich colors and upholstered seating to create designs for all ages. The growing demand for a range of soft seating products motivated Albin’s first foray into textile design - with an approach that connects to her first love of painting.
Albin’s experience as a painter, architect and set designer has made for a richly intuitive approach that is specific with regard to function, yet sculpturally minimal and open to individual experience. Constantly learning from nature, Albin works with organic forms and predominately sustainable materials. Working closely with her production team, Albin is passionate about manufacturing as the culmination of the creative process.
Albin’s products have been featured in such stores as the Museum of Modern Art Design Store (SoHo and Tokyo), The Guggenheim Museum Storefront and Barneys nationwide. Her product designs have been published in top shelter magazines and international publications and have garnered awards from Interior Design Magazine’s BoY Awards, New York Magazine Best of the Year, I.D. Magazine Annual Design Review, and a Good Design Award from The Chicago Athenaeum/Museum of Architecture and Design. Albin has taught at Parsons School of Design and has guest-lectured at Columbia University, School of Visual Arts and Cooper-Hewitt Museum's workshops.
Albin's playful and contemplative designs are specified widely for libraries, pediatric hospitals, schools, communal play spaces and hotel lounges. Through Iglooplay and Lisa Albin Design, Albin designs furniture and textiles and develops proposals for indoor and outdoor multi-age public spaces.
Awards
2015 Good Design Award by The Chicago Athenaeum/Museum of Architecture + Design for: Ink Lines Textiles
2013 Interior Design Magazine’s BoY Award: Otto, manufactured by Offi, awarded "Product of the Year Honoree" for Outdoor Lounge Furniture.
2012 Interior Design Magazine’s BoY Award: Mod Lounger, manufactured by Offi, awarded "Product of the Year Honoree" for Outdoor Seating.
New York Magazine: Best of NY 2008: Mod Rocker picked as the best child's chair for the "NYC chic parent"
2006 I.D. Magazine Annual Design Review: Honorable Mention (Mod Rocker)
2005 Good Design Award by The Chicago Athenaeum/Museum of Architecture + Design for: entire collection
Books
1000 New Eco Designs and Where to Find Them, by Rebecca Proctor (Laurence King Publishing, 2009)
Designed for Kids: A Complete Sourcebook, by Phyllis Richardson (Thames + Hudson, 2008)
Toys for Kids, by Patricia Masso (Tectum Publishing, 2008)
Ultimate New York Design, by Anja Llorella Oriol (TeNeues Publishing, 2007) A compendium of current New York architecture, interior, product, lighting + fashion design, featuring designers such as Yoshio Taniguchi, Steven Holl, Richard Meier, Karim Rashid + emerging designers.
The Lazy Environmentalist: Your Guide to Easy, Stylish, Green Living, by Josh Dorfman (Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Publishing, 2007)