About the Rowena Fund

The Rowena Reed Kostellow Fund was established in 1988 to celebrate and communicate the teaching and methodology of one of the most recognized design educators of the 20th century. In the 1930s Rowena Reed Kostellow, along with Donald Dohner and Alexander Kostellow developed the design pedagogy at Pratt Institute that spread. Rowena Reed taught five generations of designers who in turn taught their own students and established industrial design programs all over the world.

“Rowena Reed had the unshakable conviction that foundation studies aimed at exploring abstract visual relationships are essential to creating and appreciating art and design. She focused her own attention and considerable gifts on exploring these relationships in the three-dimensional realm.

The Rowena Fund's mission is to continue the dialogue that she started in the classroom, based on her unwavering conviction that beauty and the thoughtful manipulation of form are core to the development of products, images, and architectural form and space. The Fund continues Rowena Reed's teachings through scholarships, publishing and programs. The Rowena Reed Kostellow Fund is governed by a board of trustees.

This website is a resource and an advocate for teaching three-dimensional design, including methodology, history, current student work, connections to resources, and videos.