Hi, I’m Stefan.
It’s a genuine honor to be here today.

As a boy I navigated the streets of Washington, D.C., using maps designed by Massimo Vignelli, experienced museums first through the architectural marvel of I.M. Pei, and even flew in and out of the city at the iconic Dulles International Airport by Eero Saarinen.

The museum culture of Washington afforded me the opportunity to experience the major solo exhibitions of Georgia O’Keefe, Ansel Adams, Andrew Wyeth and Robert Mapplethorpe among others, and etched the raw magnitude and impact of American artists into my consciousness.

Art, design, architecture: all have been in my blood from the start and continued as I began my formal design education at Virginia Commonwealth University. I grew and learned through the groundbreaking design and typographic works of April Greiman, David Carson, and Paula Scher, and formalized my interest in architecture by studying the iconic works of Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and later Zaha Hadid. Visits to I.M. Pei’s Louvre allowed me to layer in my art history studies with open-eyed wonder.

In my career I’ve had the opportunity to work for icons in branding and visual communications such as United Colors of Benetton, Dolce & Gabbana, and Nike, and experienced a life in Italy where bloodlines that unite art, culture, design and architecture flowed with a strength that inspired me daily.

Professional creative intersections flourished at Benetton where I worked in the dramatic contemplative spaces designed by Tadao Ando for Benetton’s Fabrica, the company’s creative lab located outside Venice, and where Vignelli became an on-site mentor and helped refine my love of a minimalist but lively design aesthetic.

Perceptions of artistic heritage, performance art and music were illuminated by exploring the mesmeric Biennales of Art and Dance in Venice, Art Basel in Switzerland, and by experiencing immersive museum and cultural spaces from Miami to Brooklyn, and Sydney to Kyoto. An awareness of the value of space as a unifier of human emotions and shared experiences was forever heightened.

This leads me to today. I’m simultaneously in America’s heartland and a global center of American art, design, and architecture. The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art unites Alice Walton’s vision with Moshe Safdie’s immense talents, the Momentary creates a home for art to be vibrantly immersive and sensory, the team in this room makes it accessible to all… I’m proud and honored to be here today. It feels like a continuation of the passions I hold true and closest to my heart.

Thank you.