Hospitality Design - August 2023 - 26

perspectives interview
JEAN LIN
Colony
Growing up in Massachusetts, Jean Lin, the
daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, thought
working in a creative field wasn't realistic.
Instead, she studied psychology at the University
of Massachusetts Amherst and worked in social
services after she graduated. It wasn't long before
she had a realization, that " if I have to do this for
the rest of my life, it won't work for me, " she says.
She applied and was accepted to Parsons
School of Design in New York to study fashion.
At the time, she says, following her passion
felt " frivolous, but when you're faced with the
reality of adulthood, you realize that maybe it's
not self-indulgent; it's more about preservation
and survival to pursue things that make you
feel alive. " At Parsons, she was surrounded by
other creatives who were excited about the same
things she was. " It was the first time I was in an
academic environment that stimulated me, " she
explains.
Lin's entrepreneurial spirit was evident early
on. In addition to a résumé that includes roles
as editor in chief at Designer Pages and a trends
analyst at forecasting company WGSN, she also
founded architecture and design publication
Otto, as well as women's line Dressed in Yellow.
After Hurricane Sandy hit New York in 2012, she
created nonprofit charitable design organization
Reclaim NYC.
This was the starting point for Colony, the
multipurpose designer's co-op and exhibition
space she launched in 2014. Today, Colony
represents 17 designers, including Allied Maker,
Studio Paolo Ferrari, and Hiroki Takeda Studio,
in a 2,000-square-foot Tribeca showroom that
showcases independent creators " who [are doing]
something interesting and impactful, " she says.
Colony is run like a cooperative, charging a
monthly fee to artists and taking a much smaller
commission than traditional gallery spaces.
Additionally, Lin runs Colony Consult, which
provides creative direction and design services to
the architecture and design community.
In Colony's early days, Lin's goal was to
elevate the North American design sector.
Now, almost a decade later, she is evolving the
company's mission once again. Last August, she
introduced a residency program, an initiative
that gives nascent studios a curriculum over
the course of eight months to help with product
development and teach them about the design
business. Among the first cohort of residents,
who debuted their collections in April, were
Marmar Studio and Alexis & Ginger, former
students Lin taught during a graduate studio at
the Rhode Island School of Design. In exchange,
the incubator pays for studio space and offers
critiques of the designers' work. " It's a gamble
for us because they're not established names, but
we're giving them a moment of true discovery, "
she says. " We're trying to build the future of this
part of the industry from scratch. " hd
Hospitality Design - August 2023

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