Fashion, Architecture & Food Panel at MOCA in NYC

This panel examines the Asian American creative sensibility on fashion, architecture and food.

With architect Front Row guest curator Mary Ping, Katherine Chia (Desai/Chia Architecture) chef Anita Lo (Annisa), this discussion will explore how each successful woman thrives in a male-dominated industry, and how being Asian American has shaped their career trajectories and creative processes.

moca-talksWhen: Saturday, Oct. 26, 2-4 p.m.
Where: Museum of Chinese in America, 215 Centre St., New York 10013, 212-619-4785
RSVP required: Email [email protected]
General Admission: $10; members $5

About the Panelists

Mary Ping

Mary Ping is a graduate of Vassar College, where she earned a bachelor’s in art in 2000. In 2001, she launched her eponymous label after work experiences with Anna Sui and The Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute. In 2002, she debuted Slow and Steady Wins the Race, a label recognized for its sartorial wit and considered response to fashion.

She is a winner of the 2005 Ecco Domani Award, 2006 UPS Future of Fashion, and a previous nominee of the National Design Award in 2009 and 2011. Her work is part of the permanent collections of the Museum at F.I.T. , the R.I.S.D. Museum, and was included in the Victoria and Albert Museum exhibit ‘New York Fashion Now’. In 2007, Ping was inducted into the Council of Fashion Designer of America (CFDA).

Anita Lo

Anita Lo is the chef and owner of Annisa and one of the most respected chefs in the country, having earned numerous accolades for her inventive Contemporary American cuisine. Lo, a second generation Chinese-American, earned a degree in French language at Columbia University and studied at Reid Hall and Ecole Ritz-Escoffier in Paris. She received her degree, graduating first in her class with honors, while interning under Guy Savoy and Michel Rostang.

Back in New York, she developed her culinary style at Mirezi, where she earned a 2-star review from The New York Times. After two years at Mirezi, Lo left to travel the world. In 2000, she opened Annisa, an intimate restaurant in Greenwich Village.

Lo appeared on Top Chef Masters and finished fourth out of 24 chefs. In October 2011, Lo released her first cookbook, Cooking Without Borders, which highlights her passion for bringing multicultural flavors to her American kitchen.

Katherine Chia

Katherine Chia is the co-founder of Desai Chia Architecture, an award-winning firm that merges technology, material innovation, sustainability and the craft of building into collaborative and socially-dynamic environments. Desai Chia Architecture believes in inspiring architecture that is expressive of its use and materials and involving the client in an engaged way; a multi-disciplinary design process; meticulously designed and well-crafted projects; and a constant process of refinement in the exploration of openness, transparency, depth and light.

Chia’s projects have received numerous awards including, among others, several American Architecture Awards, AIA Design Awards, Good Design Awards and Interior Design’s ‘Best of Year’ Award. Her work has been featured internationally on television and in numerous publications including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest, Interior Design, Architectural Record, Dwell Asia, Surface Asia and New York Magazine. Desai Chia Architecture is a 100-percent minority woman-owned business enterprise that is certified with New York state.

Ms. Chia earned her master’s in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1991. She received her bachelor’s from Amherst College and serves as a Trustee Emeritus. She has also served as a trustee of the United Nations International School, an adjunct faculty member at Parsons The New School for Design, and a fellow of the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies. Chia is a registered architect in the state of New York.