Interior design branding expert to speak at TCU Nov. 9

Fort Worth, TX

11/3/2006

TCU's department of design, merchandising and textiles is hosting a Green Honors Chair Lecture on Thursday, Nov. 9, 6 p.m. at TCU's Sid Richardson Lecture Hall 1. The featured speaker will be Janine James, experimental branding and culture-building expert and founder of The Moderns, a multidisciplinary solutionist think tank.

A pioneer in the field of experiential branding and culture-building, Janine James founded The Moderns in 1992 to provide clients with a better framework for solving their challenges. It started with a simple yet profound question: What would happen if the Bauhaus (high design and high craft accessible and affordable to the masses) began today? Much like her counterparts of the early twentieth century, James knew that it was time to start thinking about purposeful, integrated, holistic solutions. Real Solutions. Under her leadership, The Moderns have emerged as the premiere firm for multidisciplinary strategy and forward-thinking branding.

Over the past decade, James' work has brought success to some of the world's most influential brands: American Express, Planned Parenthood, BASF, and Sundance. James' work also has helped to transform the fate of smaller companies whose brand cultures have subsequently found a strategic vision—a voice. Whatever the project, whomever the client, James is consistently lauded for her ability to imagine the impossible and then work with her team to make it real. As creative director, James' skill at bringing together the right team for the right project is matched only by her ability to inspire these team-members—be they architects, strategists, economists, or scientists—to work collaboratively and problem-solve at the highest possible level.

A leader not just at The Moderns, but in the community at large, James often speaks at businesses and universities. In 2006, she was a keynote speaker at the IDEC (Interior Designers Educators Council) conference in Austin, Texas and delivered a commencement address at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar. In November, she will join the board of directors of the Council for Interior Design Accreditation's Future Vision 2006. Recently, James was also a teaching fellow at Harvard University where she worked with renowned psychiatrist and author, Dr. Robert Coles.

For more information on TCU's department of design, merchandising and textiles, visit www.demt.tcu.edu. For more information on the lecture, call 817-257-7499.

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Media contact:
Shawn Kornegay
Asst. Director of Communications
817-257-5061
s.kornegay@tcu.edu