Neri Oxman (; born February 6, 1976) is an American-Israeli designer and former professor known for art that combines design, biology, computing, and materials engineering. She coined the phrase "material ecology" to define her work.
Oxman was a professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...
Media Lab, where she founded and led the Mediated Matter research group. She has had exhibitions at the
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
(MoMA),
Boston's
Museum of Science,
SFMOMA
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art, and has b ...
, and the
Centre Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...
, which have her works in their permanent collections.
Many of Oxman's projects use new platforms and techniques for 3D printing and fabrication, often incorporating nature and biology. They include co-fabrication systems for building hybrid structures with silkworms,
[Silkworms and Robot work together to weave silk pavilion](_blank)
Dezeen, June 3, 2013. bees, and ants; a water-based fabrication platform that built structures such as ''Aguahoja'' out of
chitosan
Chitosan is a linear polysaccharide composed of randomly distributed β-(1→4)-linked D-glucosamine (deacetylated unit) and ''N''-acetyl-D-glucosamine (acetylated unit). It is made by treating the chitin shells of shrimp and other crusta ...
; and the first 3D printer for optically transparent glass.
Other projects include printed clothing, wearables, and furniture.
Early life and education
Neri Oxman was born in
Haifa
Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...
,
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
, the daughter of architecture professors Robert and
Rivka Oxman
Rivka Oxman (; April 6, 1948 - March 16, 2025) was an Israeli architect, researcher, and professor at the Technion Institute in Haifa. Her research interests are related to design and computation, including digital architecture and methods, and ...
.
Her sister Keren Oxman is an artist.
Oxman grew up in Israel, spending time in her parents' architecture studio and at her grandmother's house.
After graduating from the
Hebrew Reali School
The Hebrew Reali School of Haifa (), located in Haifa, Israel, is one of the country's oldest private schools.[Israeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...]
, reaching the rank of
first lieutenant
First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment.
The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a se ...
.
Following her military service, she attended
Hebrew University
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. It is the second-ol ...
's
Hadassah Medical School
Hadassah Medical Center () is an Israeli medical organization established in 1934 that operates two university hospitals in Jerusalem (one in Ein Karem and one in Mount Scopus) as well as schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, and pharmacology a ...
for two years before switching to architecture. She began her architectural studies at
Technion Israel Institute of Technology and finished her degree at the
Architectural Association School of Architecture
The Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, commonly referred to as the AA, is the oldest private school of architecture in the UK. The AA hosts exhibitions, lectures, academic conference, symposia and publications. Histo ...
in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, graduating in 2004.
In 2005, Oxman began Ph.D. studies in architectural design at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...
, advised by
William J. Mitchell. Her thesis focused on material-aware design.
She graduated from the doctoral program in 2010.
Career

In 2006, Oxman began an interdisciplinary research project at MIT called ''material ecology,'' to experiment with generative design.
She became a professor at MIT in 2010, and was given her own lab, the Mediated Matter group at
MIT Media Lab
The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, growing out of MIT's Architecture Machine Group in the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, School of Architecture. Its research does not restrict to fi ...
.
She was granted tenure at MIT in 2017.
Her research interests involve parametric and contextual design, including engineering techniques to realize those designs in various materials and contexts. Examples include creating a "skin" for buildings that can tan in the sun to create shade, and structural biodegradable polymers.
She has published collaborations in biology, medicine, wearables, and the design of fabrication tools.
Her work has been mentioned as an inspiration for changing how materials and structures are designed. In 2016, she helped launch the open ''Journal of Design Science'', an "antidisciplinary" journal which journal co-founder
Joi Ito
is a Japanese entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He is the president of Chiba Institute of Technology. He is on the Board of Directors for the Gelephu Mindfulness City in Bhutan where he is also the Chairman of the Gelephu Investment Developm ...
described as "working in spaces that simply do not fit into any existing academic discipline." She wrote that science, engineering, design and art are connected, with the output of each serving as input for the others.
Oxman's early projects took the form of surfaces, furniture, or objects that could be worn or put on display. Since 2013, most projects have included temporary or interactive installations, including the production process and study of its material properties. These include both mechanical processes, such as for ''Ocean Pavilion'' and ''Glass I,''
and biological ones, such as for ''Silk Pavilion'' and ''Synthetic Apiary.''
Oxman's work has been included in the permanent collections of museums such as New York's
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
(MoMA), the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...
(SFMOMA), the
Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
, the
Smithsonian, and Boston's
Museum of Fine Arts and
Museum of Science.
In 2020, the MoMA displayed the first exhibition of her work as its own collection.
Oxman serves on the Executive Advisory Board of the
WORLD.MINDS Foundation, where she contributes to interdisciplinary conversations at the nexus of design, science, and society.
Mediated Matter
Oxman's Mediated Matter research group uses computational design, digital fabrication,
3D printing
3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer ...
, materials science and synthetic biology for large and small structures.
The group developed its own methods and printing platforms, and worked with a range of 3D production systems. Projects have ranged in scale from enclosures and large furniture, to artwork and clothes, to
biocomposite
A biocomposite is a composite material formed by a matrix (resin) and a reinforcement of natural fibers.
Environmental concern and cost of synthetic fibres have led the foundation of using natural fibre as reinforcement in polymeric composites ...
s, artificial valves, and
DNA assembly. Production methods include taking images of a biological or natural sample, developing algorithms to produce similar structures, and developing new manufacturing processes to realize the results.
Projects include wearable clothes and tools,
solar-powered and biodegradable designs,
[“Mushtari” Is a 3D Printed Wearable That Makes Products from Sunlight](_blank)
ArchDaily. July 12, 2015. new artistic techniques, and construction of surfaces, walls, coverings and load-bearing elements.
Organic and natural fabrication
The ''Silk Pavilion'', an installation designed in 2013, was noted for its fabrication method as much as its final form. It was woven by 6,500 free-ranging
silkworm
''Bombyx mori'', commonly known as the domestic silk moth, is a moth species belonging to the family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of '' Bombyx mandarina'', the wild silk moth. Silkworms are the larvae of silk moths. The silkworm is of ...
s on a nylon-frame dome. Experiments with the silkworms identified how they would respond to different surfaces, and what would encourage them to spin onto an existing structure rather than spinning a cocoon. The frame of a large
polyhedral
In geometry, a polyhedron (: polyhedra or polyhedrons; ) is a three-dimensional figure with flat polygonal faces, straight edges and sharp corners or vertices. The term "polyhedron" may refer either to a solid figure or to its boundary surfa ...
dome was loosely woven by a
robotic arm
A robotic arm is a type of mechanical arm, usually programmable, with similar functions to a human arm; the arm may be the sum total of the mechanism or may be part of a more complex robot. The links of such a manipulator are connected by join ...
out of thin
nylon
Nylon is a family of synthetic polymers characterised by amide linkages, typically connecting aliphatic or Polyamide#Classification, semi-aromatic groups.
Nylons are generally brownish in color and can possess a soft texture, with some varieti ...
threads, and suspended in an open room. The dome was designed with gaps where it would be warmest. Silkworms were released onto the frame in waves, where they added layers of silk before being removed. This involved engineering,
sericulture
Sericulture, or silk farming, is the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, the caterpillar of the Bombyx mori, domestic silkmoth is the most widely used and intensively studied silkwo ...
, and modeling sun in the room. The resulting pavilion was hung so that people could stand inside it. This was reprised in 2020 for ''Silk Pavilion II'', installed as part of the Oxman exhibition at MoMA.
The ''Synthetic Apiary'', a room-sized installation built in 2015, studied the behavior of
bee
Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...
s in an indoor environment, including how they built hives in and around different structures. This was developed in collaboration with a beekeeping company, as a way of testing possible responses to colony loss, and exploring how biological niches could be integrated into buildings.
Wearables
In 2012, Oxman printed a set of body-sized wearables, ''Imaginary Beings,'' inspired by legendary creatures. She also collaborated with
van Herpen and materials scientist
W. Craig Carter on ''Anthozoa'', a cape and skirt evocative of marine life.
In 2015, she designed the ''Wanderers'' collection, inspired by interplanetary exploration, in collaboration with
Christoph Bader and
Dominik Kolb. The collection included the ''Living Mushtari'' chestpiece, a model digestive tract filled containing a colony of microorganisms that could sustain life in harsh environments''.'' The collection was described by
Andrew Bolton as "defined by neither time nor place".
In 2016, she produced ''Rottlace,'' a 3D-printed mask for
Björk
Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...
, based on a 3D scan of the performer's face. Björk wore it in the world's first 360° virtual reality livestream.
Oxman also developed ''Lazarus'', a project designed to capture the wearer's last breath, and began work on ''Vespers'', a collection of 15 death masks. The masks were divided into past, present, and future, and embedded with minerals and bacteria.
Environments
In 2014, she collaborated with Carter on ''Gemini'', a
chaise longue
A chaise longue (; , ) is an upholstered sofa in the shape of a chair that is long enough to support the legs of the sitter.
In modern French, the term ''chaise longue'' refers to any long reclining chair, such as a deckchair.
In English, ...
with a milled wood frame and 3D-printed upholstery designed for both structural and acoustical properties, designed to recreate a calming womb-like environment. It was produced with a combination of additive and subtractive printing.
SFMOMA
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art, and has b ...
acquired the piece the next year. This work gave rise to a model for a larger scale ''Gemini Cinema''.
3D printing platforms
Mediated Matter also prototyped new platforms and tools for printing. These included a printer that can print entire sections of rooms, a glass printer, and a quick-curing printer that can make free-standing objects without support structures.
In 2014, they developed ''G3DP'', the first 3D printer to produce optically transparent glass. At the time, sintering 3D printers could print with glass powder, but the results were brittle and opaque. ''G3DP'' was a collaboration with MIT's Glass Lab and the
Wyss Institute, emulating traditional glass working processes, with a kiln and annealing chamber. The process allowed close control of color, transparency, thickness and texture. Certain settings turned the printer into a "molten glass sewing machine". Two generations of the printer, ''G3DP'' and ''G3DP2'', produced collection of vessels that have gone on exhibit as ''Glass I'' and ''Glass II''.
A 10-foot glass and light sculpture printed by this platform, ''YET'', was installed at the 2017
Milan Design Week.
Also in 2014, the group developed ''Aguahoja'', a project involving a water-based fabrication platform that built structures out of
chitosan
Chitosan is a linear polysaccharide composed of randomly distributed β-(1→4)-linked D-glucosamine (deacetylated unit) and ''N''-acetyl-D-glucosamine (acetylated unit). It is made by treating the chitin shells of shrimp and other crusta ...
, a curable water-soluble organic fiber similar to
chitin
Chitin (carbon, C8hydrogen, H13oxygen, O5nitrogen, N)n ( ) is a long-chain polymer of N-Acetylglucosamine, ''N''-acetylglucosamine, an amide derivative of glucose. Chitin is the second most abundant polysaccharide in nature (behind only cell ...
. Structural pillars or long leaves could be made by varying how the fibers were deposited. The resulting combination of hard and soft structures could change from solid to willowy over the length of a branch or leaf, using the same base material.
This was demonstrated in a pair of installations, ''Aguahoja I'' and ''II'', featuring a central 15-foot tall sculpture resembling "enormous, folded cicada wings".
In 2016, the group developed a large-scale robotic printing system, the ''Digital Construction Platform'' (DCP), which printed polyurethane foam molds with a robot arm based on the Altec
aerial work platform
An aerial work platform (AWP), also an aerial device, aerial lift, boom lift, bucket truck, cherry picker, elevating work platform (EWP), mobile elevating work platform (MEWP), or scissor lift, is a mechanical device used to provide temporary ...
. DCP v2 was able to print a section of a dome 15 meters across and 4 meters high.
Other developments
Starting in 2018, the Mediated Matter lab developed the ''Totems'' project, exploring ways to extract
melanin
Melanin (; ) is a family of biomolecules organized as oligomers or polymers, which among other functions provide the pigments of many organisms. Melanin pigments are produced in a specialized group of cells known as melanocytes.
There are ...
from different species and embed it in 3D-printed structures. This led to a concept for buildings with facades that respond to sunlight, such as a proposed architectural pavilion initiated by
Ravi Naidoo and introduced at his
Design Indaba conference.
From 2017 to 2020, a new Silk Pavilion was developed, ''Silk Pavilion II'', exploring new potential models for gathering silk from silkworms without needing to boil cocoons and end the silkworm's lifecycle.
In 2020, the lab produced a new Aguahoja installation, ''Aguahoja III'', identical to the first but stored in a climate-controlled gallery. This is intended to serve as a long-term control against which to compare the original, in measuring how chitosan degrades or is influenced by environmental changes. The lab stopped active work in 2021.
In 2019, an MIT report revealed that Oxman's lab had received $125,000 from
Jeffrey Epstein
Jeffrey Edward Epstein ( , ; January 20, 1953August 10, 2019) was an American financier and child sex offender. Born and raised in New York City, Epstein began his professional career as a teacher at the Dalton School, despite lacking a col ...
, part of a series of donations (including one for a "Knotty Discretionary Fund") he made to the Media Lab and its director
Joi Ito
is a Japanese entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He is the president of Chiba Institute of Technology. He is on the Board of Directors for the Gelephu Mindfulness City in Bhutan where he is also the Chairman of the Gelephu Investment Developm ...
.
Oxman asked people in her lab to prepare and send a gift to Epstein, according to documents shared by an MIT employee. A graduate student emailed to Oxman: “Have you read the articles about this Jeff Epstein? He seems pretty shady. . . . Just wanted to point it out in case you weren’t aware."
Oxman stated she was aware, adding in the e-mail, that “Jeff E.” should always be “confidential" and told the student that they were not sponsored by Epstein.
Recent work
Starting in 2020, Oxman's studio, Oxman Architects, has explored similar themes in their projects. They produced a documentary about their work, ''Nature × Humanity'',
which became the name of a 2022 exhibition of their work at SFMOMA.
In 2020, she created the final version of ''Silk Pavilion II'', weaving a new pavilion in
Padua
Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...
, Italy in collaboration with a silkworm-rearing facility in nearby
Teolo
Teolo () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Padua in the Italian region Veneto, located about west of Venice and about southwest of Padua.
The municipality of Teolo is divided into the ''frazioni
A ''frazione'' (: ''frazioni'') ...
. The structure was constructed on a dissolvable hyperboloid.
In 2021, her team revisited the Synthetic Apiary'','' constructing a new environment for bees to build hives, printed with embedded pheromones. The resulting hive structures were analyzed by
CT scan
A computed tomography scan (CT scan), formerly called computed axial tomography scan (CAT scan), is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers or ...
s to allow digital reconstruction and provide insight into the bees' construction process.
They also designed an experiment testing how bees respond to low-gravity environments, and fabricated a new type of payload module to house the experiment on a
Blue Origin
Blue Origin Enterprises, L.P. is an American space technology company headquartered in Kent, Washington. The company operates the suborbital New Shepard rocket and the heavy-lift New Glenn rocket. In addition to producing engines for its own ...
suborbital flight.
Plagiarism allegations
In late 2023, Oxman's husband,
Bill Ackman
William Albert Ackman (born May 11, 1966) is an American billionaire hedge fund manager who is the founder and chief executive officer of Pershing Square Capital Management, a hedge fund management company. His investment approach has made him ...
, joined calls to remove
Claudine Gay
Claudine Gay (born August 4, 1970) is an American political scientist who is the Wilbur A. Cowett Professor of Government and of African and African-American Studies at Harvard University. Her research focuses on American political behavior, inc ...
as president of
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
over
plagiarism accusations. Shortly after, journalists at ''
Business Insider
''Business Insider'' (stylized in all caps: BUSINESS INSIDER; known from 2021 to 2023 as INSIDER) is a New York City–based multinational financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Inside ...
'' published articles alleging Oxman plagiarized from a range of sources, including
from Wikipedia, in her 2010 PhD dissertation and three journal articles.
Oxman subsequently apologized for what she called "citation errors".
''Business Insider''s owner
Axel Springer
Axel Cäsar Springer (2 May 1912 – 22 September 1985) was a German publisher and founder of what is now Axel Springer SE, the largest media publishing firm in Europe. By the early 1960s his print titles dominated the West German daily press m ...
said that it investigated the outlet's "processes" after Ackman questioned their motives, and stood by its reporting.
Design philosophy
Oxman's philosophy of material ecology was developed in 2006 while a graduate student at MIT.
It combines
3D printing
3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer ...
techniques with
biology
Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...
,
engineering
Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...
,
materials science
Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries.
The intellectual origins of materials sci ...
, and
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...
to create objects and structures through growth and without assembly.
She proposed developing a material ecology with "holistic products, characterized by property gradients and multi-functionality" – placing humanity in harmony with nature,
in contrast to assembly lines and “a world made of parts".
[Design at the Intersection of Technology and Biology](_blank)
2015.
She described her work as shifting "from ''consuming'' nature as a geological resource to ''editing'' it as a biological one."
This includes using biological shapes as inspiration, textures, and even fabrication, such as the glowing bacteria in ''Mushtari'' and the silkworms in the ''Silk Pavilion''.
Museum of Modern Art curator
Paola Antonelli
Paola Antonelli (born 1963) is an Italian architect, curator, author, editor, and educator. Antonelli is the Senior Curator of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, where she also serves as the founding Director o ...
described Oxman's work as a way to "decipher nature's myriad
esignlessons and render them digitally for future application at all scales."
Oxman's approach to form generation and environmental design is cited by rapid prototypers in other fields, and gave a popular 2015 TED talk on material ecology.
In 2019, the
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
docu-series ''
Abstract: The Art of Design'' featured her work in its second season.
Personal life
Oxman was previously married to Argentine composer
Osvaldo Golijov
Osvaldo Noé Golijov (; born December 5, 1960) is an Argentine composer of classical music and music professor, known for his vocal and orchestral work.
Biography
Osvaldo Golijov was born in and raised in La Plata, Argentina, to a Jewish family ...
.
In 2019, she married investor and hedge fund manager
Bill Ackman
William Albert Ackman (born May 11, 1966) is an American billionaire hedge fund manager who is the founder and chief executive officer of Pershing Square Capital Management, a hedge fund management company. His investment approach has made him ...
,
with whom she has a daughter. They are co-trustees of the
Pershing Square Foundation
William Albert Ackman (born May 11, 1966) is an American billionaire hedge fund manager who is the founder and chief executive officer of Pershing Square Capital Management, a hedge fund management company. His investment approach has made him ...
.
Works
Early works
Oxman's early work focused on 3D printing, including projects like ''Carpal Skin'', which used the profile of pain for a person with carpal tunnel syndrome to ease their discomfort, and ''Monocoque'' (2007), a demonstration of how a printed structure could support its weight via its exterior skin rather than interior supports.
This required a printer that could simultaneously print multiple materials with different structural properties, a process she named "variable property rapid prototyping". In 2008, futurist
Bruce Sterling
Michael Bruce Sterling (born April 14, 1954) is an American science fiction author known for his novels and short fiction and editorship of the ''Mirrorshades'' anthology. In particular, he is linked to the cyberpunk subgenre.
Sterling's first ...
called her work "shatteringly different from anything before".
Later works involved fabrication by animals or by natural processes.
In 2016, Oxman worked with
Björk
Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...
to create a mask based on the singer's face, and worked with Dutch fashion designer
Iris van Herpen
Iris van Herpen (born June 5, 1984) is a Dutch fashion designer known for fusing technology with traditional haute couture craftsmanship. Van Herpen opened her own label ''Iris van Herpen'' in 2007. In 2011, the Dutch designer became a guest-mem ...
to 3D-print a collection of wearable couture.
Selected works
* ''Cartesian Wax'', ''Monocoque'', ''Raycounting'' (2007,
MoMA
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
)
* ''Carpal Skin'' (2010,
Museum of Science)
* ''Imaginary Beings'' (2012, Centre Pompidou)
* ''Silk Pavilion I'' (2013) and ''II'' (2020), installation
* ''Anthozoa'' (2013,
MFA), couture dress
* ''Gemini'' (2015,
SF MoMA), acoustical chaise
* ''Wanderers'' collection (2015, incl. ''Living Mushtari'')
* ''Glass I'' (2014), 3D printer & glasswork
* ''Rottlace'' (2016), stage mask
* ''Aguahoja I & II'' (2017–2019), biocomposite structures
Gallery
Art, surfaces, and furniture
File:Neri Oxman CartesianWax 03.tif, ''Cartesian Wax'' surface
File:Oxman Raycounting-10 MoMA.tiff, ''Raycounting'', multiply lit
File:Pneuma 2 by Neri Oxman at the 3D, printing the future exhibition at the Science Museum, London.JPG, ''Pneuma 2''
File:Caustic patterns of a 3D printed glass structure.jpg, ''G3DP'' printed glasswork
File:G3DP glass bowl-sm.png, ''G3DP'' bowl
Processes and installations
File:Matter-glass-printer.webm, ''G3DP'' printing process
File:Matter-silk-pavilion.webm, Silk Pavilion process
File:Synthetic-apiary.webm, Synthetic Apiary studies
File:Oxman-wanderers-morphology.jpg, Morphologies used for ''Wanderers''
File:3D-Printed-Multimaterial-Microfluidic-Valve-pone.0160624.s007.ogv, 3DP microfluidic valve design
Selected exhibits
*
SFMOMA
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art, and has b ...
, San Francisco: 2022 (
Nature × Humanity)
*
MoMA
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
, New York: 2007, 2010 (
''Action: Design over Time''), 2015 (
''This Is for Everyone''), 2020 (
Neri Oxman: Material Ecology)
*
Cooper Hewitt Museum: 2015 (
''Making Design''), 2016 (
''Beauty'')
*
Centre Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...
, Paris: 2012 (
''Imaginary Beings'' exhibit, ''Multiversités Créatives'')
*
Science Museum, London
The Science Museum is a major museum on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London. It was founded in 1857 and is one of the city's major tourist attractions, attracting 3.3 million visitors annually in 2019.
Like other publicly funded ...
: 2012 & 2013 (
''3D PRINT SHOW'')
*
Museum of Science, Boston: 2012 (
''Neri Oxman: At the Frontier of Ecological Design'')
*
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: 2013, 2016 (
''#techstyle: Production'')
*
Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna: 2014 (
''150 Years of the MAK'')
*
National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited art mu ...
, Victoria: 2017 (
''NGV Triennial'')
*
Beijing Art Biennale: 2006–2010
Publications
* 2020: Hybrid Living Materials
* 2016: Recursive symmetries for complex additive manufacturing
* 2015: Additive Manufacturing of Optically Transparent Glass
* 2015: Flow-based fabrication
* 2013: Compound Fabrication
* 2011: Variable property rapid prototyping
* 2010
Material-based Design Computation PhD
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
-thesis,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...
Awards and recognition
Oxman is a senior fellow in the
Design Futures Council
The Design Futures Council is an interdisciplinary network of design, product, and construction leaders exploring global trends, challenges, and opportunities to advance innovation and shape the future of the industry and environment. Members inclu ...
, and a
Royal Designer for Industry in the UK. She has won the
Vilcek Prize
The Vilcek Foundation is an American nonprofit organization. The foundation's programs include the Vilcek Foundation Prizes.
The Foundation was established in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia. The missio ...
in Design,
a
National Design Award
The American National Design Awards, founded in 2000, are various awards funded and bestowed by the Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. There are seven official design categories, and three additional awards when applicable. Any supplement ...
,
and a
SFMOMA
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art, and has b ...
Contemporary Vision Award.
In 2016, she served as a culture leader at the
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...
and received MIT's Collier Medal.
In 2018, she received a Design Innovation Medal from the
London Design Festival
London Design Festival is a citywide cultural event that takes place over nine days every September across London. It was founded by John Sorrell and Ben Evans in 2003 and will stage its 23rd edition from 13 to 21 September 2025. In an article ...
.
The following year, ''Aguahoja'' was named "Sustainable Design of the Year" and "Design Project of the Year" in ''
Dezeen
''Dezeen'' is an online architecture, interiors and design magazine based in London, with offices in Hoxton, as well as New York City and Shanghai.
History
''Dezeen'' was launched in London by Marcus Fairs at the end of November 2006. Its New ...
''
's annual awards.
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oxman, Neri
Israeli architects
Israeli designers
Israeli expatriates in the United States
Israeli Jews
Living people
Hebrew Reali School alumni
MIT School of Architecture and Planning alumni
MIT School of Architecture and Planning faculty
Technion – Israel Institute of Technology alumni
1976 births
People from Haifa
MIT Media Lab people
Plagiarism controversies
Articles containing video clips