Daniella Ohad is an American-Israeli
design historian, educator, writer, and influencer. She teaches
history of design
Design history is the study of objects of design in their historical and stylistic contexts. With a broad definition, the contexts of design history include the social, the cultural, the economic, the political, the technical and the aesthetic. D ...
,
material culture
Material culture is the aspect of social reality grounded in the objects and architecture that surround people. It includes the usage, consumption, creation, and trade of objects as well as the behaviors, norms, and rituals that the objects creat ...
, design connoisseurship,
and design culture at
Parsons School of Design
Parsons School of Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is a private art and design college located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhatt ...
and
New York School of Interior Design
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
Ohad has curated and moderated educational talks and panels at
Design Miami
Design Miami/ is an American design company that holds two annual flagship collectible design fairs in Miami, Florida and Basel, Switzerland. Design Miami/ also holds fairs in Paris and Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard M ...
,
the Museum of Arts and Design,
the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum,
92nd Street Y
92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a cultural and community center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the corner of East 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Founded in 1874 as the Young Men's Hebrew Association, the ...
, AIA New York , Center for Architecture, the
New York School of Interior Design
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
, and
Sotheby's
Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...
. Her articles and essays have been published in academic journals and magazines,
she has hosted a talk show on
design
A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...
and
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
, created documentaries, and curated private design collections. Her essay ''Hotel Design in British Mandate Palestine: Modernism and the Zionist Vision'' received a special mention from the jury of the
Premio Bruno Zevi in 2010.
Early life and education
Ohad was born and raised in
Hod HaSharon
Hod HaSharon ( he, הוֹד הַשָּׁרוֹן, lit. "Splendor of the Sharon, Israel, Sharon plain") is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel. The city is located approximately east of the Mediterranean coastline, s ...
,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
to a Zionist family. She comes from the Feuchtwanger family, whose family tree and genealogy dates back to 18th-century Germany. Her great uncle
Lion Feuchtwanger
Lion Feuchtwanger (; 7 July 1884 – 21 December 1958) was a German Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht.
Feuchtwanger's Ju ...
was the German Jewish novelist and playwright. Her uncle, Michael Ohad was the music and theater critic of
Haaretz
''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...
, director, journalist, and author. Her father, horticulturist Reuven Ohad pioneered the subtropical fruits industry in Israel, after bringing it from California in the 1950s. His cousin, historian Edgar Feuchtwanger, published the book ''Hitler, my Neighbor: Memories of a Jewish Childhood, 1929-1939''. Members of her family established much of the banking infrastructure in pre-state Israel during the 1930s.
Ohad graduated from Katzenelson High School in
Kfar Saba
Kfar Saba ( he, כְּפַר סָבָא), officially Kefar Sava, is a city in the Sharon region, of the Central District of Israel. In 2019 it had a population of 110,456, making it the 16th-largest city in Israel. The population of Kfar Saba i ...
, served in the
Military Intelligence Directorate, and achieved the rank of
sergeant
Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...
. After her service, she attended
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...
, where she received BA degree in Art History and Philosophy. In 1985, she moved to New York, received Master's degree in Museum Studies: Decorative Arts from the
Fashion Institute of Technology
The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college in New York City. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) and focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. It ...
, and PhD from
Bard Graduate Center
The Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture is a graduate research institute and gallery located in New York City. It is affiliated with Bard College, located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The gallery occup ...
. Under the advisory of Amy Ogata and Derek E. Ostergard, she submitted her doctoral dissertation, ''Hotel Design in Zionist Palestine: Modernism, Tourism, and Nationalism, 1917-1948'' in 2006. A part of it was published as an essay in the ''Journal of Israeli History''.
Career
For the past 25 years, Daniella Ohad has been a notable figure and thought leader across various disciplines in design and architecture. A public speaker, she moderated talks,
hosted a talk show, curated events and exhibitions, produced documentaries, participated in global conferences, and appeared on television programs.
Teaching: As an educator, Ohad's work concerns many topics, including: modern design, connoisseurship, the history of taste and tastemakers, sustainable design, and design related to social justice. She has taught at
The Cooper Union
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...
,
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...
,
The New School
The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...
,
New York School of Interior Design
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
,
School of Visual Arts
The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design.
History
This school was started by ...
,
Bard College
Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic ...
, and the Center for Architecture/
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...
.
Writing: Ohad contributed essays and articles on design and contemporary culture to various publications, including the Journal of Interior Design; Interior Design Magazine;
The Journal of Israeli History; West 86th; Interiors: Design, Architecture, Culture; CoBo; Cultured Magazine; Modern Magazine; and others.
Documentaries: Ohad created a series of four documentaries on design connoisseurship: George Nakashima (1905-1990), Paul Evans (1931-1987), Frank Lloyd Wright (1967-1959), and Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999).
Television Appearances: Ohad appeared in the docu-series ''De.sign'' on the Italian network Sky arte, featuring New York City interior design culture.
Publications
*
*
*
* Ohad Smith, Daniella (March, 2013), "The 'Designed' Israeli Interior, 1960-1977: Crafting Identity", Journal of Interior Design, 38 (3): 21–36.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ohad, Daniella
Living people
American art historians
Women art historians
American people of German-Jewish descent
Tel Aviv University alumni
Fashion Institute of Technology alumni
Bard College alumni
Design educators
American women historians
1961 births
21st-century American women