Princess Tatiana Desirée von Fürstenberg (''Tatiana Desirée Prinzessin zu Fürstenberg''; born February 16, 1971) is an American art curator, singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and filmmaker.
Early life and family
Von Fürstenberg was born on February 16, 1971, in New York City to fashion designers
Prince Egon von Fürstenberg
Egon, Prinz von Fürstenberg (Eduard Egon Peter Paul Giovanni Prinz zu Fürstenberg; 29 June 1946 – 11 June 2004) was a socialite, banker, fashion and interior designer, and a member of the former German princely family of Fürstenberg.
In ...
and
Diane von Fürstenberg
Diane von Fürstenberg (born Diane Simone Michele Halfin, 31 December 1946) is a Belgian fashion designer best known for her wrap dress. She initially rose to prominence in 1969 when she married into the German princely House of Fürstenberg, as ...
(née Halfin). On her mother's side she is of Jewish Moldovan, and Jewish Greek descent. On her father's side she is of German and Italian descent, and a member of the
House of Fürstenberg
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...
. Her paternal grandparents were Prince Tassilo zu Fürstenberg and
Clara Agnelli
Clara Jeanne Nuvoletti (née Agnelli), formerly Princess Clara von Fürstenberg, (7 April 1920 – 19 July 2016) was an Italian socialite and heiress.
Early life and family
Clara Jeanne Agnelli was born in Turin on 7 April 1920 to Edoardo Agne ...
, the elder sister of Fiat's chairman,
Gianni Agnelli
Giovanni "Gianni" Agnelli (; 12 March 192124 January 2003), nicknamed ("The Lawyer"), was an Italian industrialist and principal shareholder of Fiat. As the head of Fiat, he controlled 4.4% of Italy's GDP, 3.1% of its industrial workforce a ...
. She is the younger sister of
Prince Alexander von Fürstenberg
Prince Alexander von Fürstenberg (born Alexandre Egon Prinz von Fürstenberg; January 25, 1970) is an American businessman and socialite and the son of fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg (née Halfin) and Prince Egon von Fürstenberg.
Ea ...
.
Her parents divorced in 1972, although the family remained close, and she had a great relationship with both her maternal and paternal grandmothers,
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
survivor Liliane Nahmias and Agnelli When she was six her mother released a perfume, ''Tatiana'', named after her. Her father remarried Lynn Marshall in 1983. Educated at
Cranborne Chase School
Cranborne Chase School was an independent boarding school for girls, originally opened in 1946 at Crichel House in the village of Moor Crichel in Dorset. In 1961, the school moved to New Wardour Castle near Tisbury in Wiltshire, and extensiv ...
, she went on to attend
Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
and studied
modern culture and media,
comparative literature
Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role similar to that of the study ...
, and education.
After graduating in 1991 she did graduate work in
applied psychology at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
.
Her mother remarried
Barry Diller
Barry Charles Diller (born February 2, 1942) is an American businessman. He is Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC and Expedia Group and founded the Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting. Diller was inducted into the Television Hall of ...
in 2001. Tatiana is the aunt to
Talita von Fürstenberg
Princess Talita Natasha von Fürstenberg (born May 7, 1999), known professionally as Talita von Furstenberg, is an American socialite, fashion designer and model. She is the granddaughter of fashion designers Diane von Fürstenberg and Prince E ...
, Tassilo von Fürstenberg, and Leon von Fürstenberg.
Career
In 1992, von Fürstenberg posed for
Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...
's erotic coffee table book ''
Sex
Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones ( ova, of ...
'' and was in the video documentary on the making of the book. Later that year, she was featured alongside other celebrities from the book in the
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
for Madonna's single ''
Erotica
Erotica is literature or art that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotic, sexually stimulating or sexually arousing. Some critics regard pornography as a type of erotica, but many consider it to be different. Erotic art may use a ...
''. Also in 1992 von Fürstenberg made
cameo appearance
A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...
s in the films ''
Light Sleeper
''Light Sleeper'' is a 1992 American crime drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader and starring Willem Dafoe, Susan Sarandon, and Dana Delany. Set in New York City during a sanitation strike, the gritty neo-noir film stars Dafoe as a high ...
'' and ''
Bram Stoker's Dracula''.
She was photographed by
Richard Avedon
Richard Avedon (May 15, 1923 – October 1, 2004) was an American fashion and portrait photographer. He worked for ''Harper's Bazaar'', ''Vogue'' and ''Elle'' specializing in capturing movement in still pictures of fashion, theater and danc ...
for the magazine ''Égoïste''.
Von Fürstenberg, with
Francesca Gregorini
Francesca McKnight Donatella Romana Gregorini di Savignano di Romagna (born August7, 1968), known professionally as Francesca Gregorini, is an Italian-American screenwriter and film director.
Early life
Born in Rome, Gregorini is the daught ...
, co-wrote, co-directed, and produced the 2009 film ''
Tanner Hall
Tanner Hall (born October 26, 1983) is an American freeskier.
Biography
Hall, nicknamed 'Ski Boss', was born in Kalispell, Montana where he grew up skiing at Big Mountain, now named Whitefish Mountain Resort, starting at age three. He joine ...
'', which went on to have its world premiere as an official selection at the
2009 Toronto International Film Festival
The 34th annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 10 and September 19, 2009. The opening night gala presented the Charles Darwin biography ''Creation''. ''The Young Victoria'', based ...
and was awarded the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature at the Gen Art Film Festival. Her voice was used for the character Poppet in the film.
In 2010 she wrote, directed, and produced the short film ''Tyrolean Riviera''.
The next year, von Fürstenberg directed a
short film
A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...
titled ''Journey of the Dress'', featuring
Tayane Leão and
Zhang Huan
Zhang Huan (; born 1965) is a Chinese artist based in Shanghai and New York City.
He began his career as a painter and then transitioned to performance art before making a comeback to painting. He is primarily known for his performance work, but a ...
, for DvF's fall collection. In 2012 she played the character Pearl in the short film ''Tependris Rising''. The next year, she worked again with Gregorini to produce the drama thriller
indie film
An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, in ...
''
The Truth About Emanuel''.
Von Fürstenberg is a songwriter and the lead singer of the band Playdate.
The band was founded in 1999 and is made up of von Fürstenberg, Andrew Bradfield, and Bryan Bullett. The trio met while students at Brown University. One of the band's songs, "Moet & Chandon," was included on the soundtrack for ''Tanner Hall''.
She worked at Steinberg and Sons, launching a west-coast branch for the New York-based company, providing independent designers with spaces to sell their work.
She has served as the co-curator at the Alleged Gallery in New York City and as a director for The Diller – von Furstenberg Family Foundation.
In 2016 von Fürstenberg collaborated with the organization
Black and Pink
Black and Pink is a United States prison abolitionist organization supporting LGBTQ and HIV-positive prisoners. The group organizes a pen pal program, distributes a prisoner-written newspaper to its incarcerated members, provides court accompani ...
to create an art exhibit titled ''On The Inside'' which spotlights the work of incarcerated LGBTQ artists who are at-risk in prison. The exhibit, directed and designed by her, brings awareness to the issues and dangers LGBTQ inmates face at a higher risk than non-LGBTQ inmates, including sexual and physical assault, as well as less emotional and financial support from families due to their sexuality or gender identity. The exhibit was on display at the
Abrons Arts Center
The Henry Street Settlement is a not-for-profit social service agency in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City that provides social services, arts programs and health care services to New Yorkers of all ages. It was founde ...
. The collection is also available to view online but is not for sale. Von Fürstenberg incorporated an interactive element into the show where viewers can text the incarcerated artists, through a special service, to give feedback and set up long term
pen-pal relationships.
Personal life
In 2000 von Fürstenberg, who was dating actor and writer Russell Steinberg, gave birth to their daughter Antonia. They married two years later and divorced in 2014.
In 2010, von Fürstenberg had an editing studio built in her
Los Feliz
LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to:
Science and technology
* Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation
* Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers
* Level of significance, a measure of statistical significance ...
home. She also owns
Norman Mailer
Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, activist, filmmaker and actor. In a career spanning over six decades, Mailer ...
's former home in
Provincetown
Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Provincet ...
.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Furstenberg, Tatiana Von
1971 births
Living people
Singers from New York City
American film actresses
American people of German descent
American people of Italian descent
American people of Belgian-Jewish descent
American people of Moldovan-Jewish descent
American people of Greek-Jewish descent
American socialites
American women film producers
American women philanthropists
American women singer-songwriters
Agnelli family
Fürstenberg (princely family)
Jewish royalty
People educated at Cranborne Chase School
Brown University alumni
Philanthropists from New York (state)
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers
Jewish American actresses
People from Los Feliz, Los Angeles
Singer-songwriters from New York (state)