Jake Barton
Maggy Cuesta
dean of visual arts, New World School of the Arts, Miami
Maggy Cuesta has served on the board and as president of the AIGA-Miami Chapter. She has also been very involved in the AIGA both locally and nationally on collaborative exhibitions such as ¡propaganda! Cuban Political and Film Posters and Power of Typography. In 2004, Maggy was given the AIGA Fellows Award, and her work has been published in Communication Arts, Print, Print Casebooks, AIGA, Graphis, and Hot Graphics USA.
Prior to becoming the dean of visual arts at the New World School of the Arts, Cuesta graduated from Texas Tech University with a Bachelors in Fine Arts in Graphic Design. In 1985, after working as a graphic designer in Texas, she moved to California to pursue her Masters Degree in Graphic Design from the California Institute of the Arts.
After receiving her degree, Cuesta moved to Miami where she worked for local design firms before establishing a partnership in The Image Designers Group. She worked both professionally and as an Associate Professor Senior at New World School of the Arts until 2005. In October 2005, she was named dean of visual arts for New World School of the Arts.
Michael Beirut
Martin Diaz-Yabor
founder, Martin A.D. Yabor & Associates Inc., Miami
Martin Diaz-Yabor is the founder of Martin A.D. Yabor & Associates Inc. and of Precision Design Inc., and is a professor of architecture at Florida International University. Diaz-Yabor has worked in the field of architecture and construction for the past 30 years and has lived and worked in New York and San Juan, Puerto Rico. During his time in Puerto Rico, he was involved with low-income housing projects, the master plan of the Mayaguez Waterfront, and public-school work. His diversified experience includes: planning residential communities, mid-rise and high-rise buildings, hotels, custom homes, restaurants, golf clubs, community centers, fitness centers, medical facilities, schools, office buildings, retail, warehouses, and mixed-use buildings, along with space planning and interior design and construction contracting throughout South Florida and the Caribbean.
He participates actively in the American Institute of Architects, Miami Chapter, where he is the current Chapter president, and has served in different capacities over the years as director, vice-president, and secretary/treasurer. His accomplishments have resulted in numerous awards such as the Outstanding Young Architect of the Year Award in 1999, Design/Builder of the Year Award in 1995 and 1998 by the Hispanic American Business Association (HABA), Architectural Firm of the Year by the Latin Builders 2003, and many Awards from the A.I.A. Miami Chapter. He is also a Professor of Architecture at Florida International University. He collaborated with Mr. Aristides Milas, a Professor of Architecture at the University of Miami, in the research, drawings, and studies pertaining to the Miami Beach Historical Deco Buildings and their Building and Zoning Codes.
Rene Gonzalez
principal, Rene Gonzalez Architect, Miami
Rene Gonzalez is the only Miami architect in the last 10 years to receive National American Institute of Architecture Design Awards — in 2011 for Alchemist and in 2006 for Karla. His work has been published in more than 140 industry and consumer local, national, and international publications, including The New York Times, New York, Wall Street Journal, The Robb Report, American Airlines Nexos, Architectural Record, Wallpaper, Metropolis, Metropolitan Home, Elle Décor, Interior Design, House and Garden, Architectural Digest, Oprah at Home, Surface, Frame, Dwell, Azure, Ocean Drive, and The Miami Herald.
In 2010, he was one of four contemporary architects featured in the book Four Florida Moderns. He has also been published in numerous books such as Living with Wine, Office Interiors, and Arquitectura Vegetal. Among other honors, he has received 2 National AIA Honor Award, 6 Miami AIA Awards, and Metropolitan Home magazine’s Home of the Year Award for design excellence, and has been honored by Conde Nast’s House & Garden as one of 50 designers internationally that represent the future of design.
Gonzalez served as project designer with Richard Meier & Partners on the Getty Museum and Center in Los Angeles. He collaborated with Architect Frank Israel, during a time of extreme experimentation with materials and form in California. Other internationally recognized collaborations include the Wolfsonian Museum in Miami Beach with Mark Hampton, FAIA. He has designed and curated museum and gallery installations for various institutions including the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, the Miami Art Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Miami and has completed numerous commercial and residential projects. Gonzalez holds a Master of Architecture degree from UCLA and a Bachelor of Design degree from the University of Florida and is a member of the American Institute of Architects.
Tom Graboski
principal, Tom Graboski & Associates Inc.,
Miami Beach, FL
Tom Graboski received his BFA from the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, and was awarded his Masters Degree in Urban Design from the University of Miami School of Architecture in 1977. In 1980, he founded Tom Graboski Associates, specializing in wayfinding, environmental graphics, and signage design. Graboski's unique background in architecture, interior design, urban planning, and graphic design blends talents that are essential to any project.
A member of the Society for Environmental Graphic Design, the Industrial Design Society of America, and the American Institute of Graphic Arts, Graboski has been the recipient of many local and national awards. He has taught, lectured, and been a visiting critic at the University of Miami, Florida International University, Miami Dade Community College, the Miami International University of Art and Design, and Miami Ad School. His work has been published extensively, both nationally and internationally.
Graham Hanson
Annette M. Piskel
founder and creative director, AMPdzine, Fort Lauderdale
Annette M. Piskel is the founder and creative director at AMPdzine, a Florida-based multidisciplinary graphic-design firm established in 1982. Piskel is a graphic designer, artist, and educator, along with an American Institute of Graphic Art Fellow, and a past president and board director for the AIGA MIA chapter.
Her studio is grounded in craft ideology and intuitive solutions that improve the impact and effectiveness of visual communications. Over the past three decades her diverse clientele has included leaders in professional sports, consumer goods (health care, fashion, food), technology and telecommunications, toys, travel and tourism, finance, nonprofit, and the medical, aviation, and entertainment industries. Specific clients include: Medtronic Inc., the Professional Golf Association, The Ryder Cup Matches, Florida Panthers Professional Ice Hockey, Philip Morris USA, Philip Morris International, Kraft General Foods Corp., and many others.
Michael Donovan
Sarah Schleuning
curator of decorative arts and design, High Museum of Art, Atlanta
Sarah Schleuning is curator of decorative arts and design at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Her previous positions include curator and head of the fellowship program at The Wolfsonian–Florida International University, Miami Beach, FL, and assistant curator at Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI.
She holds an M.A. in the history of decorative arts from Parsons School of Design/Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, and a B.A. from Cornell University. She has curated several exhibitions relating to 20th-century decorative arts and design. Her most recent publications include Moderne: Fashioning the French Interior, and Weapons of Mass Dissemination: The Propaganda of War.
Duncan Jackson
Michael Wolk
principal, Michael Wolk Design Associates, Miami
Michael Wolk's inspiration comes from many sources: architecture, painting, sculpture, and popular culture. But whatever the source, Wolk designs are always unique, slightly irreverent, and highly sophisticated. This accounts for why Michael Wolk Design Associates has accrued more than 65 local, national, and international awards for creative excellence in interior, graphic, furniture, product, and packaging design. The honors range from ASID International Product Design Awards and the grand prize in numerous Florida Style Furniture Design Competitions, to BASF Fame Awards, ASFD Pinnacle Awards, the American Corporate Identity Award of Excellence, and countless Graphic Design USA/DESI Awards.
Wolk graduated with honors from New York's Pratt Institute where he earned a Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Design. While attending Pratt, he fine-tuned his contractor and carpentry skills working on John and Yoko Lennon's Joko Recording Studio in Soho as well as their private residence in The Dakota. He sharpened his skills further as a ship's carpenter and by designing and building sets for off-Broadway shows. Upon graduating from Pratt, Wolk moved to Miami where he began custom designing one-of-a-kind furniture pieces for a wealthy clientele.
Today, Wolk is the president of Michael Wolk Design Associates. Having just doubled his office space in the Miami Design District, Wolk heads the only South Florida firm that maintains interior-, graphic-, product-, and furniture-design divisions all under one roof.