Kyla Paolucci, b. 1989, is a designer, educator, and researcher exploring the intersections of ethnography, vernacular design, and cultural authorship. She earned her BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She began her career in entertainment marketing, working for companies like World Wrestling Entertainment and HBO.
Her work challenges the dominance of urgent, efficiency-driven design models, advocating for relational and process-oriented approaches that prioritize storytelling, collaboration, and deep engagement. Drawing from craft traditions and postcolonial design discourse, she examines how design functions as both a site of identity formation and a tool for cultural negotiation.
As Assistant Professor at St. John’s University in Jamaica, Queens, she encourages students to define their approach to design through durational making and their diverse perspectives. Along with teaching full-time, she also runs Patio, a studio practice where she puts critical theory to work.
Her work challenges the dominance of urgent, efficiency-driven design models, advocating for relational and process-oriented approaches that prioritize storytelling, collaboration, and deep engagement. Drawing from craft traditions and postcolonial design discourse, she examines how design functions as both a site of identity formation and a tool for cultural negotiation.
As Assistant Professor at St. John’s University in Jamaica, Queens, she encourages students to define their approach to design through durational making and their diverse perspectives. Along with teaching full-time, she also runs Patio, a studio practice where she puts critical theory to work.