People

Maggie Orth, PhD
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Maggie Orth is an artist and technologist who designs and invents interactive textiles in Seattle, WA. She received her Phd. in Media Arts and Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Media Lab in June 2001. Her academic work at the Media Lab (1997-2001) included patents, research, publications and design in new physical interfaces, wearable computing, electronic textiles, and interactive textile musical instruments. Prior to her academic work, she worked at the Media Lab as the Production Director and Designer of Tod Machover's massive, interactive musical production, Brain Opera (1996-7). Before joining the Media Lab, she earned a Masters at MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies, and a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design. Her work has been widely exhibited at the Museum of Science, Boston, MA, NTT ICC, InterCommuncication Center, Japan, The National Textile Museum, Washington DC, The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The DeCordeva Museum, MA, SIGGRAPH, and Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria. She has been named a 2007 USA Target Fellow, one of 50 recipients of unrestricted fellowship grants of $50,000 in recognition of their creative work. Orth describes herself as someone who "makes things", and looks forward to the challenge of making beautiful, practical and wearable art fashion and technology products a reality. View Maggie's electronic textile artwork at www.maggieorth.com. (Links opens in a new window.)

Grace Colby
Senior Advisor
Grace Colby is a founder of Art and Technology Group, where she established the design department and served as Vice President of Design. She was a key member of the senior management team that transitioned the company from a small design/technology company of 12 people to a major software product company with over 150 employees. Grace Colby is a graduate of the Media Lab and the prestigious Visible Language Workshop led by Muriel Cooper. Today, Grace brings her combined experience in design, business and technology to a select design technology ventures, including IFM.

Barrett Comiskey
Board Member and Asian Business Advisor
Barrett Comiskey, a co-founder of E-ink, brings his extensive experience in developing and commercializing new technology and display materials to IFM. After pioneering the original E-ink research at the MIT, he then co-founded E-ink (1997), where he led the development and manufacturing of its electronic ink and took a on business role, structuring major Asian alliances. Barrett speaks French, Spanish, and Mandarin, and has over 24 issued US Patents. He has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal Marketplace, Wired, Fortune, and has recently been selected by the World Economic Forum as a Technology Pioneer for 2002.

Yuka Petz
Director of Print and Web Design
2007-2008

Samantha Bittman
E-Textile Designer and Developer
2004-2006

Karen Han
Intern, Autumn 2007

Allison Jones
Intern, Summer 2007

Leigh Forsstrom
Intern, Summer 2006

Christian Dils
Intern, Winter 2005

Ralph Nuara
Intern, Summer 2003

Joanna Berzowska
Co-founder and Senior Design Advisor
Joey Berzowska is an assistant professor at Concordia University. She received her Masters of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for her work in expressive software and computational drawing, titled Computational Expressionism. Her art and design work has been shown in the SIGGRAPH Art Gallery in Los Angeles, the Art Directors Club in NYC, the Australian Museum in Sydney, the NTT ICC in Tokyo, as well as in Montreal, Boston, Mexico City, Linz and Cannes.