Amanda Parkes

As a biomedia designer, Amanda Parkes stands at the intersection of new media, textiles, and fashion. After completing her BA in art history and BS in mechanical engineering (product design) at Stanford, Parkes dedicated her career to discovering new ways that digital technology and "smart materials" affect everyday lives. Her Twitter handle describes her as “one part algae, one part fashion, a dash of robots and a smattering of installation art.” Before directing her skills towards fashion, she developed education science exhibits for notable museums such as the Exploratorium in San Francisco and Science Museum in London. She is the co-curator of Regeneration, an exhibition that opened in October 2012 at the New York Hall of Science featuring contemporary interactive art on themes of art, science, and cultural sustainability. Her prior curatorial work includes developing exhibits and educational media at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, the Science Museum in London, and the the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice. As founder of Skinteractive Studios in Brooklyn, New York, Parkes researches and develops new high-tech textiles projects for fashion applications. She is also CTO of Manufacture NY, a Brooklyn-based fashion-tech incubator and factory for local emerging brands and designers. Parkes earned her PhD in tangible media from the MIT Media Lab and is currently a visiting scientist at the esteemed American research university. In May 2017 it was announced Parkes would be stepping into the role of chief innovation officer at Fashion Tech Lab, Miroslava Duma 's new hybrid venture that is part investment fund, accelerator and laboratory.

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