Edwin Schlossberg

Edwin Arthur Schlossberg, born on July 19, 1945, in New York City, is an American designer, artist, and author. He is recognized as a pioneer and leader in the field of interactive museum installations and is the founder and principal designer of ESI Design, a multidisciplinary firm specializing in creating interactive environments for discovery learning and communication.

Schlossberg is the author of eleven books, including *Interactive Excellence: Defining and Developing New Standards for the Twenty-first Century*. His artworks have been exhibited in solo exhibitions and are part of museum collections in the United States and internationally.

**Early Life and Education**

Schlossberg was born to Alfred Schlossberg and Mae Hirsch into an extended Orthodox Jewish family. His four great-grandparents migrated from the vicinity of Poltava, Ukraine, and were born within 50 miles of each other. His father was the founder and president of a textile manufacturing company and served as president of the Park East Synagogue in New York's Upper East Side, where Schlossberg studied Hebrew and celebrated his Bar Mitzvah.

He completed his primary and secondary education at Birch Wathen School in Manhattan. Subsequently, Schlossberg attended Columbia University, where he earned a Ph.D. in Science and Literature in 1971. His doctoral thesis was an imagined conversation between Albert Einstein and Samuel Beckett; this work was later published as a book. During his studies, he was advised by mathematician and philosopher Jacob Bronowski and mentored by futurist Buckminster Fuller.

**Career**

Schlossberg began developing as an artist during the 1960s in New York City. His artistic style has been described as creating visual poetry through the use of words and images in unconventional media. In 1977, he entered the field of interactive design when he was tasked with developing exhibits for the Brooklyn Children's Museum. That same year, he founded ESI Design, headquartered on Fifth Avenue in New York City.

His firm has designed a broad range of projects, including retail and corporate spaces, sales and innovation centers, museums, digital media installations, and multiplayer game environments. Notable projects include the Ellis Island – American Family Immigration History Center, the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center, eBay, PNC Bank, Terrell Place in Washington, D.C., Barclays Center Media Experience in Brooklyn, Best Buy Concept Stores, Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, Reuters Spectacular at 3 Times Square, Sony Plaza and Sony Wonder Technology Lab, Time Warner's "Home to the Future" installation, and informational kiosks at the World Trade Center and the World Financial Center.

Schlossberg has published eleven books, such as *Interactive Excellence* (1998), and has lectured at institutions including Columbia University, the School of the Visual Arts, and the Rhode Island School of Design. His artworks have been showcased in solo exhibitions and are part of museum collections both domestically and abroad.

**Honors and Appointments**

In 2004, Schlossberg received the National Arts Club Medal of Honor. In 2011, he was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, a position he held until 2013. He was named a fellow of the Society for Experiential Graphic Design in 2020.

**Personal Life**

On his 41st birthday, July 19, 1986, Schlossberg married Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, in a Catholic ceremony at Our Lady of Victory Church in Centerville, Massachusetts. The two met while working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They have three children: Rose (born 1988), Tatiana Celia (born 1990), and John Bouvier "Jack" (born 1993), all born in New York.

**Selected Publications**

- *Einstein and Beckett: A Record of an Imaginary Discussion with Albert Einstein and Samuel Beckett* (1973)

- *The Philosopher's Game: Match Your Wits Against the 100 Greatest Thinkers of All Time* (1977)

- *Tetrascroll* (with R.B. Fuller, 1977)

- *The Pirated Edition of Stevens and Bohr* (1985)

- *Interactive Excellence: Defining and Developing New Standards for the Twenty-First Century* (1998)