About us
Eric K. Daniels
Eric has been using design thinking to get to the heart of his client projects for over a decade. As a licensed architect he has acquired the skills to understand your programming needs, articulate them on paper and create a meaningful space for you to live, work and play in, leading to a more impactful client experience. Eric graduated from Pratt Institute School of Architecture. He has been running his own architecture and interior design firm for 22 years, specializing in high-end residential, restaurant, corporate, non-profit, educational, and religious projects.
Eric holds a Postgraduate Degree in Drama from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, LAMDA, UK. He was a member of the Gorilla Rep Theater Company and has written and produced several plays for the NYC International Fringe Festival and the Kentucky Repertory Theater. As an actor and playwright, he has the courage to go big and bold, to be engaging and fun; to help you through the process of physical prototyping and scenario-playing your big ideas, to put forth the best solutions as quickly and effectively as possible. He is a consultant with Graceworks, Inc., a presentation training and project group coaching firm. As a presentation coach, he has the skills and 20 years of experience to help corporate teams bring out their personhood--that thing that separates you from the crowd--and give you the power and confidence to raise your game when proposing ideas to your clients, team members, colleagues, and business partners.
Eric is a tenured Full Professor and former Chair of the Interior Design Department at FIT, he has led immersive design thinking workshops for students of all ages to disrupt “normal service” and turn inactive spaces into meaningful and engaging experiences, which foster a value proposition that brings customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. Eric has written curriculum at the university level, which engages design professionals, and business and medical entrepreneurs in a collaborative approach with his design and business students to develop new business models and meaningful spaces for community groups, public school educators, elementary school students and parents. Eric co-developed and teaches FIT’s first the Minor in Design Thinking in its Business & Technology School, as well as the first Interior Design Study Abroad Program: Adaptive Reuse - Community Place Making in Paris, where design student reimagine abandoned buildings and city properties in collaboration with urban planners, business owners, historians, architects, and product designers of recycled materials, for which he won a SUNY Chancellor’s Grant for Innovative Study Abroad Programs in 2020.
Richard Bressani
Richard has always been interested in making our everyday experiences more meaningful. His background in both social science and design provide him the skills to bridge the end user’s challenges with viable solutions. As a guide through the design thinking process he has facilitated focus groups, collected personal interviews, and conducted on site observational research for commercial, cultural institution, and non-profit clients. Examples from these collaborations are the development of online tools for social workers to rapidly assess youth skills, the development of inclusive neighborhood playground designs, and a reimagined entry experience to better educate museum visitors. The diversity of his project experience has expanded Richard’s ability to listen and respond creatively to challenges of service delivery.
Richard holds a Masters of Science in Interior Design with an exhibition design focus from Pratt Institute, and both a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and a Bachelor’s Degree in Art from the University of Washington. He is an adjunct professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City where he teaches design thinking to business students. He brings qualitative research, group facilitation, conceptual thinking, design implementation, and project management skills to our team.