Melissa Conroy is a Sr. Lecturer in the Department of Human Centered Design at Cornell University. Her interests are surface design, drawing, and textile design with a specialty in knit structure and design.
Farm to Fashion yarn development. Sound modulating knit structures.
As an instructor of design, I nudge students towards finding their own voice as designers. I teach fundamentals such as color theory, surface design techniques, and knit textile structures. My classes are hands on and project based. Students learn skills that are both technical and skill based in concert with creative problem solving. The technical aspects of my classes are tool boxes that are not separate from, but entwined with the creative process. I believe ideas often arrive through working with materials and media. Students are given the space to discover both the potential and limitations inherent to media. Working directly with materials through a guided, creative prism has the benefit of generating ideas and solutions to design problems. It is my hope that by taking one of my classes, students will have the foundation they need to synthesize the skills they have learned, so that they can continue to work on those skills independently.
FSAD 3250
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Color and Surface Design of Textiles
FSAD 3370
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Intro to Knit Textile Structure and Design
FSAD 1140
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Fashion Computer Aided Design
FSAD 4370
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Knitwear Design and Other Applications
FSAD 1220
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Fashion Drawing
Papers:
“Knit Skin: Machine Knitted Scaled Skin for Locomotion” ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) Jin Hee (Heather) Kim, Shreyas Patil, Sarina Matson, Melissa Conroy, Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao (2022)
“Knit Dermis: Fabricating Tactile On-Body Interfaces Through Machine Knitting” ACM Designing Interactive Systems (DIS) Jin Hee (Heather) Kim, Kunpeng Huang, Simone White, Melissa Conroy, Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao (2021) Best Paper Honorable Mention Award
Books:
Our Prince of Scribes, Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2018 (contributor)
Poppy’s Pants, Columbia, SC: USC Press, 2018
The Lowcountry Coloring Book, Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books, 2016
Grandma is an Author, Maplewood, NJ: Blue Apple Books, 2011
Poppy’s Pants, Maplewood, NJ: Blue Apple Books, 2009
Play All Day (Design for Children), Berlin, Germany: Gestalten Verlag, 2009 (contributor)
Cornell Council for the Arts Faculty Grant 2021, 2022, 2023
Member, New York Fashion Innovation Center Yarn Work Group
New York Fashion Innovation Center Grant - Building a Farm to Fashion School Pipeline, 2025
Architecture + Design Individual Project Grant – Architectural League of NY & NYSCA Harnessing Sound from Knit Textiles, 2023
Surface Design Association Personal Development Grant, 2021
Printmaking Associate, The Ink Shop, Ithaca, NY
Exhibiting Artist and Published Author/Illustrator
Developed partnerships with regional farmers, wool processors and spinning mills to build a yarn supply chain from local wool suppliers to our knitting studio. I am an active member of New York Fashion Innovation Center's Yarn Work Group with fashion professionals and academics interested in building sustainable manufacturing processes within New York State.
Faculty Advisor, Human Centered Design
2006,
M.S.,
Textile Design,
Philadelphia University
1998,
M.F.A,
Painting,
University of Georgia
1991,
B.F.A,
Painting,
Rhode Island School of Design