Design Conversations | Sam Aquillano

Originally Recorded 2019

Lecture: "Designing a Museum"
Sam Aquillano

Sam Aquillano is the Founder and Executive Director of Design Museum Foundation, a national, multi-site design museum operating across three branches: Boston, Portland, San Francisco, and growing across the country. Their mission: bring the transformative power of design everywhere, to inspire a world full of creative problem solvers by producing inspiring exhibitions and events, educating everyone from kids to CEOs in design thinking, and transforming cities and communities through innovative public demonstration projects. Design is everywhere, so the museum has no permanent address– instead, Sam and his team turn the museum inside out and transform entire cities into locally-focused–but nationally connected–design museums built around placemaking and community.

Sam earned a BFA in Industrial Design from RIT and went on to design consumer electronics at Bose Corporation, as well as teaching design at Wentworth Institute of Technology, MassArt, and Babson College–where he earned his MBA. With a passion for design, creativity, and learning, Sam creates a long-term vision for the museum and leads a dedicated team while managing key programs, directing strategic operations, and scaling the Design Museum model to new markets around the world.

Experience Sam’s entrepreneurial journey from industrial designer to museum founder–and learn how Design Museum Foundation is rethinking how a 21st-century museum engages the public to make design accessible to all.