The 2026 NYC x Design Student Showcase Highlight Innovation and Sustainability at FIT in New York
The 2026 NYC x Design Student Showcase, hosted at FIT’s Katie Murphy Amphitheatre in New York on May 16th, the selected design students united New York’s multidisciplinary and global communities from the top five design schools, including The Cooper Union, FIT, New York Institute of Technology, Parsons School of Design, Pratt Institute, and School of…
Black News 
The 2026 NYC x Design Student Showcase, hosted at FIT’s Katie Murphy Amphitheatre in New York on May 16th, the selected design students united New York’s multidisciplinary and global communities from the top five design schools, including The Cooper Union, FIT, New York Institute of Technology, Parsons School of Design, Pratt Institute, and School of Visual Design, and attended the event offering engagement with the next generation of professional design.
FIT hosted this year’s showcase with presentations for a week-long 2026 NYC x Design festival running from May 14th to May 20th. The selected students took the stage and presented their design thesis projects on how to use design to bridge the gaps and solve current sustainability problems in our daily lifestyles.
Among the standout projects that help solve current social problems for the Gen Z, like the growing trend of solo dining that has rapidly grown since the 2020 pandemic. Beijing-born Designer and Interior and Product Design student at the SVA, Jessie Wang, used her thesis to de-stigmatize this growing trend with her experience in interior design.
“Today I like to speak to you as a designer, but a brand designer,” said Wang, when presenting her thesis project, “Table for One: Building a Culture for Solo Dining”. Her thesis project tackles this rising trend of solo dining in restaurants all over New York City, which became popular during the 2020 global pandemic shutdown and the mandatory measures of social distancing in March 2020.
The standout points in her presentation were that 1 of 3 households in New York City has a person living alone, and New York is the top destination for solo travel. “In my research pool and collecting data and responses, during peak hours, solo diners showed several patterns, like ordering the same meals, but some restaurants don’t accept reservations for one, and some meals are portioned for two,” she said. To solve this problem, she presented an app that supports solo dining called Solo Dining Plus. “It is a brand and a system to support and structure the cultural move of solo dining.”
The focus shifted to sustainability in social spaces and personal wellness, with Product Design BFA student Adam Clifford for Parsons’. He tackles the problem of using plastic in health and beauty products and replacing the plastic with beeswax. “In my project, I explore all of the wonderful things you can do with beeswax,” said Clifford.
In his thesis project, “Mind Your Beeswax”, he presented the problem of the beauty industry’s staggering plastic waste problem He presented an intervention with beeswax not as an alternative to plastic, and replacing synthetic packaging and ingredients with natural beeswax. “I wanted to create things that are healthy to touch and shed healthy oils onto the skin. It provides rejuvenation,” he said.
These are just a fraction of the innovative projects featured at the 2026 NYC x Design student showcase.
The festival will continue throughout the week, with Design Pavilion participants Luxus presenting in Times Square, alongside talks and conversations featuring William Chergosky of CALTY Design and visual artist Alex Alpert. NYC x Design will also host daily keynote discussions during Festival Week. Additional information and the full schedule can be found on the official NYC x Design event calendar.
