A RISD graduate and recipient of the 2012 MET Museum Costume Institute Accessory Design Award, H E I D I L E E is a NYC-based artist and designer whose hats have featured in The New Yorker, New York Magazine, The New York Times, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, V, W, Visionaire, Interview, Dazed & Confused, MTV, SHOWstudio, etc. Exhibitions include The National Centre for Craft and Design (UK) The World is Your Dressing Up Box and Museum of Arts and Design MAD Biennial: 100 Makers that manifest the cultural capital of NYC. Her clientele includes Beyoncé, JLO, Billy Porter, Pat McGrath, Anne Hathaway, Madonna, G-Dragon, Lady Gaga, Missy Elliott and Ms. Lauryn Hill.
RISD Experimental and Foundation Studies, Studio Design II, Adjunct Professor, Providence, RI, 2023
International Center of Photography | Intl. Advisory Council, New York, NY, 2020-Present
EDUCATION
BFA, BGD Rhode Island School of Design, minor in Art History, Joseph G. Reynolds Academic Scholarship, Providence, RI
Printmaking & Silkscreening Apprentice, Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA
Millinery, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY
Student Ambassador, People To People Intl. Washington D.C.
AWARDS
2021 🇺🇸 Design Patents, Pat. D909,015 S and Pat. D909,017 S
2021 New York City Artist Corps Grant, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York, NY
2013 Fashion Group International: Rising Star Award Nominee, New York, NY
2012 Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Accessory Design Award, New York, NY
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2015 Annex Gallery, curated by Ben Sisto, Ace Hotel, New York, NY
2014 The National Arts Club, curated by Co-Chairs of NAC Fashion Committee Nina Urban and David Zyla, New York, NY
2013 Jouet, Philomathean Gallery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
SELECTED GROUP SHOWS
2022 RÄUME 3 DEPARTURE Group Exhibition for Berlin Art Week curated by Alina Mann, Flughafen Tegel 1, Berlin, DE
2022 Fashion for Bank Robbers Exhibition curated by Carina Shoshtary, Maximilians Forum, Munich, DE
2019 Hats off to hats: from 1750-Present, curated by Liza Snook, Spielzeug Welten Museum, Basel, CH
2017-2018 3D Fashion presented by Lexus, curated by Christoph Völcker of Voxelworld and Jonas Klingenstein,
Platform Fashion, Areal Böhler, Düsseldorf, DE
2018 Crystal Atelier of the 21st Century, Wall of WOW, curated by creative director Giovanna Battaglia Engelbert,
Swarovski Manufaktur, Wattens, AT
2017 The World is Your Dressing Up Box, curated by Bryony Windsor, National Centre for Craft & Design,
Arts Council England, Lincolnshire, UK
2017 It's My Derby, curated by Chris Goodlett, Kentucky Derby Museum, Churchill Downs, Louisville, KY
2017 New York, New Work, curated by Urara Muramatsu, H.P.France, Lumine 0, Shinjuku, Tokyo, JP
2017 E.S.P. TV, Daytime Viewing, curated by David Everitt Howe, Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY
2016 New York T.O.A.S.T, represented by hpgrp GALLERY, curated by Kentaro Totsuka, Hankyu Dept. Store, Osaka, JP
2015 World Maker Faire, New York Hall of Science Museum, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, NY
2015-2016 Silicon Valley Fashion Week sponsored by Betabrand & Zappos, curated by Mustafa Khan, San Francisco, CA
2015 3D: Printing the Future, curated by Sarah Baines, Science and Industry Museum, Manchester, UK
2014 NYC Makers: The MAD Biennial, curated by Jake Yuzna and Glenn Adamson, and Hardcover Book published by
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY
2013 Arnhem Mode Biënnale M°BA 13 | Fetishism in Fashion; 3D Atelier, curated by Anush Martirossian of Ground3D, and Lidewij Edelkoort, Arnhem, NL
SPECIAL PROJECTS | WORKSHOPS | PUBLICATIONS
“Fantasmas” Television Series by Julio Torres, HBO Max, New York, NY, 2024
RISD E'SHIP, Entrepreneurship Speaker Series: HEIDI LEE, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, 2024
MiM (Made in MIT) Magazine, Cover Story & Feature Interview, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 2024
That’s A Job?! Series Feature, Instagram @design, Meta, New York, NY, 2023
Beyoncé Renaissance “I’m That Girl” Music Video creative directed by Andrew Makadsi, Parkwood Ent., Hollywood, CA, 2022
ITP/IMA THURSDAY NIGHT TALKS: HEIDI LEE, NYU Tisch, Brooklyn, NY, 2022
TRENDBOOK Texworld Evolution Paris AW22-23 by 2G2L Paris, Messe Frankfurt Publications, Le Bourget, Paris, FR, 2021
MAZZO, Cover Story & Feature Interview by Elena Kuksina, Lubavich Printing House, St. Petersburg, RU, 2021
Emmy Award-winning The Apollo: The Soul of American Culture, directed by Roger Ross Williams of United Talent Agency,
HBO Documentary Films, White Horse Pictures, Harlem, NY, 2020
A Technicolour Odyssey, directed by Pat McGrath Labs, Selfridges Window Display, London, UK, 2019
Basic Magazine, Identity Issue, Houdini of Hats by Kimberly Haddad, Basic Media, Beverly Hills, CA, 2019
Susanne Bartsch: On Top, directed by Anthony Caronna & Alexander Smith, No Weather, The Orchard, New York, NY, 2018
& Waleed Khairzada, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, and The Museum at FIT, New York, NY, 2015
SURFACE, Artist Feature by Ibrahim Tewfik and Tiffany Jow, Surface Media, New York, NY, 2017-2018
Terrific Fashion Hardcover Book by Cristina Morrozi, published by 24 ORE Cultura, Museo delle Culture di Milano, Milan, IT, 2016
Talks at Google, Googleplex | Garage Lab, Mountain View, Silicon Valley, CA, 2015
New York Magazine, The Everything Guide to 3-D Printing Your Life by Emma Whitford, Jason Feifer & Lauren Schwartzberg,
New York Media, New York, NY, 2015
Museum of Modern Art's Prime Time Celebration, Rockefeller Sculpture Garden, New York, NY, 2015
H E I D I L E E x UNDISCLOSED, New Inc. Demoday, New Museum, New York, NY, 2015
Agenda Design 1, I, the I One am by Manja Unger-Büttner, Alliance of German Designers (AGD), BUNTESAMT, Berlin, DE, 2015
Heidi Lee Origami Hat Workshop for Teens, Museum of Arts and Design, Columbus Circle, New York, NY, 2014-2015
PBS NYC-ARTS Profile: “NYC Makers: The MAD Biennial,” Episode 320, WNET THIRTEEN, New York, NY, 2014
MAKE: Hats with Heidi Lee, celebrating The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk, curated by Thierry-Maxime Loriot, Rubin Pavilion, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, 2014
Fashion Police, What the Fashion, hosted by Joan Rivers, and Kelly Osbourne, E! TV, Wilshire Studios, Los Angeles, CA, 2014
PUNK, directed by Drew Arnold of Good Company, SHOWstudio, Nick Knight, London, UK, 2014
Wearing the Lost Generation, Nouveau Classical Project, Gertrude's Paris Festival, curated by artistic director Laura Kaminsky, Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre, Symphony Space, New York, NY, 2012
CéCi, Global Girls, Big Apple, Hatmaker by You Jung Min, JoongAng Group, Gangnam, Seoul, KR, 2012
Gallery Girls, All Tomorrow's Parties, End of Century Gallery, Bravo, Magical Elves Productions, New York, NY, 2012