‘Queer Eye’ interior designer Thom Filicia ’93 to meet with VPA students and present public lecture Nov. 28

‘Queer Eye’ interior designer Thom Filicia ’93 to meet with VPA students and present public lecture Nov. 28November 15, 2005Jaime Winne Alvarez jlwinne@syr.edu

Founder of the New York City-based interior design firm Thom Filicia, Inc., and Emmy Award-winning interior design expert on NBC/Bravo’s “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” Thom Filicia ’93 will visit the Syracuse University campus Nov. 28. He will offer interior design students career and portfolio advice during the day and give a public presentation in the evening.

Filicia, who studied interior design in SU’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, will meet with and advise undergraduate students in the interior design department on their portfolios and talk with them about starting careers. He will give a public presentation at 6:30 p.m., in Grant Auditorium on his career and time as an SU student. A donation of $10 for the general public or $5 for SU students, faculty, staff and alumni is suggested and will go toward the American Society of Interior Designers, a student group on the SU campus. Paid parking will be available in Irving Garage for the price of $3 per vehicle.

One of House Beautiful’s Top 100 American Designers, Filicia has emerged as a designer who blends mass media and interior design to create an indelible impression. From early on, he has focused his creativity on high-end interiors, working at the most venerable firms in New York City. Having established a strong classical foundation, Filicia is now exercising his personal aesthetic, driven by a unique and innovative vision of classic simplicity. Weekly, he stars as the interior design specialist on the Emmy Award-winning show “Queer Eyefor the Straight Guy” and for his role has been honored with an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety or Music Program. Prior to his acclaim on “Queer Eye,” Filicia garnered recognition as a major presence in the design industry. In 1999, he established his NYC-based interior design company, Thom Filicia, Inc. (TFI). TFI specializes in residential and commercial products, with a range of high-profile clients in the fashion, entertainment, media, real estate and finance industries.

Most recently, Filicia and TFI designed the U.S. pavilion for the 2005 World’s Fair in Aichi, Japan, and the windows for the luxe New York Auction House Christie’s. For the second year in a row, Filicia partnered with the Xerox Corp. and “Entrepreneur” magazine to judge and execute design elements for a National Office Makeover Contest.

In 2004, Filicia designed the tents for Olympus’ Fashion Week in New York City and sponsored a table at “Elle Decor’s Dining by Design” DIFFA Event. Other highlights include a complete housing renovation for an Oprah viewer, the Kips Bay Designer Showcase and the “House & Garden” Hamptons Showhouse.

His designs have been featured in an ever-growing list of publications and he contributed to the “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: The Fab Five’s Guide to Looking Better, Dressing Better, Behaving Better, & Living Better” (Clarkson Potter, 2004). Over the past few years, he has appeared on numerous television programs and was featured in the national television campaigns for Pier 1 Imports and American Express.

For more information on the event, contact VPA Alumni Relations Coordinator Amy Patrick at(315) 952-1967 or apatrick@syr.edu.