Jon Otis

Founder and principal of OlA—Object Agency, a multidisciplinary design studio and design strategy agency whose work includes interior architecture and design, exhibition design, branding and visual communications, product design, web/media design, and strategic consulting; clients include Sundance Channel, Nike, General Motors, Mercedes NA, Corning Museum of Glass, Vitra Design Museum, Tandus l Centiva, George Nakashima Woodworker, American Seating Company, Edelman Leather, Bentley Mills, national Basketball Players Association, St. Nick’s Alliance, and various residences for private clients; awards include a Fulbright, a Lusk Fellowship to Italy, and Design Intelligence’s Most Admired Educator in 2009; was guest editor/curator for Phaidon Press’ Room (2014); is active in the AAM, IDEC, IIDA, IDSA, and AIGA, and has lectured at American universities, at industry conferences (NeoCon), and in Canada, Singapore, Finland, and France. 

Professor Otis was named IIDA Educator of the Year in 2017.

He is also Vice President on the IIDA International Board of Directors and in 2018 Founded the Diversity by Design Foundation (dxdf), a non-profit organization whose Mission is to advance educational initiatives that increase awareness of opportunities in design, cultivating a field that actively embraces diversity of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, nationality, disability, socioeconomic standing, and intellectual viewpoint.

B.A. English/Journalism, Moravian College; M.S. Interior Design and Architectural Studies, University of Massachusetts.