About the speaker

Emily Edelstein is the Executive Director of CraftNOW, a network of individuals and institutions joining together to raise the profile of contemporary craft for the city. They want everyone to experience what makes Philadelphia the best place to see, learn, make, and collect.

A native of Berks County, PA, Edelstein has studied craft extensively, having participated in a six-month residency program focused on fiber arts at the acclaimed John C. Campbell Folk School before attending the Penland School of Craft, where she specialized in weaving. Edelstein also has additional hands-on craft experience, including boatbuilding and blacksmithing.

Edelstein attended Penn State University and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies focused on international culture and communication. In 2022, Edelstein graduated from Drexel University’s Westphal College of Arts & Design with a Master of Science in Arts Administration, where her thesis explored the role of craftspeople within the American modern art world. She was formerly the PA Guild of Craftsmen’s Interim Executive Director and worked in several organizations and businesses, including a small fair-trade African import company, Bamboula Ltd.

Local partners

The Center provides Philadelphia with educational programs, exhibitions, and a public forum to explore architecture, urban planning, and design, allowing visitors the opportunity to understand how these disciplines affect us all in our daily lives. Using our city’s distinctive breadth of architecture, pioneering urban design, and manufacturing heritage as the foundation for conversation, we educate the public through talks, exhibitions, publications, hands-on workshops, design competitions, festivals, and children’s programming.

Described by POLITICO Magazine as “the coolest shipyard in America” and by Urban Land Institute as “one of the most successful office/industrial master-planned redevelopments in U.S. history,” the Navy Yard is a 1,200-acre thriving waterfront community, with 7.5 million square feet of real estate in a mix of historic buildings and LEED® certified new construction oriented around world-class open space. More than $1 billion of public and private funding has been invested into the campus since the base closure, attracting over 150 companies employing more than 13,500 workers. At full build-out, the Navy Yard will support up 20 million square feet of development, 30,000 people, and over $3 billion of private investment. Get connected with the Navy Yard. Website: navyyard.org Facebook: @TheNavyYard Twitter: @navyyardphila Instagram: @navyyardphila

Additional details

BRING YOUR OLD COATS TO CREATIVE MORNINGS! In honor or this month’s theme “THREAD”, we’re doing a winter coat drive! Bring your old winter coats to this months talk and we’ll take them to One Warm Coat, a national nonprofit organization that provides free coats to children and adults in need while promoting volunteerism and environmental sustainability.

CENTER for DESIGN PHILADELPHIA

// Getting to the Center // The Center, located near Philadelphia’s City Hall and just across the street from the Pennsylvania Convention Center, is easily accessible by foot, bike, bus, subway, regional rail, cab, + car. For detailed information on public transit options, check out SEPTA.org.