• Interior Design BFA

    Interior Design student presentation
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  • Explore Our Community

    What our students, alumni, and faculty are doing in NYC and worldwide

  • Contact Us

    [email protected]
    212.229.5150

    Program Contact
    Carly Cannell, Program Director

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  • Modern American interior design was invented in the early 1900s by Frank Alvah Parsons, and it has evolved at Parsons as a socially engaged practice. Today the research-based, design-intensive BFA Interior Design program prepares you to create comfortable, imaginative, healthful, and intelligently designed interiors. You learn to design interior environments that reflect an understanding of environmental sustainability, cultural differences, and the human need for comfort and well-being.

    Program Highlights

    • Interiors with Impact

      Go beyond aesthetics to consider how interior design connects to human and ecological conditions and influences complex relationships, from the public to the personal.

    • In-Demand Technologies

      Develop new design approaches using traditional fabrication methods as well as emerging technologies, such as bio-based materials and virtual and augmented reality.

    • Industry Connections

      Join a top-ranked program with access to globally influential interior design firms, showrooms, museums, and auction houses throughout New York City.

    • Creative Collaboration

      Share shops and studio spaces with students from the Architecture, Fine Arts, Product Design, and Lighting Design programs, fostering interdisciplinary work.

    • Degree Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA)
    • Format Full-time, on campus
    • Credits 120
    • Duration 4 years

  • Curriculum

    Your BFA begins with Parsons’ first-year curriculum, which serves as the academic foundation for all undergraduate programs at Parsons. From your second year on, you dive into courses in your major field of study. Art and design history and theory courses develop your research, writing, and critical reasoning skills, and university electives broaden your perspectives. 

    Explore the curriculum

  • Making Center

    The Making Center, a spacious studio bringing together creative tools from around the university, offers students unprecedented opportunities to acquire industry-ready skills, transform how products are made, and upend conventional notions of supply chains, local production, mass customization, and craft.

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  • Career Paths

    Graduates of the BFA Interior Design are prepared to begin careers or pursue further education in interior design, lighting design, sustainable design, set design, exhibition and event design, historic preservation, and consulting. 

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    Explore Our Community

    Discover what our students, alumni, and faculty are doing in NYC and worldwide.

    sce.parsons.edu

  • Parsons faculty represent a broad range of expertise and are acknowledged as leading practitioners and scholars in their fields, ranging from installation art, furniture and textile design, to commercial and residential interior design and architecture. 

  • Student Work

      See Our Work

    • Beyond the Classroom

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        Internships

        New York City’s thriving creative industry and cultural institutions are part of your Parsons education. Our Career Services Office is deeply connected to the art and design industries and can help you advance your career with industry-oriented internships.

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        Industry Engagement

        Connect to the organizations, businesses, and entrepreneurs driving global creativity and commerce. In classes, internships, and extracurricular projects, you gain marketable problem-solving skills in sectors ranging from government and nonprofits to tech and creative industries.

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        Study Abroad

        Enrich your learning and prepare for work in global contexts with study abroad that exposes you to new perspectives and settings in which to apply your creativity. Our study abroad destinations include, Paris, London, Florence, and more.

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        Making & Academic Resources

        Enjoy access to extensive resources including New School libraries, computer labs, archives, and studios, along with Parsons’ state-of-the-art Making Center, facilities offering a broad array of tools to support your creative and academic growth.

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    • Take The Next Step

    Submit your application

    Undergraduates

    To apply to any of our undergraduate programs (except the Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs) complete and submit the Common App online.

    Undergraduate Adult Learners

    To apply to any of our Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

    Graduates

    To apply to any of our Master's, Doctoral, Professional Studies Diploma, and Graduate Certificate programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.