Movers and Shapers

Hilary Jay, DesignPhiladelphia and the Design Center, Philadelphia University

Want to spot Jay at a DesignPhiladelphia event? Just follow the line of admirers rushing to thank her for founding the festival four years ago. “People seem glad for the opportunity to talk about what they do and explore their creativity with others like them,” says Jay. “There’s a camaraderie that didn’t exist before.”

Best known for: Her accessible, far-reaching and still beloved design column for the Philadelphia Inquirer’s former Sunday magazine.

What she’s looking forward to this year: Young, under-the-radar designers from Fishtown and Northern Liberties who have events for the first time. “We went to all the obvious people the first few years,” Jay says. “Now there’s this underlying groundswell that we didn’t even know about.”