Yi-Ern Samuel Tan
Tan Yi-Ern Samuel (Sam) is a graduate student in the SMArchS History, Theory and Criticism of Art and Architecture program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He studies Japanese clothing from the post-war onwards, focusing on the period between 1945 - 1981. His research at MIT focuses on the work of Japanese designer Issey Miyake between 1988 - 2007. Samuel's broad interests are in the technicity of textile-making, media in dressmaking, and regimes of bodily measurement in design contexts. His work has been presented internationally, including at the 111th Annual College Arts Association Conference (2023), and symposia hosted by the Soceity of Architectural Historians Great Britain (2021) and the Technical University of Munich (2021). His writing on design and design research has appeared in Further Reading Print No.2: BOUNDARIES (Further Reading: 2020) and Remote Practices: Architecture at a Distance (Lund Humphries: 2022). He has lectured at Harvard University, the National University of Singapore, and Bond University.
Prior to his candidature at MIT, Samuel was a research associate at NUS where he was part of Foundations for Home-Based Work: A Singapore Study, a project headed by the Department of Architecture's Associate Professor Lilian Chee studying home-based work in Singapore. Samuel holds a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture (Honours) with Highest Distinction and a Master of Architecture from NUS, where he graduated as Valedictorian of the Class of 2021. For his work at NUS, Samuel received several grants and awards including the Lee Kip Lin Architectural Heritage Research Fund Grant (2018) and the Lee Kip Lin Gold Medal and Prize in Architectural History Studies (2019). His master's thesis was nominated for the Royal Institute of British Architects President's Silver Medal in 2021.
Beside his academic work, Samuel continues to be involved in building design/discursive communities across national borders. Together with two other graduates from NUS, Samuel hosts a monthly colloquium/podcast/book club/dinner party (designation undecided) called yet...?, to discuss precarious issues in architecture, design, and the creative world today.
