Leonard Braunschweiger

Leonard Braunschweiger

An alumnus and former faculty member of Parsons’ Interior Design program, Leonard Braunschweiger wanted his support for students to endure for generations.

Braunschweiger, BFA Interior Design &srquo;66, is leaving a significant portion of his estate to establish a scholarship fund supporting Parsons students. “I first drafted my will between 2000 and 2007, and I’ve changed it several times since then, but the scholarship was one thing that never changed. I always wanted to keep it in the will.” Braunschweiger was inspired by the many positive experiences he had during his 20 years as a Parsons professor. “It’s always wonderful and interesting to come up with ideas and see them built, and I thought this scholarship gives someone else the opportunity to have that kind of future. That to me became what I wanted to do—see someone have a future in the design world.”

Braunschweiger explained that when he attended Parsons in the 1960s, a profound shift was taking place in the pedagogy of the Architecture program. Professors had previously focused on traditional interiors and period furniture, but a new cohort, including Braunschweiger’s professor Allen Tate, were turning toward modern design. After Tate became head of the department, Braunschweiger accepted his mentor’s invitation to teach, and found that he had a similar impact on changing his students’ thinking about design. “What I found rewarding in teaching was changing students’ perspective on whatever project they were given. The most interesting thing for me was to have someone walk out of the class with a different mindset.”

Braunschweiger first became interested in interior architecture during a job interview on Wall Street as a 16-year-old. “My great-aunt’s nephew was chairman of the board at Goldman Sachs, and she sent me down there thinking they would put me in the mailroom. Later he sent my mother a letter explaining they didn’t hire boys my age, but after the interview I wandered through the buildings in the Financial District and was fascinated by the lobbies. They were so grand—it was an awakening for me.”

Braunschweiger’s own interior design firm, Leonard Braunschweiger & Company Inc., has designed modern residential and commercial spaces for more than 40 years. He attributes the firm’s success to its close attention to all design elements. The firm’s work has been discussed in numerous books, most notably The Decorative Carpet by Alix Perrachon, and in many periodicals, including Interior Design and New York Spaces. Braunschweiger compares his work with clients to his interactions with students: “The end result is a positive change.”

When asked what advice he would give to the next generation of Parsons students, Braunschweiger told this story:

“After I graduated, I worked with I. M. Pei’s office and took a job in a cabinet shop lugging wood around. There must have been 100 men there working on interior wood, paneling, doors, furniture for architectural projects. The foreman was an old German guy, and he knew I was coming there from another perspective to learn something. He told me, ‘Steal with your eyes.’ If you want to learn something, watch everything that goes on. I learned a lot while I was there, and he was right. When I left that place, I was in command of the material.”

Donors like Leonard Braunschweiger have chosen to include The New School and its students in their plans for the future. We are honored to recognize them as members of The New Society, a cohort of donors who extend their impact far into the future by making a planned gift.