School of Interiors Advisory Board Member Bios

Editor-in-Chief, Interior Design
Chief Design Officer, SANDOW

Cindy Allen is widely lauded as one of the most influential advocates for the interior design profession. With almost two decades as editor in chief of Interior Design, Allen champions the industry, promoting both the giants of design and its rising stars.

A self-proclaimed design junkie, she brings an unbridled passion for design that is manifested through 18 print issues each year, a digital platform reaching a global audience of over 9 million, and a robust events platform. With Allen’s direction, Interior Design is constantly evolving to best celebrate designers and their process.

Allen has published ten books on design, with the latest edition covering a decade of the industry’s best. An early adopter of alternate platforms to share Interior Design’s content, she has also made over 90 short documentaries on industry icons including Kengo Kuma, David Rockwell, India Mahdavi, Isay Weinfeld, and Paola Navone.

In 2020, SANDOW Design Group brands Interior Design, Metropolis and Luxe Interiors + Design, collaborated to introduce DesignTV by SANDOW, offering daily programming for the design industry. In the first year, viewership for the channel soared: 9M+ video views, 40M+ impressions. 250+ programs were produced. Allen, the key on-air personality for Interior Design’s channels, has been credited by multiple A+D guests as being the “optimism of the industry” and “the glue that keeps us together.”

Allen is also the exclusive host of Interior Design’s DesignBiz series on Instagram Live – a series of conversations between Cindy Allen and talent throughout the design industry. Through intimate, un-cut, LIVE conversations, Allen gets to the heart of what’s going on in the design industry and in the lives of designers across the globe. Each of the 150+ episodes offers authentic, thought-provoking design information and inspiration.

Allen received an Honorary Doctorate from the New York School of Interior Design in 2010 and from the San Francisco Academy of Art in 2012. She is a recipient of the 2009 Alpha Award by Alpha Workshops, the 2010 Circle of Excellence Award from IFDA, the 2014 Open House New York Honoree Award, the 2015 Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation’s Scroll Award, the 2019 AIA Stephen A. Kliment Oculus Award, and honored 2020 LongHouse Winter Benefit. She has served as juror for the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards and the Gensler Design Excellence Awards, among others, and is a board member for the Alpha Workshops. Allen is chairman of the national board of DIFFA (Design Industries Foundation Fighting Aids), where she is committed to helping those in need and galvanizing the design community to push the boundaries of what is possible.