May 12, 2026 – May 26, 2026
DUDD LITE
Curated by Laura Young with Chris Held and Charles Constantine
DUDD LITE at The Future Perfect, New York, United States
The Shape of Return
Objects shaped by architectural memory, ornament, and spatial identity.
Drifting across the boundaries of space and form, ili.ad navigates the textures, rhythms, and atmospheres of the built world. From fragments—a jaunty rooftop urn’s handle, a forlorn parabolic diving platform in an off-season Lido—ili.ad distills inspiration into objects that reflect their origins while transcending them, each piece imbued with evocative presence.
With over a decade of experience designing for Fortune 500 companies, ili.ad’s founder mastered the translation of identity into spatial experiences, from objects to architecture. Selected in 2019 to reimagine an executive conference room as a lounge for the New York Times, the project marked a shift toward more exploratory identity work.
The Renzo Piano–designed headquarters became a worry stone, where its forms and patterns flowed into a branding exercise, charging the project’s identity. Designed while riding out the winter in La Roma, Mexico City, mornings spent sketching gave way to afternoons absorbing tropical Arts Deco. The inevitable hybridization established a studio practice that transforms distinctive traces of place into resonant identities that transcend scale.
After graduating from Pratt Institute with a degree in architecture, Matt Howard began his career working with artist-turned-architect Vito Acconci, contributing to an award-winning competition proposal for a public plaza in Norway, a private residence in Milan, and a DuPont-sponsored Corian installation at the Bronx Museum lobby.
Navigating the architectural downturn that followed the 2008 financial crisis, Matt transitioned into retail and event design. His diverse experience in shaping brand environments for global companies including Gap, Tory Burch, Clinique, Spotify, Shake Shack, Red Bull, and SC Johnson Wax eventually culminated in a significant professional turning point: transforming Renzo Piano’s iconic New York Times Building into a spatial branding project where identity and architecture seamlessly converged.
Inflection point
“The churrigueresque stonework is engaged in a limit-seeking I try to internalize—like absorbing sunlight after a cold winter.”
Matt is currently designing a waterfront home for his parents in Green Cove Springs, Florida, and promoting and fabricating the work in the collections below.
Works & Recognition
The studio’s design sensibility, formed through architecture and refined through brand environments, has been recognized through exhibitions, press coverage, and commissioned work across multiple scales.
Selected Exhibitions
May 17, 2025 – May 19, 2025
Grateful Dudd
Curated by Chen & Kai Williams,
Jonald Dudd, New York, United States
Mar 12, 2025 – Mar 16, 2025
The Reality of the Virtual
Curated by Brecht Wright Gander with sceneography by Duyi Han
Collectible, Bruxelles, Belgium
Selected Publications
Selected Spaces
Private Waterfront Residence
Custom home on a Florida riverfront lot bisected by a diagonal wetland setback. The design adopts a Prairie-style isosceles grid to unlock buildable area while negotiating views.
architecture
Green Cove Springs, United States
Selected Consulting
Selected client and agency work provides professional context for the studio’s spatial practice. Visual portfolio available on request.
The Blue Paradox
3D spatial design and visitor-flow studies for an immersive plastics exhibition, including a conveyor-belt “wall of plastic” sequence and exit gift-shop concepts.
experiential
London, United Kingdom · Chicago, United States
Edge at Hudson Yards
Interior rendering, spatial design support, and schematic angular furniture studies for a media-integrated café and observation-deck environment at 30 Hudson Yards.
experiential
New York, United States
Shake Shack Coachella Pop-Up
Service-layout and code-planning support for a demountable container kitchen, scaling griddle, fry, POS, prep, condiment zones, and seating for Coachella crowds.
experiential
Indio, United States
SK-II Mixed Reality Wonderland
Spatial visualization and flow planning for a mixed-reality beauty launch, resolving a looped visitor path later extended into a Ginza pop-up platform.
experiential
Singapore, Singapore · Shibuya, Japan
Tory Burch Madison Avenue Flagship
Rapid custom 3D modeling and visualization of bespoke and vintage furnishings, creating a design-feedback test bed for a five-story flagship.
experiential
New York, United States
Flos North America Shop-in-Shop
Shop-in-shop fixture development and fabrication support for modular North American retail footprints, including 200 sq ft and 400 sq ft formats.
experiential
Miami, United States · Seattle, United States +3 more
Clinique Retail Environments
Retail pad layouts, counter modeling, and visualization across department-store environments, including Fifth Avenue and Latin American counter programs.
experiential
New York, United States · New York, United States +2 more
Kiehl’s Retail Environments
Store and fixture design across nationwide rollout work, from department-store pads to standalone stores including Hell’s Kitchen and World Trade Center.
experiential
New York, United States · Brooklyn, United States +4 more
Red Bull Music Academy Environments and Sets
Space planning, scenic design, permitting support, and event-set visualization for music programming across warehouse, museum, and performance contexts.
experiential
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Bronx Museum Lobby Installation
Material experimentation and perforation studies for a thermoformed Corian lobby installation, developed as seating and shelving for the museum shop.
experiential
The Bronx, United States
Vertical Factories Exhibition
Exhibition design and production support for Vertical Factories at The Skyscraper Museum.
experiential
New York, United States
Gap Pop-Up Concept Illustrations
Concept illustration and ideation for pop-up retail scenarios, including event, runway, and flea-market concepts intended for scalable national use.
experiential
New York, United States
Chick-fil-A Army / Navy Watch Party
Spatial layout, seating counts, food-service planning, and fire-code coordination for a 1,000-attendee Army–Navy watch party in Philadelphia.
experiential
Philadelphia, United States
Spotify Shareholder Meeting
Event-space layout, seating studies, stage and screen placement, bar activation design, wall graphics, and lighting concepts for a shareholder meeting.
experiential
New York, United States
Tommy Hilfiger Macy’s Chicago
Retail set and department-store renovation support for Tommy Hilfiger at Macy’s State Street in Chicago.
experiential
Chicago, United States