Alex Pirani

Born and raised on Long Island, Pirani intended to go to college for graphic design after high school. After a year at School of Visual Arts, he switched to a career in hospitality and worked for a time at a restaurant in Montauk that featured organic produce from a nearby farm. Pirani moved to Philadelphia in early 2020 planning to open a farm-to-table restaurant of his own in partnership with a friend. His plans changed when the COVID-19 pandemic came along, and he enrolled at UArts instead. He said, “As a designer, I find it exciting to discover the different ways to communicate profound concepts and ideas. I see design as a way to give barely tangible things a language that enables them to be recognized.”