Rihanna will collaborate with design students on a charity collection

By

Emily Jensen

Published
May 9, 2017

The Barbadian recording artist will work with students from the Parsons School of Design to create pieces to benefit children in Haiti. Rihanna, who was recently honored by Harvard, will be recognized for her charitable work at Parson’s annual benefit later this month.

The project will be a collaboration between Rihanna and her Clara Lionel Foundation along Donna Karan and her Urban Zen Foundation. A handful of students will travel to Haiti over the summer to work at the Design Organization Training Center, which was founded by Karan, Paula Coles and Parsons. Since 2015, Parsons has sent students to Haiti every summer with the help of Karan’s foundation.
 
Administrators for Parsons expressed excitement at the upcoming collaboration with the singer. “Through this partnership with Donna Karan and Urban Zen, students will live Parsons’ mission, taking a multidisciplinary collaborative approach and utilizing local sustainable practices and healthier materials to create products that benefit Haiti and the Clara Lionel Foundation,” Parson’s director of the Healthy Materials Lab Alison Mears said.

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Rihanna started her Clara Lionel Foundation in 2012 in order to improve access to education and health care in impoverished communities around the globe. She partnered with Christian Dior earlier this year to donate proceeds from the brand’s “We Should All Be Feminists” t-shirts to the foundation. The singer also recently received the Humanitarian of the Year award from Harvard University for her charity work.
 
Rihanna and Karan will announce the students selected to work on the project at Parsons’ annual benefit on May 22. The benefit will also be honoring Rihanna for her humanitarian work.