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Regional Directors
Anna Bates, Co-Founder of Make Make NYC architectural and design practice, brings an international experience in transforming spaces into vibrant, inclusive environments.The award-winning studio combines Scandinavian values of equity, sustainability, and quality with a mission to tackle uniquely American challenges. With over 25 years of experience spanning diverse projects, from public plazas to adaptive reuse and new construction including housing, high-rise buildings, hotels, museums, and commercial centres, Make Make is committed to effecting impactful change.
Anna Bates is driven to spaces and places that engage all publics and seek to surprise, delight, and inform with a focus on creating human connections, supporting diverse values, and making that transcends time and place. Her approach is influenced by her early career designing sets for commercials and plays. Beyond honing her abilities to make decisions rapidly and produce work very quickly with large teams, this experience taught her how to use spatial design to communicate while always leaving room for change, for imponderables, for growth. Her architectural work has expanded these notions to satisfy a more profound need to create designs with a lasting impact.
Anna’s most recent work includes Zuzeum, a museum and art centre in Latvia, and the book and exhibition INCEPTION, which reframes the concept of inspiration and authorship through the lenses of 111 notable architects worldwide.
Anna was also a founder and leader of ANNVIL Architecture and Design Practice in Riga, Latvia, from 2005 to 2023.
Originally from Riga, Latvia, and now based in New York, Alise is the founder of DOORS NYC, an innovative omnichannel platform dedicated to assisting fashion and accessory brands in expanding their presence in the USA. Over the last seven years, her work in New York has involved consulting with over 2000 fashion and accessory brands, leveraging her extensive experience to foster growth and innovation within the fashion industry. Prior to this, she managed an independent fashion brand, NARCISS Fashion, earning the title of “Designer of the Year” three times from the Baltic Fashion Federation. Alise has been recognized by Forbes as one of the ‘Top 25 Most Successful Female Entrepreneurs in Latvia’ and has been a finalist for the Innovation and Export Award by the Ministry of Economics of Latvia. Currently, Alise also serves as a part-time Professor at Parsons The New School in New York, sharing her industry insights and experiences with the next generation of fashion and design professionals.