Emilie Baltz is a leading expert in multisensory experience design, experiential art and interactive technology, and has been working in the art, culture, design, performance, events, hospitality, architecture, technology and new media for over two decades.
She is best known for innovative experiences which use the senses to tell stories and heighten engagement. Food is often a key component of her experience designs, a focus which is reflected by her highly-acclaimed cookbooks, L.O.V.E FOODBOOK and Junk Foodie: 51 Delicious Recipes for the Lowbrow Gourmand.
As creative director for digital experience design at architecture and design firm Gensler, Baltz’s work combines digital and analogue experiences in a pioneering approach that draws on her expertise in engaging the senses to create deeply engaging, wonder-filled and playful experiences.
Clients include the Museum of the Future in Dubai, NEW MUSEUM, IDFA DocLab, Sundance New Frontiers, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, Liberty Science Center, Museum of Sex, Deloitte, RedBull and PepsiCo.
Her role also encompasses the development and integration of digital experience into the design of the built environment. As a Global Practice Area Leader, she develops partnerships that shape the company’s approach to developing the next generation of spatial experiences.
One nominator said: “Emilie is a visionary who has redefined how museums can engage and educate their audiences by creating immersive experiences that blend the physical and digital worlds in ways that are both intellectually stimulating and sensorially rich.”
Baltz has appeared on TEDx, DLD, PSFK Conference, Ignite Conference, Creative Mornings, TODAY Show, NBC, Wall Street Journal, D-CRIT and more. She founded the first Food Design Studio at Pratt Institute and helped establish the School of Visual Arts Products of Design MFA programme.
In addition, she is a founding member of the inaugural museum-led incubator, NEW INC at the New Museum. Baltz is a Sundance Story Lab New Frontiers Fellow and co-recipient of the 2018 IDFA DocLab Best Immersive Non-Fiction Award. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Film Studies & Contemporary Dance from Vassar College and a Master of Industrial Design from Pratt Institute.