It takes a rare person to win a spot on an Emmy Award-winning television show while trapped in an elevator.

‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’ interior design star and Syracuse University alumni Thom Filicia recalled this stroke of luck at Monday night’s lecture titled ‘Syracuse University, My Experience in the World of Design: Student, Designer, Celebrity.’

Filicia described how he was trapped in an elevator for more than an hour, entertaining the other passengers. One of them called him the next week and asked him to audition for ‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.’

About 100 students, faculty, staff and members of the Syracuse community listened to Filicia speak about interior design, life as an SU student, drinking at Faegan’s Caf & Pub and the importance of getting internships in Grant Auditorium after spending the day with students, faculty and staff from the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Among the audience were his father, a classmate from high school and other friends and family, as he pointed out at the beginning of the lecture.

Filicia grew up in the Syracuse area and attended Nottingham High School and said he decided to speak at SU because he loved the countless experiences he gained as an undergraduate student.

‘It was an amazing opportunity,’ Filicia said of his years at SU. ‘It changed my life.’

While attending SU, Filicia was involved in many activities on campus, such as becoming a brother in the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.

‘You guys should get like, a mobile home,’ Filicia joked as he talked about how the fraternity brothers were kicked out of their house while he attended SU; now they are back.

Filicia also lived in the Red House, a former VPA design house that he described as ‘kind of like ‘The Real World” with interior design students.

Most of his time at SU was spent ‘sleeping in studio, hanging out with friends and I guess drinking with stuffed animals,’ he said, as he pointed to the graphics of a beer stein and a cartoon drawing of Otto on the PowerPoint.

At that point Filicia warned the audience, ‘Stay away from Faegan’s.’

He then mentioned he began his interior deign career with an inspiring internship with Parish Hadley.

‘(An internship) is so crucial – just like your portfolio,’ he said.

Filicia stressed that a designer’s portfolio should represent the designer and who he or she is as a person. He opened Thom Filicia, Inc. in 1998 after he decided he wanted to be his own boss and work his own hours.

‘It’s a crazy rollercoaster,’ Filicia said.

His business, located in the SoHo district of New York City, is a multi-disciplinary design firm that does commercial, residential, hospitality and furniture designs. His firm just finished designing Jennifer Lopez’s house.

Filicia showed several interior design projects, including pictures from when the U.S. government hired him to represent the country at the World’s Fair in 2005.

He mentioned how he wanted his design to ‘capture the essence of the U.S. and the essence of young American designers.’

Pictures led the presentation of his World’s Fair design, which he said was meant to be a real mix of metaphors bringing together Midwest, ’60s and colonial designs to give a ‘very American’ feeling to the rooms.

‘Your home is not a piece of clothing … it should tell the story of your life,’ he said of his philosophy about design.

After his speech, Filicia offered some suggestions to improve the interior design of the SU dorms. In particular, he said he would let the students paint their walls whatever color they wanted … and he would rid the campus of all cinderblock walls.

After a reminiscent trip to Smith Hall, he noticed the pungent little quarks of SU’s VPA program.

‘There’s an overwhelming glue smell coming from that building,’ Filicia joked of his trip.

Filicia’s morning began when the faculty and staff of VPA threw Filicia a breakfast reception with the students. This led into him showing them his portfolio from when he attended SU, said MaryEllen Letterman, chair of the design department in VPA.

After the lecture, there was a small reception for Filicia in the lobby of Heroy Geology Building, where drinks and appetizers were served.

‘Absolutely,’ Filicia exclaimed about going to Faegan’s for a reminiscent drink … or two.

Published on November 28, 2005 at 12:00 pm