Prof. Adi Stern is the president of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Jerusalem. Stern is a passionate believer in the ability of art, design, and architecture to influence the world and engender positive change in it. He advocates excellence and sees art and design education as crucial for the promotion of pluralistic approaches, critical thinking, creativity, and originality.
In his view, Bezalel must remain committed to training its exceptionally talented students to be exemplary artists, architects, and designers who will serve as ambassadors and agents of change — involved in their surroundings, knowledgeable, skillful, and both willing and equipped to impact culture, society, and the economy in Israel and the world.
Prof. Adi Stern is a graphic designer, lecturer, and educator. He began his professional journey at Bezalel as a student in the Department of Graphic Design and has been teaching at the academy since 1997. He has held various positions at the academy, including head of the Graphic Design Track, head of the Department of Visual Communication (2008–2016), and interim president. Stern has served as president of Bezalel since October 2015.
Prof. Stern graduated with honors from the Department of Graphic Design at Bezalel and received a master’s degree (cum laude) in typography and typeface design from the University of Reading, UK. After completing his studies at Bezalel, Stern worked for two years at the studio of David Tartakover. From 1994 to 2015, he headed a visual communication and typography studio that specialized in design in the areas of culture and the arts.
Over the years, Stern has worked with the Design Museum Holon, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Batsheva Dance Company, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Reichman University (Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya), Keshet Broadcasting, the Israeli Festival, and the Israeli Opera. As part of his work with Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, Stern was in charge of the visual communication design and typography of the permanent exhibition at the Jewish Pavilion at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum.
He has served as a consultant in the field of typeface design for some of the world’s leading companies in the field, among them Microsoft Typography, Linotype, and Monotype. Alongside his activity as a designer, Stern conducts research and lectures on the history and design of Hebrew script.
Stern was a selected artist of the Israel Cultural Excellence Foundation and winner of the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Design Award. His works have been included in many exhibitions and won various prizes in prestigious competitions in Israel and abroad, including first prize in the Tokyo Type Directors Club annual competition and the silver and bronze awards in the Art Directors Club of New York competition.
During his tenure as president of Bezalel, Prof. Stern has been the guiding force behind significant steps to promote it in the academic and technological realms and construct its spectacular new campus, which has some of the most advanced infrastructures in the world, in the center of Jerusalem. The construction of the new building marks Bezalel's return to the city center and heralds the creation of a bustling urban campus.
Speeches, articles and interviews – available here.
