Jean Lin is a New York City-based gallerist, founder of the downtown design gallery and studio Colony and author of What We Keep, published in 2024. Trained as a fashion designer, she has professional experience as a fashion designer, interior designer, editor, writer, trend forecaster, educator and curator. Jean has served as part time faculty at her alma mater, Parsons School of Design, and a guest lecturer and critic at Rhode Island School of Design, Pratt Institute, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and Tama Art University in Tokyo.
The daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, Jean came of age in the 80s and 90s in a middle-class Asian household in Massachusetts suburbia. Design, style and aesthetics were not a consideration while family, integrity and hard work were. After a few slightly rebellious years, Jean finally came to understand the power and merit of the latter. Only after she embraced her heritage of values has Jean been able to fully explore who she truly is and what she has to offer the world: Finding and sharing the substance behind beauty beyond what is most readily prescribed.
Lately…
A writer trapped in a designer’s body, Jean has harbored dreams of becoming a published author since her fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Badavas, told her she had a beautiful written voice. In 2024, her dream was realized with her first book, What We Keep, published by Abrams.
My hope is that this book is a testament that the stories of what we keep, and why we keep them, are worth telling. Because it’s in the telling, and retelling, that we can find ourselves and one another in a universal understanding: The beautiful life is not only to be pursued alone, but also uncovered together as a collective.