Matthew Mazur

Matthew Mazur was born in New York but lived in his mother’s native Peru until the age of six. His earliest ambition was to become an artist. As a nine-year-old, back in the United States, he took art classes at P.S. 1 in Queens. In high school, he pursued new collaborative creative ventures with the help of the faculty and on his own. During his senior year at LaGuardia Arts in Manhattan, Mazur attended an open house at Parsons and was swept away. “I loved the way the school looked and felt, both inside and outside,” he remembers, “and I was impressed with the professors I met.”

Initially, Mazur declared a major in fine arts, but within a week of his arrival, he had shifted to Integrated Design in Fashion. “I was always interested in garments,” he says, “but I thought that fashion was too commercial. My advisor helped me realize that through Integrated Design I could explore my creativity in different art classes and still focus on fashion. Fine art will always be a part of my life and inform everything I do, but I like the flexibility of this program.”

For Mazur, one of the chief advantages of attending Parsons is the city. “I get creative ideas when I’m just walking down the street. Everything in New York inspires me.”