About

Marian O'Rourke-Kaplan is a Emeritus Professor of Fashion Design at the University of North Texas. Prior to joining the UNT faculty in 1992 she had a 25 year apparel industry career. Working her way from assistant designer through designer, production manager and operations manager she became skilled in all facets of the design manufacturing process. While at UNT, Marian maintained a consistent record of design work; had many opportunities to act as a consultant to small start-up apparel operations and had an excellent record of accomplishment of designs acceptance into juried exhibitions through professional associations; she is active in both ITAA and ASDP. She has won awards for design through the Threads Challenge via ASDP, being published in the Threads magazine three times as well as winning 3rd place in Design at the Joint Symposium between ITAA and BIFT in Beijing, China in 2012.

An avid artisan, Marian has varied interests in areas beyond apparel including jewelry, accessories and fused glass home decor. In her fused glass articles, her fashion sense is obvious in the color combinations and striking patterns seen throughout her body of work.