Our Founder

Anna Rabinowicz founded ANNA New York in 2002, in her grandmother’s basement in Queens, New York. It was a family business and a matriarchy from the very beginning. Her mother and grandmother put the small rubber feet on the bottoms of our agate gemstone coasters, our first design, and took charge of shipping.  After Anna’s grandmother passed away, her young daughter Talia became involved in our company, helping with design development. Today, we continue to be a female-owned and operated company. 

Anna is trained as a product designer, an unusual mix between an artist and an engineer. She holds Master’s degrees in engineering and art from Stanford University, as well as an undergraduate degree in literature. As an older engineering student, she was one of the only women in her class, and in the machine shop. To give her strength in this challenging environment, she wore a red satin cape to her math exams. Her focus was biologically-inspired design, which became her research area later as a Professor of Design. 

After graduating, she continued her interest in biomorphic design by designing prosthetic knees and devices for cardiac surgery. She also became a Professor of Product Design at Stanford University and Parsons School of Design, training future leaders in the field. 

This tenacity, and interest in naturally-inspired design, fueled her founding of ANNA, and typifies the way that we operate as a company to this day. With our founder as a role model, we as a brand celebrate strong women all over the world who fearlessly pursue their passions, and stand up for what they believe is right.