15 Facts About Brad Pitt's New Gorgeous Girlfriend, Neri Oxman
After Brad and Angelina broke up, we're still reeling over who the next big celebrity couple will be. You might still remember the days when Brangelina was the highlight of every red carpet; they were one of the couples that reminded us that when the going gets tough, you talk it out and keep going. They've raised some amazing kids together too, but now Page Six is reporting that there are issues arising with the custody of their kids.
They've said that nothing in the divorce is final yet, and lawyers are still figuring out how to make sure the custody is fair. Allegedly, Angelina Jolie is angry that it's taking so long and upset that she can't get her kids to London with her. Brad Pitt's opinions were missing from the article, which might make sense… considering the fact that he's already been spotted with a new lady!
Neri Oxman is the genius that the world is watching right now. The internet exploded when she and Brad Pitt became linked. Is she just a rebound for Brad in the wake of his divorce? We've got all the details about their relationship and who she is.
15 She's An MIT Professor
This is the photo that got the world talking about a possible connection between Brad Pitt and Neri Oxman. This shot was posted by @camenzino on Instagram, who's an MIT student. She's got a great Instagram feed, featuring photos of her fitness, her friends, and (most importantly) BRAD PITT! Okay, the last one doesn't exist anymore. Fortunately for us, screenshots exist of this Instagram photo she posted, which features MIT students, Brad Pitt, and Neri Oxman, who's a professor at MIT and taught the class Brad was in. According to Cosmopolitan, which released a comprehensive guide to all things Brad-and-Neri (Breri?), Brad Pitt took in a lecture at the Media Lab at MIT back in November 2017.
While Brad does look a little out of place, he seems to be happy.
Cosmopolitan starts by referring to the fact that Brad's been getting more and more into crafting and creating his own art. Page Six reports that Brad Pitt has even been getting sculpture lessons from one of the top sculpture artists, Thomas Houseago. Page Six says that Pitt mentioned he's, “literally been squatting in [Houseago's studio] for a month now… I'm making everything. I'm working with clay, plaster, rebar, wood… ”
It's certainly convenient that his new crush, Oxman, is an award-winning designer and artist too!
14 She's An Architect, Artist, And Designer
Neri Oxman has had many different interviews and public releases about her work, which should give you the idea that she's definitely not an unknown. While it might feel like she's come out of nowhere with this recent question regarding her connection to Brad Pitt, she's actually been a huge celebrity in the architecture and design world. Surface Magazine did an in-depth sit down with Neri Oxman, which featured both insights about her life as well as comments from others on her work.
One of the notable quotes Surface chose to include in the article was from the senior curator for architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art, Paola Antonelli. Antonelli said, on the topic of Neri Oxman, “Neri is a person ahead of her time, not of her time. She is very rigorous, taking on a long view on where design needs to be, but at the same time also has an incredible talent and aesthetic flair, like an artist. Whatever she does has ground and credibility in science, but also a universal appeal for everybody, because her work is just so beautiful.”
Neri Oxman is living proof you don't have to be just one thing; you can innovate, create, and develop new ideas and disciplines that can (and will) change the world.
13 She's Got Art Collections Presented In Many Different Places
On the topic of the Museum of Modern Art, guess who has a permanent installation there. That's right: Neri Oxman. Surface mentions a few of the places she's had work shown, which includes “the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, and the Design Museum in London, among others.” If that's not impressive, we don't know what is.
This type of artistry is probably part of the reason Brad Pitt is so enamored with both Oxman herself, as well as the idea of working with her.
According to Vanity Fair, Brad Pitt and Neri Oxman were connected by people who thought Oxman would be able to work with Brad Pitt on an architectural project. Brad's a huge fan of the design, which we'll detail a little later. Right now we'll just cite the fact that Angelina Jolie told Vanity Fair that the design of things was always up to Brad. This is highlighted by the fact that, according to Architectural Digest, he's designing his own furniture now too! According to Architectural Digest, Frank Pollaro (a furniture maker that Brad Pitt is a big fan of) saw some of Brad's sketches. “I asked him, 'Why don't we make some of this stuff real?' Brad said he thought that could be fun,” Architectural Digest reprinted Pollaro's words, which just highlight how attracted to design Brad is… Could that attraction be extending to Neri Oxman's design work?
12 She Has 43 Awards… Almost As Many As Brad Pitt Has!
Brad does have an affinity for outstanding women, which makes his supposed-attraction to Neri Oxman all the more understandable. This incredible woman has approximately 43 awards, as mentioned in Surface Magazine's comprehensive guide to Neri Oxman.
Different articles report some of her bigger awards, and s mentions the top ones in their article, “including the Cultural Leader award from the World Economic Forum in 2016, Earth Award for Future-Crucial Design in 2009, The MIT Collier Medal in 2016, and the Vilcek Prize in Design, given to immigrants who've contributed to American society, in 2014.” With a resume like this, it's no surprise she's got the whole world watching her.
She's been an innovator and an award-winning contributor to many different fields of study. Surface talks about how “in a family of architects, engineers, and intellectuals. Her parents are both well-known figures in the local design scene.” Growing up in a family that's so successful, and has such an emphasis on the design and architecture work she now does, it's only natural that she pick up a few awards along the way. When something is your life, you can't help but put in the hours to get good at it.
11 She's A Designer Of Strange Chairs (Which Is Right Up Pitt's Alley)
Architectural Digest did a report on Brad's love of furniture, which mentioned how “Pitt's passion for architecture and design is well established, evidenced by his Make It Right foundation… As well as by his high-profile collecting of modernist and contemporary furniture.” Not only that, but Jennifer Aniston straight-up called out Brad's love of weird furniture in an interview with Vanity Fair.
Aniston said, “Brad and I used to joke that every piece of furniture was either a museum piece or just uncomfortable. He definitely had his sense of style” -which sounds like code for “he likes weird stuff.”
Neri Oxman is a designer of many an odd chair and many an odd furniture piece! One of her most popular is the Beast chaise, whose write up on the MIT website explains, “Beast is an organic-like entity… A single continuous surface, acting both as structure and as skin, is locally modulated for both structural support and corporeal aid. Beast combines structural, environmental, and corporeal performance by adapting its thickness, pattern density, stiffness, flexibility, and translucency to load, curvature, and skin-pressured areas respectively.” Talk about weird furniture. It's basically a chair that responds to you when you sit in it. Sounds like furniture that Jennifer Aniston would never have approved of!
10 She Doesn't Cook
Why is this on the list? Is it really that interesting? Well, if you're curious about the state of Brad Pitt and Neri Oxman's relationship, it certainly is interesting. Us Magazine, one of the big references for celebrity gossip and information, released an article last month talking about the nature of Neri Oxman and Brad Pitt's relationship. While their two inside reporters had some different takes on the relationship (one of them is convinced it's just a professional relationship, while the other one is certain they're a couple), there was one thing that they agreed on: Oxman's cooking habits.
Apparently, according to Us Magazine, Neri Oxman doesn't really cook: “Brad has been spotted going into her apartment building on multiple occasions late at night and emerging the next morning after she leaves to teach… Neri doesn't cook; they have been ordering food in from her favorite restaurants, and Brad has been doing a lot of cooking."
Even if they were just friends, home cooked meals together are incredibly intimate… Especially when you're in someone else's apartment, Brad! We suspect that there's something growing between the two of them, even if it's still not official. Cooking together (especially when a certain someone doesn't cook) is far too special to ignore.
9 She's The Creator Of The MIT Mediated Matter Group
Surface Magazine, in their article 8 Things to Know About Neri Oxman, highlights the fact that she's the current director/creator of the MIT Mediated Matter group. If you're thinking that that sounds high tech and difficult to understand… You're not exactly wrong. Surface explains the Mediated Matter group in a more comprehensible way: “the group includes 25 affiliates and visiting students pursuing computational design, architecture, marine science, molecular biology, and physics. Together, they conduct research addressing synthetic biology and art, and apply the results to design.”
In layperson's terms, this means that they're basically connecting science and art and making cool stuff.
The research/experimental design group is impressive, and it's exactly what you expect when you think of science and art joining forces. Surface highlights a few of the coolest projects they've worked on, and it's a little hard to wrap your head around the fact that these things are really real! They cite projects like cement forms that are modeled off of bone's construction, as well as 3D printers that print in actual biological material. For a mechanical thing that normally prints in plastic, that's really, REALLY impressive. This is the type of creative thinking that really watermarks Neri Oxman's work throughout her career.
8 Her Work Is Based Around “Mothering Nature”
The phrase might seem strange if you're not familiar with Oxman's work, but it's actually a lovely sentiment and philosophy to have about design. W Magazine did an interview with her that opened with a question regarding this philosophy. Oxman said that “nature doesn't work [in a top-down, mechanical way], nor does motherhood, I think. I'm not a mother of children but I'm a different type of mother where my approach to design is more in line with nature. It's less about dictating and more about editing and listening and allowing something to grow. So I nourish and let the material express what it wants to be.” This is in juxtaposition to the way design usually works.
W Magazine gets their first answer from her with a bit of backstory, where Oxman discusses the fact that she grew up surrounded by architects, designers, and builders that worked from a place of controlling materials; this is the “top-down” method she's mentioned.
She doesn't believe that this gets the best results though, especially not in some of her experimental work. Thus, she tells W Magazine, she developed her “mothering nature” philosophy, and it's inspired much of her process. Could she maybe want to become a mother one day though? We'll see. We definitely know that Brad likes children, which could mean her “mothering nature” philosophy will soon become just “mothering”!
7 She Was Born In Israel
Technically this brilliant scientist and artist is an immigrant, even winning the prestigious Vilcek Prize in Design, “given to immigrants who've contributed to American society, in 2014,” Surface says. While she might be living and working in America now, Israel is where she was born and raised. Surface went into Neri Oxman's background during their in-depth report, and they say, “Oxman was brought up in Israel in a family of architects, engineers, and intellectuals. Her parents - an American father and Israeli mother - are both well-known figures in the local design scene… Her childhood home in the northern city of Haifa was 'funky,' she says, and full of creative energy.” So that's where she gets it!
No wonder her design style and view of life are so energetic and innovative; coming from a place that's funky would definitely help her facilitate some creative thinking. Cosmopolitan mentions that she moved to America in 2005, after living in London. This move was due to getting a position at MIT, where she began working with “renowned design theoretician, Professor William J. Mitchell, who was famous for his Smart Cities program at the MIT Media Lab,” as Cosmopolitan says. It's no wonder she's taken over the Media Lab now!
6 She's Done Military Service
You might be shocked by this, but it's a normal part of Israeli life. When doing some research to figure out more information on the military situation in Israel, we found the official website for the Israel Defense Forces. On the website, they say “Israel is unique in that military service is compulsory for both males and females… Males serve for three years and females for just less than two years,” and one of the most important things to note, “in many respects, one can dub military service in Israel a more physically rigorous social and educational rite of passage, akin to college or university elsewhere in the world.”
Surface mentions that she served in the Israeli Air Force for just about her entire term of mandatory service.
Perhaps this is part of what inspired her to pursue technology and creativity; her work, as we've discussed, revolves around a lot of biological processes as well as technological processes.
By “mothering nature” she's taken a different approach than so many of her technological, top-down counterparts. Maybe the military service helped with that. All we know is that it was a long time ago and in her past. We're sure that the skills she garnered, like focus and discipline, were lifelong ones, though. There's no way she could have achieved half of what she's achieved without being able to sit down and focus. Maybe there's more training to a work ethic than we thought!
5 She Was Married To Osvaldo Golijov
While it's not the same type of scandalous mud from the past that it once was, being married before is still a point of discussion for any new couple… And especially any new celebrity couple. Perhaps Brad Pitt has been appreciating Neri Oxman's insight into divorce; no doubt the fact that he has been dragging on for so long has taken a toll on him, and he's probably looking for advice and support from any and all of his friends. Surface Magazine reports that Neri Oxman has been married before, to Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov.
In Surface's in-depth article about Oxman, it was reported that “Oxman was previously married to the Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov, who she says had an 'incredible influence' on her work. (A very private person, Oxman wouldn't elaborate on her relationship with Golijov.)” That last sentence is an important one, especially when we're trying to figure out if she and Brad Pitt are actually together. For someone on the private side (who's notoriously neglected commentary on this whole Brad Pitt situation ever since it first started), it's going to take a while for her to feel comfortable inviting the media into her life. This could be a problem when they do get together, but hey… It would be worth it for love, right?
4 She's Pushing Biological Boundaries Through 3D Printing
Ever wanted to go to space? Neri Oxman hasn't mentioned whether she actually wants to go herself, but she's working on a way to make what are basically wearable, funky-looking space suits. In her write up on the official MIT Media Lab website, she talks about one of her biggest undertakings: a project developing “Wanderers”, which are “biologically-augmented 3D printed wearables”. Unsure what that means? That's fair.
The most plain-language chunk of the MIT write-up explains how “each wearable is designed for a specific extreme environment where it transforms elements that are found in the atmosphere to one of the classical elements supporting life: oxygen for breathing, photons for seeing, biomass for eating, biofuels for moving, and calcium for building. Design research at the core of this collection lies at the intersection of multi-material 3D printing and Synthetic Biology.” Surface Magazine's overview about her work mentions how she's also dabbled in 3D printing with organic materials, as well as embracing the design and creation of full-forms, rather than component-based creative measures that were common in tech up until Neri Oxman redesigned design.
She's also not afraid to integrate 3D printing with biological components.
Cosmopolitan talks about one of her most well-known works, The Silk Pavilion: “Oxman and her team programmed a robotic arm to imitate how silkworms deposit silk when building cocoons. 6,500 actual silkworms were then introduced to the structure and over time, silk fibers allowed the “The Silk Pavilion” to fill in.”
3 She's Done TED Talks Regarding Her Work As Both A Scientist And Artist
Part of being an interdisciplinary artist means speaking to both the science and the art communities. For Neri Oxman, this just comes naturally through the kind of work that she's working in. Her TED Talk entitled Design at the Intersection of Technology and Biology is an inspiring description of what she and her Media Lab students have been working on, as well as discussing her plans for future projects… And even the future of architectural design!
The closing remarks of her TED2015 talk are arguably the most beautiful philosophy of design that is out there right now. She closes her TED Talk with the words: “if the final frontier of design is to breathe life into the products and the buildings around us, to form a two-material ecology, then designers must unite these two worldviews. Which brings us back, of course, to the beginning. Here's to a new age of design, a new age of creation, that takes us from a nature-inspired design to a design-inspired nature, and that demands of us for the first time that we mother nature.” The transcript of her TED Talk is available to read, as well as to watch online.
If she and Brad Pitt do end up romantically involved, this could be a great way for her to gain a platform to speak to an audience she might not normally reach: those that aren't super interested in science or biology. You know… Just saying.
2 She's Got A Wide Variety Of Inspirations And Influences
In a previous point, we mentioned how her ex-husband, Osvaldo Golijov, is cited as being one of her biggest influences. For a woman who's had such a wide and varied life as Neri Oxman, it's only natural that she gets her inspiration and influences from many different places. When asked during an interview with W Magazine which women inspire her, she said: “Virginia Woolf, Charlotte Perriand, Maureen Dowd, and Maria Popova, who also happens to be a good friend.” Classic, contemporary, and all-around creative geniuses, she's in good company if these women are her influences.
For someone who's got such a creative mind though, it's easy to say that Oxman doesn't just find inspiration in the obvious places.
She's also inspired by biology and the natural world and even non-science disciplines, as she tells W Magazine: “I am equally fascinated and awed by visiting an Alexander McQueen show as I am looking under a microscope. And this same level of intrigue visits me when I take on design journeys. I don't think of fashion as fashion, or biology as biology. I don't separate architecture, design or culture.” It's only natural her integrative designs involve a huge amount of influence; plus, we're sure that she's always on the lookout for more inspirations. That's the sign of a true artist and scientist.
1 It's NOT A Red Carpet Official Romance… Yet.
No matter what we might read into this potential romance, nothing official has been said. While they've got quite a lot of compatible interests, there seems to be a cone of silence surrounding their relationship. Outside of a few (maybe wrong) “insider” claims, nobody can definitively say whether or not there's anything more than interest. While there have been a few mentions of Brad's desire to get to know her more, Gossip Cop has released a few articles recently that really counteract any and all dating claims.
While DailyMail said that Pitt and Oxman are talking all the time and every day, Gossip Cop cites E! Online as having a reputable inside eye that negates that claim. E Online's insider wants to make it clear that: “Brad has become friendly with Neri Oxman… He thinks she's brilliant. He's interested in getting to know her more and learning from her, but they are strictly friends." However, that E! Online article is dated April 6th. That means the article is almost two months old, which is absolutely ages in the celebrity gossip world.
If you want our opinion on this situation, we think that Brad Pitt and Neri Oxman would be an amazing couple. Both geniuses in their own right, it seems like it could be a lot of fun for each of them. We think they'll get together eventually, even if they aren't red carpet official… Yet!
References: mahal-idf-volunteers.org, vanityfair.com, neri.media.mit.edu, architecturaldigest.com, pagesix.com, wmagazine.com, cosmopolitan.com, dailymail.co.uk, usmagazine.com, matter.media.mit.edu, surfacemag.com, vanityfair.com, eonline.com, gossipcop.com, architecturaldigest.com, ted.com, gossipcop.com, surfacemag.com