Adler Staff Star: Meet Orilla!

Orilla Fetro

Exhibit Design Lead

What first sparked your interest in exhibit design? 

I became interested in exhibit design while working as an exhibit graphic designer at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. I loved seeing ideas flow from concept sketches to fleshed out ideas into tangible interactives.

You’ve been heavily involved in the designing of the Adler’s newest exhibit Chicago’s Night Sky (opening November 2019). What has been the most rewarding part of this process?

We’re still in the construction and production phase of Chicago’s Night Sky. There are countless hours of planning, fabricating, and designing that go into creating an exhibit—it’s really gratifying to see the process start. For me, the most rewarding part is after the opening when we see guests interact with the exhibition and content. 

What challenges come with designing for new exhibits?

Like with anything, time and resources always present challenges. We don’t lack for wacky, out of the box ideas, though we are held to reasonable parameters and deadlines. Those parameters help spark our ingenuity, and I’m thankful to work with a league of extraordinary nerds that keep pushing for more innovative solutions. 

If you had the opportunity to go on a mission to the Moon, would you go? Why or why not?

Yes! Though it reminds me of a Sesame Street song: “Well, I’d like to visit the moon on a rocket ship high in the air. Yes, I’d like to visit the moon, but I don’t think I’d like to live there. So, I’d like to look down at the Earth from above, I would miss all the people and places I love, so although I might like it for one afternoon. I don’t wanna live on the moon.”

Why, in your opinion, is space freaking awesome? 

Everything about space is simultaneously terrifying and awe-inspiring. I learn a new fact daily, and many of those days, I have the privilege of taking incredibly abstract ideas and making them accessible. 

My favorite fact about space is that when we look at objects extremely large distances away, we are seeing them as they were when the light was emitted, thus looking back in time.