Launching a New Era
A $19.9 million gift—RISD’s largest ever—from the Rayon Foundation Trust honors RISD’s historic roots in the study of textiles.
In 1944, with an initial gift of $100, Royal Little established the Rayon Foundation Trust to support the study of textiles at Rhode Island School of Design. Since that time, RISD has received over $7.3 million in quarterly distributions that have benefited RISD’s Textiles department. When the trust was realized, its value had grown to $19.9 million and now stands as the largest single gift in RISD’s history. This cumulative $28 million investment represents one of the most generous gifts by an individual to an art and design school.
Royal Little was a shrewd Rhode Island entrepreneur and investor who founded Textron, Inc. Little engineered Textron’s transition from a small textiles firm into what today has become a $14.2 billion multi-industry corporation with employees in 25 countries. The company’s stupendous growth blossomed from Little’s expansive vision for Rayon, a material first introduced as synthetic silk. Thinking beyond uses in fashion, he developed a Rayon parachute during World War II and was so confident in its strength and utility that he volunteered to be the first test subject. He then trained at Fort Bragg for four days before jumping in the first Rayon parachute, and this innovation helped give rise to the company that Textron is today.
Textron’s ties with RISD have endured as it has grown to global prominence. The company has supported numerous RISD Museum exhibitions, including Gorham Silver: Designing Brilliance 1850–1970, which is on view through December 1. The company also has funded scholarships, fellowships and studios.
RISD’s partnership with industry has been essential right from the very start. In the nineteenth century, Rhode Island was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution with its power-driven textile mills. RISD’s early benefactor Jesse Metcalf was a textile manufacturer, and it was his wife, Helen Rowe Metcalf, who led the Rhode Island Women’s Centennial Commission in founding RISD in 1877. So, it is not by chance that Rhode Island School of Design continues to be a leader in the study of textiles,” says President Rosanne Somerson.
“Royal Little has furthered this exciting trajectory. His gift provides RISD with the funds to more expansively support our extraordinary faculty and students in Textiles. It provides an enormous lift to our efforts to deliver a world-class art and design education to our students,” adds Somerson.
“In 1944 when he established the trust, Royal Little could not have envisioned the innovations that continue to transform how textiles are designed, made and used,” adds Somerson. “But his remarkable gift now makes it possible for RISD to offer a truly unmatched program in Textiles. These funds will support experimentation with new materials, technologies and methods to design and create fine art and the development of innovative fabrics that have applications for industry, science and improving people’s lives.”
“My father saw boundless possibilities in the uses of Rayon, and that vision has become realized as the fabric is used around the world for countless purposes,” says Arthur D. Little, son of Royal Little. “It is wonderful to see RISD honor his vision with its use of the Rayon Trust. I am excited to see the college continue to innovate with textiles by challenging the boundaries of the use of existing textiles and creating wholly new textiles. I know he would be enormously pleased to see his philanthropic legacy extended in this way.”
