DESIGNS & EXPERIENCES *

DESIGNS & EXPERIENCES *

Industrial Design

The story of career in industrial design is inspired by a deep well-spring of theory relating space and object. These are guiding themes that underpin my practice, and is a direct reflection of my love of systems and social context. What might happen if the designers’ work is not separate from but in service to our community and the natural world? I believe when design practice is approached this way, designers have an opportunity to use their skills to bridge boundaries.

Social Impact Innovation

Within the broad field of product design, I specialized in slow manufacturing, craft-based processes, and sustainable product development in furniture & lighting design, taking into consideration people, planet, and profit. This stemmed from a deep appreciation for the local communities and organizations responsible for bringing beauty and impact to market.

Human Factors, Sustainability & Ergonomics

My approach to design, fabrication, and installation is a direct reflection of my love of systems and social context. As a design consultant, my bread & butter was custom furniture design for local organizations focused on impact. When they approached me, 75F had a need for a way to showcase their product for tradeshows. As is the nature of trade show work, the initial proposal was to create a basic folding table to be discarded at the end of use. Using a human factors and design-thinking lens, I guided them to a solution which centered reuse, beauty, and ergonomics - a better story to highlight their mission and vision as a company focused on sustainability through automation. The result was a system of armatures and stands, serving to elevate their brand through a more considered user experience.

Service Design for Social Impact

Hennepin Made is an independent studio creating handblown glass lighting and other modern designs. The aesthetics of their products reflect and embody their dedication to preserving cultural heritage. First a glassblowing studio, their lighting fixtures feature hand-crafted glass as the focal point of each design created in-house by a team of classically trained artists. Hennepin Made strove to align their company goals, making every effort to protect their glassblowers from burnout. I found an opportunity to use service design to help Hennepin Made accomplish their goals, ensuring that our efforts protected our in-house artists from exploitation, and elevated this craft for the enjoyment of future generations

Operations & Project Management

At Hennepin Made, 40% of my role was to adapt current off-the-shelf product for site-specific proposals. I applied my diverse skills in this role in as an interdisciplinary designer into designing RFQ layouts, formalizing client designs, communicating needs to Production, stepping the final designs through sourcing & development, handing off projects for Fulfillment, following up for quality control, and generating bespoke installation instructions for each arrangement. Custom product is comprised of three tiers according to the degree of time investment required for development - Custom Arrangements, Modified Custom, Full Custom. The arrangement above is an example our Custom Arrangement offering comprising the majority of custom RFQs.

Product Design & Engineering

A substantial component of my responsibilities at Hennepin Made also related to product design and development. Creating custom fixtures that successfully met the needs of my clients required a human-centered approach to understanding the needs of the lighting fixture, and this was especially true for the crowning jewel of my lighting design career, a custom fixture for Owamni. Each element in the interior of his restaurant as well as the everyday process of serving food is in service to reclaiming Native culture. It was an honor to apply my services to develop this for Minneapolis’s first Indigenous restaurant, now critically-acclaimed nationwide.

Scenic & Tradeshow

The following encapsulates my designs in community storytelling in the social impact sphere in scenic design & commercial events, creating site-specific installations using space and object to connect communities and spark ideas, featuring work created for leading organizations in social justice such as TEDxMinneapolis, Asian American arts organization Theatre Mu and diversity & equity arts powerhouse Ten Thousand Things.

  • Purple Cloud

    THEATRE MU

  • Electra

    TEN THOUSAND THINGS THEATRE

  • Lake Untersee

    WORKHAUS COLLECIVE

  • FOB

    THEATRE MU

  • Monarch Swarm @ The MOA

    CHRIS LUTTER-GARDELLA, BIG ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS

  • IN-SIGHT

    TEDxMINNEAPOLIS

  • Reagan Years

    WORKHAUS COLLECTIVE | PLAYWRIGHT’S CENTER

  • Mrs. Charles

    FRESHWATER THEATRE

  • The Riddle Room - Starship

    MODERN ANTICS

  • Middle Brother

    THEATRE MU