Context

Our next guests are Jeremiah Robison, Founder and CEO at CIONIC and Daniel Zarem, a Senior Industrial Designer at Fuseproject - who both worked on the VOX Ventilator. Fuseproject, in partnership with CIONIC, a medical device and technology start-up, and several independent mechanical engineering (ME) consultants, banded together to respond to the open innovation challenge. More than 200 teams from 43 different countries submitted their concepts, and our submission was selected as one of seven to build working prototypes for the final round of judging. The final design, dubbed VOX, is a rapidly deployable, pneumatically driven ventilator that prioritizes modularity, uses off-the-shelf solutions, and is optimized for a Covid-19 healthcare context. VOX costs less than $1,000 to produce and can be assembled in under 4 hours. Thank you @fuseproject and @jerobiwan for sharing your story and inspiring so many! Thanks for tuning in, be on the lookout for our next podcast! Send us a DM or email at [email protected] to provide us with your thoughts and comments on our dialogue with designers!

Our next guest Liana Thomson, an Accessories Product Developer at EQ3 where she leads design for the brand’s tabletop, decorative, and other accessories. In addition to her role in developing accessories for EQ3, Liana leads the packaging task force, working to ensure EQ3’s packaging standards are eco-friendly ensuring products offerings are sustainably enhanced and consciously created. Liana holds a Bachelor of Environmental Design from the University of Manitoba with a focus in architecture. While at the University of Manitoba, Liana edited the Faculty of Architecture’s annual journal and contributed to the City of Winnipeg’s annual Arts + Architecture Competition On Ice. Thank you @lianathomson for being amazing and inspiring so many! Thanks for tuning in, be on the lookout for our next podcast! Send us a DM or email at [email protected] to provide us with your thoughts and comments on our dialogue with designers!

Our next guest Jeff Smith, an industrial designer and Cloud Adoption Specialist at Autodesk. Jeff has a rich product design and development history, and prior to joining Autodesk, he worked for more than 20 years as design director of Reflex Design, Inc. - a Florida based consulting group serving a range of domestic and international clients. The diversity of products included fitness equipment, medical, industrial, consumer and kitchen products. Jeff also spent eight years as adjunct faculty at the Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale. While there, Jeff taught Solidworks, sketching, product design, personal watercraft design and design for manufacturing. Thank you @blaster701 for being amazing and inspiring so many! Thanks for tuning in, be on the lookout for our next podcast! Send us a DM or email at [email protected] to provide us with your thoughts and comments on our dialogue with designers!

Once in a while, someone tells us to shut up about politics. If you want to avoid trouble, stay away from politics. Politics is a hot potato. You can’t sell things to people that are disagree with you. But then again, what is wrong with an industrial designer going out and taking a stand for sustainable products or methods? Or other things like education, healthcare, etc. If you can not agree, you can not work with them. Design is change. Change needs courage. All design is political. 

Today’s podcast we talk with designers Michael DiTullo and Spencer Nugent, who have both worked at big organizations such as Nike and Vivint Smart Home to small studios like frog and Astro Design - they have managed and interacted with all walks of life. Is design political - or do we just lay low?  Given that our country elected a new president, what does this mean for design - and how are we affected? Tune in to hear Michael and Spencer talk about their experiences in the industry and how we need to stand up for what’s right.

Our next guest is Matt Carr, VP of Design at Umbra. Matt is an integral part of the Umbra design team since 2001, Matt has contributed countless designs to their product line. His work has been featured multiple times in The New York Times, The Daily Telegraph, Surface Magazine, I.D Magazine, Met Home, Monocle, and Living Etc. Matt is compelled to create products that balances business and imagination. Subtle details, an appreciation for imperfection, and the reinvention of traditional objects are distinguishing features of his designs. As VP of Design, Matt oversees a global design department headquartered in Toronto. Thank you Matt Carr for being amazing and inspiring so many! Thanks for tuning in, be on the lookout for our next podcast! Send us a DM or email at [email protected] to provide us with your thoughts and comments on our dialogue with designers!

Our next guest is Dave Joseph, an Industrial Designer who is a material fanatic, design thinker and all-around wonderful human being. Dave comes from a long line of product designers and entrepreneurs. It really is in his blood. Making significant contributions to product design across many brands including Milwaukee Tool, McDonalds, and Contigo, Dave has continued his family’s heritage of excellent design and innovation. After working on the Lunatik brand at MNML in Chicago, Dave launched his own industrial design studio before co-founding a Chicago based tech startup called Ovie. Thank you @davejosephid for being amazing and inspiring so many! Thanks for tuning in, be on the lookout for our next podcast! Send us a DM or email at [email protected] to provide us with your thoughts and comments on our dialogue with designers!

Our next guest is design educator Josh Owen, a Distinguished Professor and Director of Industrial Design at The Rochester Institute of Technology. Josh is also an award winning, internationally renowned industrial designer and author. His studio’s work is produced by significant manufacturers in the US and Europe, and the projects are featured in many permanent museum collections around the globe. Because Owen’s varied roles are in high demand, he is selective about the commissions from industry that his studio accepts. They work on fewer projects but focus on building quality relationships over quantity, accounting for the attention and accolades given to their work by the media, industry, and cultural sectors. During our conversation, we talk about the evolution of his work, how he got started, and the future of design education. Thank you @joshowendesign for being amazing and inspiring so many! Thanks for tuning in, be on the lookout for our next podcast! Send us a DM or email at [email protected] to provide us with your thoughts and comments on our dialogue with designers!

Our next guest is Brittany Pierone, the designer behind DI PIERONI, a luxury goods brand grounded in high taste. With a focus on utility and minimalism, these fashion necessities are premium and functional for life and travel. The brand seeks to speak to culture and timeless aesthetics and be useful to a range of lifestyles. Her team is focused on designing modern products, by honing the relationship between timeless materials and modern design lines. The brand’s mission is to partner with non-profit organizations to raise awareness and means to support those in need. During our conversation, we talked about her humble beginnings at Arizona State, graduating with a degree in Industrial Design in 2014. Early on Brittany knew she had a love for making and building - from building a scale model of the Hindenburg blimp out of toothpicks to job shadowing her high school pole vault coach at Nike. Design matched her DNA. While in college Brittany interned for Nike, designing shoes in Women’s Training and Golf. Upon graduating, she returned to Beaverton to join the Nike Running design team. She spent a year working on color design and special projects before being promoted to Nike Field Sports team. International travel with Nike, exposed Brittany to living conditions all over the world, that both broke her heart and inspired her. In search of more meaning, Brittany quit her beloved role at Nike to go to Africa to work with women and children battling HIV in Ethiopia. Motivated by the joy of giving back and the freedom America provides, she returned to LA to build what is now her brand called DI PIERONI. Founded on the definition of compassion, Brittany was able to marry both her passions. Today, she continues to push the boundaries in product design, while raising awareness and funds for people in need all over the world. Thank you @b.pierone for being amazing and inspiring so many! Thanks for tuning in, be on the lookout for our next podcast! Send us a DM or email at [email protected] to provide us with your thoughts and comments on our dialogue with designers!

SQ1 2019 SPECIAL: Our next guest is Howard Nuk, a Canadian industrial designer, entrepreneur, inventor, speaker, and co-founder of Palm Ventures Group, Inc. Born in Toronto, Canada, he lived there until his family moved to Ottawa at the age of 11. Nuk studied Industrial Design at Carleton University, School of Industrial Design, Faculty of Engineering. After graduation, Nuk was hired by the global design and innovation firm frog,  based in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he began working under renowned designer Hartmut Esslinger who famously designed the Apple Macintosh SE with Steve Jobs from 1983-1989. Over the next 11 years, Nuk would become Creative Director and lead frog's west coast design teams. Nuk also worked at Ammunition as Vice President of the Industrial Design Studio. There he worked with partners Matthew Rolandson, Nuk's former frog colleague, and Robert Brunner, former Apple Design Director who famously hired Jony Ive. During his time at Ammunition, Nuk designed products for Beats by Dre, Square, Nook by Barnes and Noble, Adobe and Sky. In 2012, Nuk joined Samsung Design America where he met Dennis Miloseski, a fellow designer and his future co-founder. At Samsung Design America, Nuk and Miloseski provided leadership in the definition, design, and development of products that live within the mobile and home IOT ecosystem. Under the leadership of Nuk and Miloseski, SDA is credited for developing the wearables category at Samsung, including both wrist-worn and audio-based smart wearables. Notable products include Samsung Gear Fit, Samsung Gear S, Samsung Gear S2 among others. Nuk and Miloseski co-founded the San Francisco-based startup Palm Ventures Group Inc in late 2016. Palm secured global exclusive rights to the original Palm brand—made famous in the mid-90's from the launch of the PalmPilot—from TCL Corporation, one of Palm's strategic manufacturing partners and seed investors. TCL Corporation had purchased the Palm brand assets from Hewlett-Packard in 2014. Nuk and Miloseski also brought on 3-time NBA champ, 5-time All-Star, the first unanimous MVP basketball star Stephen Curry as a strategic investor and advisor to Palm. Palm launched the new Palm brand and their first phone also named "Palm" in November of 2018, in an exclusive deal with Verizon. Thank you @howardnuk for being amazing and inspiring so many! Thanks for tuning in, be on the lookout for our next podcast! Send us a DM or email at [email protected] to provide us with your thoughts and comments on our dialogue with designers!

SQ1 2019 SPECIAL: Our next guest is Sean Miller, a Design Team Leader in Industrial Design and Soft Goods at COSMO. Sean is looking to collaborate with other inspiring and talented people to share experiences with while building something great. As a designer he believes design is a necessity in order to create meaningful products to properly shape the world. These experiences influence how we function, feel and think about ourselves and our surroundings. Everything around us can be special while also being useful. During our conversation, we talk about COSMO, and the services and relationships they have with the design industry. Thank you @seanvmiller for being amazing and inspiring so many! Thanks for tuning in, be on the lookout for our next podcast! Send us a DM or email at [email protected] to provide us with your thoughts and comments on our dialogue with designers!