Context

For today’s podcast, we feature Industrial Designer Leon Fitzpatrick, who we call the designer of the future, a globetrotter, and a gifted visionary. Originally from Australia, he made his way to the States to study at the College for Creative Studies (CCS) in Detroit, Michigan, where his father was the Chair of Transportation Design department. Born to the distinguished designer and educator Bryon Fitzpatrick, Leon carved his own path in the years that followed, working for brands such as Motorola, Nike, XBOX, Microsoft, Dell, Ford, Magic + Might, Artemide, and MNML. We discussed technology, the original Microsoft Razor, and how the iPhone disrupted that industry. In 2014, he co-founded AUXILIARY, an independent industrial design school based in Brisbane, Australia. He came to realize a growing gap between education and the needs of industry. AUXILIARY was created to address this skill deficit by developing rigorous design courses that teach the foundations right through to connecting design students with real clients. The end goal was part school, part design consultancy. Thank you @lebenfitz 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!

IDSA IDC SPECIAL: We had the pleasure of speaking with Silvana Zaldivar, an Industrial Designer at Shopify in Toronto, Canada. Her story begins in El Salvador, where she was born and raised, and received a scholarship to study at the University of Louisiana in LaFayette. She attended many conferences and events that gave her the opportunity to network, which led her to an internship at Fossil. Upon graduating, she headed west to the bay area with no plan, just her skills and optimistic attitude. Silvana arrived during San Francisco Design Week, and she immediately went to work meeting designers and networking, which led her to a job at Matter. She created her own luck through hard work, and in the years that followed, she moved to London to work at Layer, and eventually at Shopify. Silvana expresses the importance of networking, and genuinely working hard for the things you have, as there are no shortcuts in design. Thank you @silvanazaldivar 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!

IDSA IDC SPECIAL: We had the pleasure of sitting down with Norio Fujikawa, the Executive Creative Director at Astro Studios in San Francisco, CA for a rapid fire chat about his upbringing in Chicago, his studies at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and how he made his way to the Bay Area. He interned and worked in the midwest, specifically in Ohio and Minnesota, before he found his way to San Francisco. We also talk about all of the amazing people that have graced the halls of Astro Studios, alumni such as Spencer Nugent, John Muhlenkamp, Hoang and Anh Nguyen, Jordan Nollman, David Whetstone, and Grace Lee, have all been part of this amazing establishment. We also discuss how Astro Studios started in gaming, and have since designed other products for brands such as Shinola, Sol Republic, Nike, HP, and Western Digital. Norio breaks down the skill and mind set that is needed to work in such a competitive design city, so please listen up if you’re thinking of making the move to the Bay Area. Thank you @noriofujikawa 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!

IDSA IDC SPECIAL: While attending the IDC Conference, we were able to have a quick chat with some familiar faces! We had the pleasure of speaking with Emily Siira, industrial designer at GE Healthcare. Emily grew up in Grafton, WI and originally started out pursuing an engineering degree, but after facing some difficult obstacles with her health she eventually found herself turning to the field of industrial design (and completely falling in love with it). Emily graduated in 2017 from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, where she built up her design skill set by interning at several companies and while adapting to the health challenges she was faced with. Emily took these challenges and crafted a unique lense to view her world through, which eventually fueled by her desire to improve the overall patient experience; Emily’s engineering acumen, design ability, and life experience combined makes her an unstoppable designer. Thank you @eesiira for sharing your experience and design background! We’ll be watching you as you pave the way for the future of design in healthcare! 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!

IDSA IDC SPECIAL: We had the pleasure of speaking with Laura Silva, who was in town for IDSA’s International Design Conference. Laura is VP, accessibility UX designer lead at Bank of America. She is an advocate for diversity in design, she’s a DACA Dreamer, an Inclusive UX Designer, and one of the most inspiring humans you will ever meet. Laura is a graduate of the Savannah College of Art & Design, and has worked at Amazon before her job at Bank of America. Laura shared her story of migrating from Bogota, Colombia with her family at the age of 13, and the hardships of transitioning to an American teenager life (along with her love of movies that she related to growing up). Due to her background, Laura had to grow up fast and work hard at a young age. This interview with Laura is an emotional and honest conversation about fighting for your dreams, working hard to get what you want, and never giving up regardless of your situation.  Thank you @lausilvah 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!

IDSA IDC SPECIAL: We had the pleasure of speaking with RIT Industrial Design Professor Alex Lobos, who was in town for IDSA’s International Design Conference. Alex started his career in graphic design, but was always a maker at heart, and eventually moved to industrial design. Born and raised in Guatemala, he qualified as a Fulbright Scholar, which led him to attend the University of Notre Dame for graduate school. Alex has interned at Whirlpool and worked at General Electric after graduate school. After his time at GE, he worked as Visiting Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he met Hector Silva, who he inspired to also become an educator. After UIUC, Alex found his calling at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), where he is now a Full time Professor of Industrial Design, Graduate Director, and Fellow-In-Resident for Autodesk. Alex is a one-of-a-kind educator, and we hope our listeners will get an opportunity to meet him at one of our events! Thank you @lobosdesign 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!

During our latest CONTEXT interview - we had an unannounced and covert interview with designer Daniel Bailey, also known as Mr. Bailey, founder of ConceptKicks! He was graciously interviewed by Industrial Designer Kat Reiser during his recent visit to ComplexCon which happened in Chicago. Daniel has a rich design background, he has collaborated with brands such as Nike, GE, Supreme, The North Face, Takashi Murakami, and most recently Timberland. Daniel talked about his upbringing, coming to the states to study - and finding his way back to Europe where he formulated and established his brand - and began his ripple effect through the fashion and footwear industry. Most recently, he designed a rare 1 of 1 shoe for Takashi Murakami that was sold at last year’s ComplexCon in Long Beach, CA for $17,000 for charity, and at this year’s ComplexCon, he collaborated with Timberland to be part of their CONSTRUCT: 10061 initiative. Check out this exclusive interview with Mr. Bailey, as he goes into depth about his life and work! Thanks for tuning in, be on the lookout for our next podcast! Thank you @mrbailey for being amazing and inspiring so many! Thank you for tuning into CONTEXT, send us a DM or email at [email protected] to provide us with your thoughts and comments on our dialogue with designers!

We had the pleasure to chat with Nicole McLaughlin, - a designer and maker of up-cycled products, her work contributes to the topic of sustainability, and is changing the way we think about the longevity of the soft goods that we own. We kicked things off by talking about her early work in college as a graphic design major, doing unpaid internships to build her experience and credibility as a designer, so that she would eventually land an internship opportunity at Reebok. We discussed the struggles and the hustle behind unpaid internships, and how everyone should pay their interns no matter what - we also talked about the pressure she put on herself to succeed and get ahead while wrapping up her undergraduate degree. When Nicole was promoted to full time design, she discovered her love for prototyping, and began to build and make footwear prototypes from up-cycled materials during her own time after work. She later came to a realization that her side hustle can be a real studio - after receiving various media attention from Hypebeast, Vogue, and Highsnobiety - it was the validation she needed to step away from corporate America. Please listen to the whole interview for Nicole’s unique design story! Thanks for tuning in, be on the lookout for our next podcast! Thank you @nicolemclaughlin for being so candid and honest. Thank you for tuning into CONTEXT, send us a DM or email at [email protected] to provide us with your thoughts and comments on our dialogue with designers!

We had the pleasure to chat with Industrial Designer Jessica Choi, who works at Google designing the future. We talked about her journey as a student, wanting to be an artist, her upbringing with her parents back in the suburbs of Detroit, attending CCS and leaving to work full time for Matter before graduating. We also talked about experiential design, and how it’s shaping how we touch and interact with products. Thanks for tuning in, be on the lookout for our next podcast! Thank you @choi_jessica for being so candid and honest. Thank you for tuning into CONTEXT, send us a DM or email at [email protected] to provide us with your thoughts and comments on our dialogue with designers!

Today we had a conversation with Industrial Designer Paul Sohi of Autodesk at the coveted Pier 9 in San Francisco, CA. We spoke about his unique transition to industrial design from architecture, his self taught design education, his process and being an early user of Fusion360. Paul was doing interesting things with Fusion and his studio - which eventually caught the eye of Autodesk, which is how Paul ended up working for them. We discussed Virgil Abloh, and the impact he has on art and design, and how we think he’s the modern renaissance man, whether you like his work or not. We encourage you to go out, get around people, visit museums, be immersed in culture, so that you can design with a bigger umbrella instead of being restricted to your bubble. Thank you @fuseps for being so candid and honest. Thank you for tuning into CONTEXT, send us a DM or email at [email protected] to provide us with your thoughts and comments on our dialogue with designers!