ONEder Podcast

Leader + Designer Susie Wise shares her ideas about design for belonging, a powerful way to think about the human connections and feelings we want to create within our groups and our communities. Listen to a story of exploration and tool crafting, of a journey leading to awareness and lifelong commitment, and of the recognition that belonging is a way to define the powerful, creative and nurturing connections we hope for in our learning environments and many other structures within our society.

What would a world without prisons look like? Can we build the infrastructure to end mass incarceration by addressing it at its root causes and using the tools of architecture and real estate? Deanna Van Buren shares with us the mission, vision and work of Designing Justice Designing Spaces to create peacemaking environments.

Colleges and universities face unprecedented social, demographic, and technological shifts. Change is constant: how students learn and access services, how faculty teach and conduct research, how staff work. Lower engagement and satisfaction scores are also present in education today. Listen to Elliot Felix share how brightspot strategy helps institutions meet these challenges with innovative tools, a proven process, and a talented team.

When Williams-Sonoma saw the potential in crossing from living spaces into work spaces, they partnered their West Elm modern home furnishings with Steelcase to create the fastest growing new brand, West Elm Work. Learn about the design, new business strategy, and growth curve with Paulo Kos, West Elm Work VP Design, and Cheryl Carpenter, West Elm Work VP Business.

Born in Denmark, online B2C lifestyle business Bolia, celebrates New Scandinavian design interpreted by international designers. Two decades into global sales, Bolia introduces a multisensory retail experience complete with exclusive chocolate, playlists, and coffee, and introduces ‘resimercial’ offerings with a global Steelcase partnership.

When Blu Dot founders wanted to buy well designed affordable furniture as recent architecture grads in the ‘90’s, none was available. John Christakos and Maurice Blanks tell us the story of helping to found a design/manufacturing company to build their own, and offer it to the market. 20 years later, these Cooper-Hewitt Design Award winners have thousands of items in their catalog, and stores around the country.

Original, unexpected, eclectic, rebellious, sophisticated, and always on the edge of commercial reality and cultural interest, Robin Bevers and Martien Valentijn take us behind the curtain into the extraordinary life of Dutch lifestyle brand, Moooi.

The universal allure of light and the history and technology of Italian lighting design as explained by Jack Scheur, CEO FLOS North America. This 20-minute crash course interview reviews current design and technology enabling such marriages as that of hand blown glass and LED lighting to create high design light sources. Famous designers from the Castiglioni brothers in the 1960’s through Phillipe Starck, Jasper Morrison and Konstantin Grcic today, illuminate the human experience.

Hewlett Packard, Toyota, Herman Miller and many other companies call Laura Guido-Clark when they need an expert consultant on color, materials and finishes for their products. Laura takes us on her design journey, to discover the humanity and science of color which lifts and empowers individuals and communities and explores the connection between color and love. Listen in to hear Laura share the Optical Optimism so dearly needed today.

Andrew Blotky believes the strong cultures at the core of all great, high-performing organizations, are built by confident, inclusive leadership and open, clear, authentic communications. Andrew’s book “Honestly Speaking” is the foundation of our conversation about communication, culture, and connection.