Category Archives: Product Design

TEDx Portland collaborates with the White Box for “What If ?” Art and Design Show

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What If ? . . . . On Intersectionality and Your Visual Backlog

TEDx Portland What If ? at the UO White Box in Portland

The WHAT IF? TEDxPortland Art & Design Exhibition is a curated collaboration by the University of Oregon and TEDxPortland.  26 artists  donated their time, treasure and talent to make this possible. Every penny from the online auction will benefit the Children’s Healing Art Project (CHAP). The Nike Foundation will match the amount raised. The auction starts at 5:30pm on April 17th, ending at 5:30pm on April 27th The exhibit will be housed at the White Box in the White Stag Block from April 4-24th and then will be transported and re-installed for TEDxPortland at the Portland Art Museum on April 27th Celebrating Ideas & Art worth spreading.

 

In keeping with the mission of TED, the exhibition showcases work that mines the territory between art, design, technology and science in popular culture. The work illuminates natural and imagined worlds through form and function. Selected artists were invited to submit work that is an exploration of visual media that connects to these multiple histories. Responding to concept, object, new knowledge and technologies through creative process, exhibited works span discrete disciplines and burgeoning practices.

TEDx Portland White Box "What if?"

Co-curated by White Box manager, Tomas Valladares and Molly Georgetta (Compound Gallery), What If ? presents a diverse yet curiously cohesive body of works that delve into both the digital and the handmade:  a sort of vibrant intersectionality.  Upon further observation, streams of unity begin to flow through the show but rather than providing simply visual entertainment and explanation, these works united and merged together in this space play with the realness of things and ideas in ways that encourage a captivating uncertainty.

I stared for an unreasonably lengthly amount of time at Zach Yarrington’s signage-cum-art Say it Out Loud.  It spoke at me, not to me:  playing with the blunt, authentic, familiar, but something was different.  A myriad of thoughts flowed, too:  1800s memorabilia, font obsessiveness, decoration with flourish, signage you read at a glance, yet it felt new and unexpected, shifty.  Had I seen this before?  Heard this before? [Look at Zach Yarrington’s Say it Out Loud]

We’ve all heard that words can be deceiving.  And, things are not always as they seem.  Objects, images and language can evoke memories, appear commonplace, create difficult or lovely feelings, even prompt new ideas.  The work displayed in TEDx’s “What If?” bring together pieces at once provocative, questioning, comfortable and challenging.

Craig Hickman’s “LOVER’S LANE” lassoo’ed me in next.  It looked real, it sounded real, it sounded appealing, but then there was that roadsign, grubby billboard delivery, itself lovable in its truthfulness.  However, what might have seemed comfortable was challenged by context, materiality, my own memory. Then I saw that wayward apostrophe, and the added comment, “HIGH WATER.” Had I seen those two paired together before?  The logic of it was almost taunting, shamefully so–like, well of course, why didn’t I see that coming? Is it difficult to cope with ambiguity and a subconscious awareness?  Hickman has no qualms in suggesting that we look, and expose ourselves to his nothing-barred candor. [Look at Craig Hickman’s LOVER’S LANE or for even more, explore his book OXIDE].

The “What If  ?” TEDx Portland art exhibit opened on April 4 and here it is minutes before the online auction opens, and I am wondering about familiarity, the proverbial, and “a fictional world only slightly different from our own” (Craig Hickman describing his piece in What If ?, April 3, 2013).   The exhibit prompts a questioning and a curiosity about ideas and traversing the distance between comfort of the everyday and the uncertain novelty of the unknown.  Every piece here transcends the conventional, and asks the viewer to consider a different reality.  It is a challenge to face familiar concepts that are rife with the expected and the known but here ignited with deviation and innovation the works become an intersection of both.

I talked to a few of the artists and designers exhibiting in the TEDx “What If ?” show to find out more….and asked them to explain a few threads woven into the body of work on exhibit that contributed to a shared ground line:  that of manipulation of the human experience and layering methodology to explore the unknown.  The integrative thinking and the intersectionality of this exhibit offered the opportunity to embrace the show’s portal to fascinating new representations of reality, the future, and here, and now.

The Opulent Project

The Opulent Project’s Meg Drinkwater explained “the found files that are used to create [the] ring act as symbols for what we know to be rings….By appropriating and combining these symbols…we have further emphasized the caricature that is in our collective mind….we attempt to ‘manipulate the human experience’ by examining it and questioning it.”  [Look at the Opulent Project’s Digital Ring]

Sara Huston of The Last Attempt at Greatness (Sara Huston and John Paananen] and the works, Expectation 03, smtwtfs 01, and smtwtfs 02, exemplify the studio’s “exploration of subjects of progress, expectation, liminal space, categorization, perception, value and the intersection and language of art and design.”  Huston and Paananen’s work boldly aims at “provoking discourse and contemplation in the viewer or user in an attempt to disrupt conventional ways of thinking, induce reflection and challenge the boundaries of what is known.”  Precisely, the work of The Last Attempt at Greatness is about, as Huston elaborates, “the ‘What if?’…[it is] about getting people out of their comfort zone to look at the world in a new way.” [View their work in the auction.]

Trygve Faste, an artist/designer is showing a work called Protoform Orange Red Blue in What if? Faste’s work is “about examining the creation of objects..currently and in the future, but especially in the future.”  The piece in What If? endeavors to illuminate his concept that “somehow the future will be more promising than the present.”  Acrylic on canvas, Protoform is a product of “studio art and industrial design.”  Faste explains that he has given himself “the challenge of trying to convey the complex relationships we have with the dynamic landscape of objects that surround us through the use of abstract painting and form….” He also believes that designers strive to “create new objects and experiences that bring together appropriate materials and technologies to create innovative solutions to everyday problems,” thus making objects of our environment; for the most part, he postulates this “comes from a place of wanting to do good.”  His work “tries to tap into a collective subconscious regarding the human aspirations imbedded” in our already existing creations.  A self-professed optimist, Faste relates that his work “explore[s] the unknown, particularly from the vague human desire to embark on achievements….that lead to a bright and futuristic tomorrow.”  [See Protoform Orange Red Blue]

Jennifer Wall’s Parametric Ring was “birthed from a process combining 6th century BC technology (cuttlefish bone casting) with neoteric technology (3-D printing from a parametric CAD file).”   Wall speaks of her “pulling from discordant technologies to produce objects,” and explains her manipulation of the human experience as one where her research analyzes “the impulse to self-identify through the objects we make.”  She continues, “time and history are necessary to understand the production of new ideas, which are often a reconstruction of that which already exists.”  [See Parametric Ring]

What If ? may ask more questions that it answers, and prompt you to vacillate between emotions of familiarity and strangeness, between understanding and a sense of impulsive curiosity laced with insecurity.  It may encourage you to recognize innovation and image as a way to explore new ideas and venture away from the expected. Yet, while the ability to leave a level of familiarity and comfort can precipitate a sense of entering a brave new world, it is this facing of dissidence that can bring the most rewarding drive forward.  As Wall explains, we need contexts like this where objects “function as tangible indicator[s] of the space between past and present.”

"What if?" outside looking in....

Owning (and wearing) objects such as those available to you in this exhibit, is to “combine the past with the present so [you] can be doubly validated in ….an aesthetic taste and decision,”  says Wall and achieve a greater understanding and perhaps connection.   “It is plausible that all visual aesthetics are derivatives of one another, and that new ideas lie in seeing potential patterns in the visual backlog that already exists.”

It all starts today (Wednesday), my friends, tonight at 5:30 PST to be exact, here [The Auction]. This is your opportunity to be a part of this and actually have one, or more (!) of these pieces in your possession.

Brad Simon's "Rainbow Harvest"

“What if…?” you wait until numbers start trickling in (and up) as aficionados of art and design find their way to  this place and make their bid on . . . . Wait!  A work that you might want? Bidding is a strategic thing, and somehow we might be made just a bit nervous that we cannot see our competition, no paddles to raise, no leaning gaze to see where that bid came from (how dare she!?), and no jocular teasing or outright disappointment when you are outdone.  And, worst yet, no bidding wars?!  Yes, this is a new and different way to hold an auction, just like “What If? contains novel approaches to art and design; and we hope you enjoy it.

I have to admit, there is something to be said for bidding from the comfort of your own online location.  For wherever you are, I advise you to seize the moment:  being online and secretly upping the bid is so deliciously satisfying……now you can add your click, in the name of healing children and buying something more than simply relevant but also something that appreciates the chance to accept both your own “visual backlog” and a voyage away from the status quo.  Doesn’t that feel good?

Artists and designers with UO affiliation in TEDx Portland What If ? are

Zach Yarrington (BFA ’11 Digital Arts)

Trygve Faste (UO Assistant Professor, Product Design Program)

The Opulent Project with Meg Drinkwater and Erin Rose Gardner (BFA ’07 and ’08, respectively, in Metals/Jewelry)

Laura Vandenburgh (UO Assoc Professor)

Craig Hickman (UO Professor Digital Arts)

Sara Huston with The Last Attempt at Greatness (UO Instructor), I, II, III

Jennifer Wall (UO Instructor)

Jenene Nagy (UO Management Certificate)

"What If?" co-curated by Tomas Alfredo Valladares and Molly Georgetta

 

 

Product Design Program Turns to US Veterans with Adaptive Design Innovation

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A product design student (right) discusses his innovations for snowboarder | veteran Kevin Pannell's equipment.

In a recent Huffington Post article, writer, film director, and activist Michael Moore posted his contentious yet well-received, “Those Who Say ‘I Support the Troops” Really Don’t.” It was a controversial and somewhat scathing look at the hypocrisy contained in rhetoric heard nationwide during these years the US has been involved with conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“’I support the troops!’ spoken by Americans with such false sincerity—false because our actions don’t match our words….” wrote Moore.  Strong and accusatory words, to be sure.  Moore detailed about six ways Americans are, dismally failing in their rallying cry of support.  One way, he claims, we fall short is in bringing “aid and comfort to the sick and wounded” veterans.

It does have a ring of truth.  After all, upon their return, what do we, as citizens do to assist a veteran’s assimilation back into everyday life?  These are young men and women our nation sent away to defend, protect, and serve.  Many of them return not as they left.  Perhaps injured, with major physical set-backs, having experienced trauma we civilians will only pretend to understand gleaned from quick snipets of war-ravaged video games where the blood and fear is only as real as the pixels on our computer screen.

Most of us, while at the prime of our life, will never have to bear the reality of losing a limb (or limbs), sustaining severe nerve damage, or living through the explosion of a roadside bomb. Saying “thanks” to these soldiers who are fortunate and brave enough to return to life in our community just does not seem enough, does it?  Have we stepped up to the plate of humanitarianism and empathy and offered something really meaningful, helpful, and productive?  For that matter, who, among us, offers truly helpful innovation that recognizes these wounded warriors,  ignites their passions and brings them into a place where they can use everything they have in life with the greatest potential?

“Innovation happens when you don’t just confine yourself to the same standards as everyone else…..”  –Tobie Hatfield, Nike, Inc.

Under the auspices of UO’s Product Design Program with program director, Kiersten Muenchinger, two University of Oregon in Portland School of Architecture and Allied Arts adjunct instructors, Wilson Smith and Bob Lucas, and with assistance from Nike’s Matt Rhoades, rose to the occasion this winter term 2013 and created that space for innovation to happen. With a combination of compassion and understanding and a determined willingness to offer mindful help, Smith and Lucas created the studio course, Adaptive Products | Enabling Athletes with Disabilities. This is the second time the studio course has been offered (the story was widely covered last year on this blog, in the Oregonian and CBS’ Smart Planet and others), this time around, the instructors decided their focus would be US veterans with athletic interests.

Smith and Lucas realized they each had a keen interest in innovating “real life” user-based studio courses.  Already well-aware of the need to develop sports innovation around athletes with physical challenges, Smith and Lucas saw an opportunity to help contribute to the dreams and aspirations of the wounded veterans and, by doing so, create a program that would benefit the athletes and add to the educational experience of the UO students.

Smith and Lucas’ innovative and groundbreaking studio, Adaptive Products: Enabling Athletes with Disabilities enabled UO students to work with veterans who undaunted by their injuries and life situations, were enthusiastically pursuing rigorous athletic dreams on a professional level.  It was a way to bring real-life challenges to UO in Portland students and create key opportunities to develop problem solving skills and foster empathy in design.  The fundamental goal of the studio was to involve students in design team relationships with the studio work benefitting both the athletes and adding to the educational experience of the students.

The studio allowed students to work closely with the athletes, here with Sargent Leo Curtis, wheelchair fencer.

Combining strong backgrounds grounded in sports and design expertise, Smith and Lucas have been just the duo to accomplish this.  Smith comes to the project with a longstanding history as a Nike Design Director.  A UO alumus, (B. Arch. 1980), Smith is currently a Creative Catalyst within Nike’s ZOO (Special Other Operations) and has professional expertise in working to develop humanitarian aid efforts that promote and create access to sports.  Bob Lucas’ career began at Nike in the footwear design and innovation field.  Following 15 years at Nike, he continued in this genre becoming the Head of ait Design (adidas innovation team).  His educational background includes a degree in Industrial Design.  Professionally well-acquainted and united by a shared interest in health, sports and accessibility, Smith and Lucas found a strength and cooperative mission in each other’s significant accomplishments. Working together made sense and brought together years of design, leadership, and creative expertise.

To introduce students to both the innovation of design and the importance of understanding human physiology, Smith and Lucas filled the term with experiences and connections that united the students with a sense of “biodesign and bioarchitecture” [Lynette Deschler. BASECAMP3] as well as design in the athletic fields. The instructors thoughtfully included workshops and conversations with Nike, Inc. Innovation Kitchen director, Tobie Hatfield and Lynette Deschler, an expert in human architecture and biodesign and owner of BASECAMP3.

Lynette Deschler of BASECAMP3 shows students how interconnected the body is during a classroom demonstration while Nike's Tobie Hatfield looks on, at podium..

Commenting on the student work, Deschler said,

The students did an amazing job with the knowledge I shared with them and integrating it into thoughtful, creative and functional product designs that related to their athletes needs. The scope of their projects were challenging, they not only had to be introduced to the mechanics and architecture of the human body, but the specialized needs of their athletes due to combat injuries. Further, combining these performance needs with the specifications of materials, performance demands, innovative design strategy, and overall functionality. They did an exceptional job at bringing these stories to life with real performance product solutions.

Veteran | Athlete Tony Davis meets with students to discuss his rowing equipment.

I really liked working with my athlete.  The dedication and power he has was really inspirational.  It’s rare that you get to work with someone in school, but to work with someone who is focused and passionate was amazing.  The passion elevated the whole class, and the instructors just fanned the flames.  It was one of the best studios I’ve had.–Comment from Adaptive Design studio student, Mike Bartell

For the winter 2013 studio, five students were paired with each athlete.  Three athletes participated in the program: wheelchair fencer Sargent Leo Curtis (working with students, Natasha Michalowsky, Rebecca Swofford, Teressa Hamje, Michael Roy, and Thane Lochtie);  rower Tony Davis (working with students Michael Bartell, Elizabeth (Lizz) Hampton, Daniel Nicholson, Timothy Ploeger, Isamu Jarman); and snowboarder, Kevin Pannell (working with students Nathan G. Schultze, Nithikarn Sidthilaw, Joel Swenson, Allison Rastetter, and Tony Kan).

Athlete Profiles

Kevin Pannell, snowboarder | Story:  Army specialist in Iraq.  In 2004 caught in a grenade ambush in central Baghdad.  Legs amputated.

 

Sargent Leo Curtis, wheelchair fencer  |  Story:  On his last mission in Iraq, 2004.  Upon being Heli-dropped into Fallujah, encountered an IED or “roadside bomb.”  Suffered extreme nerve and tissue damage resulting in fused vertebrae, hearing and vision loss, and extensive, permanent damage to nervous system.

 

Anthony (Tony) Davis, rower  |  Story: Retired Naval Officer.  Tony received an air medal for over 150 hours of combat flight time during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.  Upon returning home in 2005, involved in a traffic accident on Interstate-5.  Broken back, ribs, collar bone, and paralyed from waist down.  Never rowed before 2009.

 

On March 14, 2013 at the UO in Portland’s main Event Room in the White Stag Block, the Product Design students unveiled their designs for the term-end critiques. Their audience included athletic-design greats such as Nike Air Force 1 designer Bruce Kilgore,  PENSOLE’s D’Wayne Edwards, Senior Designer 2 & Design Ambassador – Adidas Innovation Team at Adidas John Acevedo, Intel’s Senior Principal Engineer and Innovation Strategist Herman D’Hooge, Nike ZOO Innovation Lead Tom Rushbrook, Nike Innovation Kitchen’s James Molyneux , and University of Oregon’s Dean of AAA Frances Bronet, UO in Portland Vice Provost and AAA Administrative Director Kate Wagle,  UO Product Design Program Director Kiersten Muenchinger,  and UO in Portland Department of Architecture Director Nancy Cheng.

Product Design student Lizz Hampton in the stages of design innovation at the White Stag Block as she prepares, experiments, and wears her ideas for rower, Tony Davis.

Wilson Smith kicked off the review session with a heartfelt comment, remembering the words of nationally respected UO Track and Field coach, Bill Bowerman when he said, “If you have a body, you are an athlete.” The stage was set for unveiling the innovation that could assist this new group of aspiring athletes achieve their dreams.

Each athlete had spent the previous 10 weeks working in close collaboration with the student teams.  Students had attended practices, training sessions, and workouts alongside the athletes.  This close contact enabled the students to observe and experience, the physical needs and equipment situations the athletes’ were dealing with.  From watching the rowing technique of 2016 Para-Olympic hopeful, Tony Davis, students were able to design equipment such as a special seat that would adapt to his lower body strength and leverage issues (take, for example, an ingenious system arrived at by Daniel Nicholson that enables Davis to secure himself to his boat via a pair of shorts; or student Tim Ploeger’s “GROW” system, a precise analytical system of coaching solo training sessions).

 

Student Lizz Hampton and rower Tony Davis explore technique for rowing at Davis' training gym. Photo courtesy of Adaptive Design studio Tony Davis Team

Working with international wheelchair fencing competitor, Sargent Leo Curtis, students recognized “an area….rich for potential development…and design(s) only limited by understanding.” [student Thane Lochte]   Setting out to comprehend the Sargent’s performance driven sword play as much as possible, students in this group attended weekend practice sessions and observed this athlete’s “cerebral game and unique lunging forward” as key aspects of this athlete’s technique.  And while the students were quick to point out the many rules and regulations in fencing, they realized that with innovation and thought the rules and integrity could be adapted to achieve the Sargent’s ideal fencing position.  With equipment that would permit the fencer to lunge forward with lightening fast speed while maintaining precision, Sargent Curtis promised to take the student designs with him on his upcoming trip to Budapest to compete in the international wheelchair fencing competition.  One such design Sargent Curtis was enthusiastic to take to the international wheelchair fencing competition was the “Valhalla,” Michael Roy’s device for the wheelchair seat that exemplified the foremost body-led, performance driven pieces of the exhibited designs.

Commenting on “the inspiring bravery” of the veterans [student Teressa Hamje], the students consistently saw a need for designing equipment for Curtis, Davis, and Pannell that would be simultaneously functional and aesthetically appropriate.  The athlete-veterans expressed a need for faster, better, more performance oriented systems that could be incorporated into their training and improve the existing equipment.

As the critique came to a close, and comments swirled around the room in true brainstorm fashion addressing materiality, concepts, improvements and design theory, there was one common thread heard over and over that rose above the practicality of production.   Perhaps best put into words by snowboarder Kevin Pannell:  Pannell who had explained his youthful voyage into the military to the students at the beginning of the term with a bluntly self-aware realism, “I [was] a country-ass white boy from Arkansas and the Army was offering to pay me to play with guns…” had a new focus.   This time it was not guns that were being put into his hands.  Tonight, ski poles, backpacks, snowboard bindings and improved prosthetic devices were the vital tools of his future.   As Pannell tried on, admired, held, and offered enthusiastic encouragement to the students to get their ideas made into real, working pieces, he boldly stated: “Let’s make some good stuff, the right stuff!”  It was a looking forward to a life with a new sense of optimism and enthusiasm.

“My self-confidence is my lucky penny—don’t touch that.”–Sargent Leo Curtis to student, Teressa Hamje

As a noteworthy side-effect of the students’ design efforts, the students became aware of the importance of the athletes’ psychological conditions and the contribution athletic success brings to self-esteem.  When Sargent Leo Curtis made his “lucky penny” comment, it was clear that these designs contained much more potential than simply improving athletic performance.  With better, adapted equipment, the athletes would continue to gain self-confidence with the knowledge that they had specialized, thoughtful designs specifically crafted to help them achieve their goals. The adaptive design students were paying attention and listening to each athlete’s request.  As one student noted, they were challenged to design equipment improvements that would “ignite flight.”

Following the final review and the unveiling of the student designs, Deschler, commented,

In my opinion these students now have a greater advantage in the design world. Today is essential to in integrate what I call bioarchetecture and biodesign to create new innovative solutions. This cross pollination will bring immeasurable gain to how we look at and create products of the future. These students not only understood this concept but did an exceptional job at beginning to express it to the world.

No matter the eventual outcome of the war nor the political minefield that surrounds this conflict, we have a notable victory being championed here. With individuals like Smith and Lucas and the students of Adaptive Design who looked beyond what they could not change in the past, and had the foresight to work with that which they could help create.  Their astute sensitivity to the condition of our returning soldiers will hopefully contribute to these veterans having a brighter future, encouraging them to pursue independence, an enjoyment of life, and the happy pursuit of health and athletic opportunity.  Undoubtedly, this group has illustrated a commendable support of our veterans.

And, that is something to be proud of.

Sargent Leo Curtis, wheelchair fencer.

Lizz Hampton's A.WINGS seat for rower Tony Davis

Nithikarn Sidthilaw with her K-19 Ski poles for snowboarder Kevin Pannell.

Reviewer John Acevedo greets students.

Work by Isamu Jarman for rower Tony Davis.

Reviewer Trygve Faste discusses a prosthetic for snowboarder Kevin Pannell with student Tony Kan.

Reviewers Bruce Kilgore and James Molyneux discuss designs with students.

Sargent Leo Curtis talks to Adaptive Design | Product Design student Thane Lochte.

Work by Michael Bartell for rower Tony Davis.

Lizz Hampton and her seat designed for rower Tony Davis.

Reviewers discuss designs with Adaptive Design students.

Department of Architecture director, Nancy Cheng discusses Teressa Hamje's work.

Product Design assistant professor John Arndt discusses student work.

Student Joel Swenson talks to snowboarder Kevin Pannell.

UO AAA Dean Frances Bronet talks to rower, Tony Davis while UO Media film crew documents the discussion for the making of a PAC-12 Network video.

Teressa Hamje and her fencing sword improvements for wheelchair fencer Sargent Leo Curtis.

Intel's Herman D' Hooge talks to students at the final review.

 

 

Nike's Tim Lodwick talks to student Teressa Hamje.

Bruce Kilgore with student Natasha Michalowsky.

 

Portland Product Design Students Intern with Anthropologie

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My internship at Anthropologie relates to product design in a different way than what I have been taught in class. By experimenting with everyday materials, I’ve gotten to learn techniques for making things in a more craft-based way.  Creating these displays has also helped me visualize how product can be displayed in an artistic way and learn about an aesthetic that has already been branded as the Anthropologie lifestyle.  I feel like learning the final phase before it goes to the consumer has been very beneficial in my way of thinking about design related to the retail world. –Tori Russo, BFA from the Product Design Program in Portland, Spring ‘12

 

Tori Russo and Liesel Sylwester at Anthropologie in the Pearl District, Portland, site of their 2011-2012 internship.

Internships at the University of Oregon in Portland School of Architecture and Allied Arts are coordinated by Sara Huston, instructor for the Product Design program in Portland.  Students find their own internship position and work on negotiating the terms before bringing their application to Huston for review, refinement and approval.   In Portland, there is great potential for internship opportunities related to the fields of architecture, art, and product design.   The collaboration between students and prospective employers is viewed as an experience that can lay the foundations for successful careers and can give Portland’s creative businesses access to the University of Oregon’s  student population.

In her quote beginning this article, Product Design program BFA student Tori Russo alludes to internships bringing life experience, creative hands-on exposure, and knowledge to students.  The University recognizes that internship placements are powerful ways for a student to begin to select a career path, to gain valuable credentials, to work in a specific field alongside experts, and to develop individual capability within an environment of cooperation. It is another step in assisting our students forward on a path to “make good” within the very community in which they live and study.  The internship experience also forges connections and networks for the student that can benefit them long after they receive their degree.

This last academic year, 2011-2012, Tori Russo and Liesel Sylwester, both in the Product Design Program (Portland) joined forces and approached retail store, Anthropologie for an internship. The store is part of a chain of retail ventures owned by parent company, Urban Outfitters.  Anthropologie specializes in women’s apparel and accessories, home furnishings, replicated found objects, and gift and decorative items.  Geared to appeal to the sophisticated 30-40 year-old woman, Anthropologie offers unique, one-of-a-kind pieces and markets its wares to appeal to a lifestyle rather than simply product.  Russo and Sylwester applied to work at the Pearl District-based store (a short walk from the UO at the White Stag where both students are in their final year towards a BFA from the Product Design program).

Russo and Sylwester work on a housewares display.

Russo and Sylwester already loved the store and were intrigued by the Anthropologie aesthetic.  They went straight to the store’s Visual Display Coordinator, Nicole Faivre, with their internship proposal. Faivre who enthusiastically lauds the internship program comments, “From the interns joining us, Anthropologie gains additional sets of skilled hands to prep and install the displays within our store.  The interns also strengthen
our creative energy within the store, which allows us to provide the customer with a complete sensory experience, right down to the details.”

The day I visited the Anthropologie to talk with Russo and Sylwester they were working on a project to create (by hand) canvas cacti.  Fabricated from bright green fabric stuffed with poly-fill, the faux-desert flora was propped up next to vignettes of hanging pants, shirts and accessories.  The entire store swirled in a painted-desert-like landscape. Even housewares were displayed in this created rugged scene.  On a table topped with gravel (complete with lit candles), colorful place settings popped within the vibrancy of light-saturated greens, oranges, and reds, textures and smells enveloping the shopper.  The interns mostly work in a small production line creating all the pieces for each installation, or display, and then assist with the installation when the display concept is completed.  From this internship, Russo and Sylwester have worked with a variety of materials including rope, fabrics, masking tape, wood, wire, and even coffee stirrers to create unique displays.  Faivre told me that “Tori and Liesel have had their hands in a wide variety of displays, using many different materials and processes.  They have worked on projects that involve painting, dying, sewing, drilling, hot gluing, taping, assembling, deassembling, and much more.  They also assist in the day-to-day store upkeep.”

Russo comments that the hands-on experience, such as crafting the cacti, “gave [her] real-world experience in creating things using materials [she] wouldn’t necessarily use to create something.  It allowed us to see the end of the production line and learn about the strategies of product placement and how to make product look better in a surrounding.”

Russo also says the intern experience at Anthropologie has “helped [her] to think about how a product would live in someone’s home environment” and brings an understanding about how “the merchandising is so important and goes hand-in-hand with experiencing installation.”  She notes that she is “able to relate that to the presentation of [her] own projects” in the Product Design program.

Anthropologie merchandises its wares with a kind of all-embracing vitality one might wish one’s own life could imitate.  Anthropologie illustrates their stores as having “beautiful, ever-changing vignettes and surprises hiding in every corner….spoons and skirts and sofas…..award-winning window and product displays….passionate and devoted customers…. plants, parties and personal shoppers.”  The store attributes their success and visual presentation to their “people.” People who they portray as “the most creative, inspiring, dedicated people you’ll ever meet.”  The UO interns are no exception to this and have benefitted Anthropologie by, as Faivre says, “utilizing their hands-on crafting skills though assisting in the preparation and assembling of materials used in store displays” and helping to create the invigorating inspired experience that has come to define Anthropologie.  The creative vision of Anthropologie, suggested by the home office but interpreted by each store’s own unique adaptation of that vision, gives shoppers an experience of submersion into a world where you feel connected to the creativity, the environment, the uniqueness, even if you only buy a coffee mug.  As Russo explains the process flow, “the interns get direction from the Visual Display Coordinator who works directly with the Visual Merchandiser in order to come up with the designs.”  She continues, “The VDC and the VM work together to make sketches and come up with a plan of execution and it is this plan that the interns ultimately work with to create.”  Russo describes the process as being “just like [she does] in studio—they have a bunch of images that they use as inspiration.”   Complimenting the work of the interns, Faivre asserted that Anthropologie is always seeking qualified individuals who can bring hands-on crafting and creative skills and a strong sense of design principles to the Anthropologie creative aesthetic.

In addition to the hands-on experience these students describe receiving from internships, there is an added component: the chance to do something of real interest and to connect to a creative outlet that delivers to a student a sense of personal satisfaction. UO AAA students as interns are given opportunity to interact with professional networks they truly value.  And, that is where the pure enjoyment of having the freedom to pick one’s own internship opportunity arises.

Preparing materials for display, Russo and Sylwester in Anthropologie's back room of supplies, tools, and creative working.

Liesel Sylwester might have said it best when she commented,

“I love making beautiful things.  Interning at Anthropologie is just play for me.  It is so rewarding to create something improbable and fantastic out of the most basic materials and to see it all put together at the end.  It reminds me of when I was little and made crazy stuff out of whatever was around.  It helps me unwind during a busy week.  Anthropologie is one of the few things I will gladly get up at 5am for.”

Adaptive Products, Adaptive Athletes : Enabling Athletes with Disabilities (PD 486) at the University of Oregon Product Design Program in Portland, Oregon, Winter 2012 Collaborates with Nike, Inc.

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With this Body, I Can Move:  Innovating for Every Body

Athlete Will Groulx with Ryan Fiorentino's CONCORD | Image courtesy of Ryan Fiorentino

By Sabina Samiee, UO AAA in Portland

“Clearly it is a lack of relevant tools and gear available to [these athletes] rather than [their] attitudes that is holding [them] back….And that’s where we as design students come in with this project.” –Product Design student Jeff Heil commenting on Adaptive Products studio

In an unprecedented studio course and collaboration between University of Oregon adjunct Product Design program instructors, Wilson Smith (‘80 BArch and current Nike, Inc. Design Director), Bob Lucas (former Nike, Inc. innovation designer and current UO adjunct professor in Product Design),  UO School of Architecture and Allied Arts Dean Frances Bronet, and Product Design program director, Kiersten Muenchinger, students in Portland’s Product Design program were given the opportunity to work with nationally recognized adaptive sports athletes to innovate functional products specific to physical challenges.  The studio, offered winter term 2012, launched the Adaptive Products:  Enabling Athletes with Disabilities course and strengthened the cooperative efforts between Nike and the UO Product Design program to develop athletic gear helpful to competitive adaptive athletes who use prosthetic devices and wheelchairs. [See images from the studio and the final review on the UO AAA Facebook page.]

 

Athlete Will Groulx examines the bike seat designed for him by student Ariana Budner. Image courtesy Ariana Budner.

Inspired by the legendary UO track coach and co-founder of Nike, Inc., Bill Bowerman’s quote “If you have a body, you are an athlete,” instructor Wilson Smith recalls beginning the class with that spirit.  “We approached the Adaptive Design, Enabling Athletes with Disabilities studio to improve the athlete’s performance in sport,” he commented.  Smith continued, “At Nike, we are always seeking to improve sports performance through our product innovations.  The students worked directly with highly competitive athletes and approached the design challenge with empathy and passion, producing inspired and compelling adaptive products.”

The 16 students who worked with the guidance of co-instructors, Smith and Lucas, instructor assistant Bryan Myss, and four United States-based adaptive athletes consistently remarked on the collaborative blend of the course as weaving both ethics and ingenuity.  The students functioned in teams of four, each student devoting their design innovation to the specific request and physical needs of one of the following athletes:  Will Groulx (recently signed to NIKE ), Paralympics Wheelchair Rugby Champion; Gabriella Rosales, UltraMarathon runner; Joel Rosinbum, ParaTriathlete;  and Brandon Robins, Elite Adaptive Action Sports Athlete.

University of Oregon students who participated in the studio are: Zoe Blatter, Ariana Budner, Ryan Florentino, Jake Fromer, Charles Hartzell, Jeff Heil, Matt Kennedy, Ian Kenny, Aleksander Magi, Damien Menard-Oxman, Tara Nielsen, Tori Russo,  Liesel Sylwester, Greyson Walker, Alyssa Wasson, and Stewart Worthington.

The Adaptive Athlete studio course began with the premise that enabling every body to perform at the greatest potential possible–while comfortable, safe, secure, and with efficiency– is the ultimate goal.  The intention to create, via trial-and-error, user-based products that promote ability, and ability without pain, and with plenty of speed delivered as part-and parcel of the entire concept stood squarely in front of the students enrolled in Adaptive Athletes.   This would be a design adventure to co-innovate with direct input from the users themselves.  As instructors, Smith and Lucas were fascinated by the countless figurations the human body can, and does, take:  the idea of making physical pursuits, whether for fun or competition, accessible to all body types and to design equipment that would enable bodies of any description to move and be active served as the focal point of the course.  In a very proactive approach, Smith and Lucas advocated for every body being able to move and be as athletic as the individual desires.  Considered a fundamental right of the person, Lucas and Smith adopted the attitude that if you wish to activate your body, physical limitations might pose a challenge, but that very challenge needs to be embraced.  Both the instructors are quick to note that as human beings, we all function at different levels of athletic prowess, whether we use a wheelchair, a prosthetic leg , are born without a limb, or even with no loss of extremities, we should work with and use that which we have to the best manner possible. Bringing to the athletes access to innovative designs that enable and enhance life experiences and make success more feasible, was a tantamount concept for the studio.

 

Student Tori Russo and athlete Brandon Robins discuss designs at the final review.

To achieve this gracefully blended partnership of user and designer, Smith and Lucas crafted the course experience to integrate close collaboration between the athletes and the students.  Athletes visited the studio, working in cooperation with the students to create ideas, and provide feedback and concepts.  The students quickly learned what was important to the athletes and also came to learn what motivate is a desire to excel no matter what the physical situation.  With careers deeply entrenched in design and innovation for athletics, Smith and Lucas both urged the students to rely heavily on the input of the end user, providing ample opportunities for items to be tried on, tested, and used in real-life situations.

 

Work sessions to discuss and revise designs with instructor Bob Lucas.

Human beings tend to be captivated by movement, the option to have the power to move ourselves, to control our bodies and to have a sense of communicating accomplishments.  How we achieve those ends and having the choice to do so greatly effects our perceived quality of life, our self-confidence, our self-assurance—the omnipotent capability to go from doing nothing at all (for example, sitting quietly without movement in a wheelchair) to springing into action with any kind of movement we desire (landing a huge arial jump on a wakeboard).  The availability  and access to have the equipment, materials, or prosthetics to push one’s limits and challenge the opportunities one has, completes an individual’s combined sense of both embracing the difficult and savoring the victory.  The students were infused with a strong sense of enthusiasm to make these kinds of victories possible for the athletes they were working with.

From the onset of the winter term, the 16 Product Design students took their ideas to the athletes and spent hours determining what would be key areas of improvement to equipment, functional products and the existing devices these individuals already use in the everyday and fast-paced world of action sports.  Student Jeff Heil comments, “We [had] an opportunity to get the ball rolling with what we came up with and inspire an effort to influence a lot of people’s lives in a really positive way.  Enabling adaptive athletes to play their sports is such a unique and deeply interesting topic for design…..I believe design should move us forward.”

And,  move forward was what they did.  Students together with two of the athletes, Will Groulx and Brandon Robbins unveiled their designs March 14, 2012 during a review session at the University of Oregon | White Stag Block in Portland.  Reviewers from Ziba, Nike, Inc., PENSOLE Shoe Design Academy, and others were on hand to critique the designs and help the students move forward in the continued development of their concepts.  Crucial input came from the voices of both Will Groulx and Brandon Robbins who took the opportunity to actively engage with the students and let them know how the designs would fit into their lifestyles and athletic goals.  It was evident that the lives of these athletes are not determined by what happened to them, or how they were born, but by the path they chose to take, a path perhaps less travelled but forged and fueled by a determination to surpass and accomplish.

From Ariana Budner’s design of the “ALBATROSS” bicycle “Smart Seat” (for Will Groulx) that channels ventilation, cooling, and comfort into the athlete’s ride (Budner cites it as “the handcycle seat that cools the competitive athlete, freeing [him] to focus on the competition at hand”) to  Ryan Fiorentino’s “CONCORD” upperbody support system (also for Groulx) that braces Groulx for long-duration wheelchair movement and exhaustive rugby athletic competitions, the student designs epitomized thoughtful design adopting challenge.

Ian Kenny’s “MOMENT Arm” sought to provide athlete Gabriella Rosales with armwear that could “restore, enable, and improve” athletic potential.  Kenny’s design concentrated on athletes needing devices to assist athletic performance for below the elbow amputee or missing limbs from birth.  Guided by Smith and Lucas, the buzz words around the studio consistently remained “Mobilize Accommodate Empower,” a message that resonated the entire term.

Not only focusing on physical and tangible user-based devices, Tara Nielsen turned to the idea of proactive healthcare.  Introducing accessible heat and massage therapy tools for amputees thereby bringing physical therapy and wellness needs into the power and control of the individual.

Zoe Blatter’s “XDRIVE” gave his athlete, Brandon Robins, a tidy and compact package with towel storage, alcohol spray, lubricating ointment, and a screwdriver—all essential tools for an athlete with a prosthetic lower leg to keep himself comfortable on a day spent on the mountain snowboarding.

Student Jeff Heil addressed the importance of athletic training:  his “AIRBound” dynamic board sports training system “is an aid to athletes in their transition from injury to competitive performance.”  Heil’s ingenious design looks a little like a thick rubber air-inflated snowboard complete with bindings:  he used air filled bladders to enable balance, jumping with and bounding off so the user could test and redefine physical limits without the fear of further injury.

As instructor Wilson Smith enthusiastically beams, this is an all things bright and beautiful approach to design: anything is possible, and once you know your limits, you can potentially soar way beyond them…. with the right equipment, but more importantly, with the right attitude.  As stylishly tattooed, baseball cap-wearing Brandon Robbins, (a former professional wakeboarder who lost a leg in a motorcycle accident and now is a competitive adaptive snowboarder) proclaims,  with a gregarious cheeky grin and while hungrily gazing at his student teams’ designs, “It’s all so great, so great…I just want to try it all!”

Watch UO School of Journalism student and UO News reporter, Dustin Turner’s report on Adaptive Products | Adaptive Athletes.]

[The Adaptive Athlete studio student work is on exhibit in the Jacqua Center,  on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene.]

Special thank you to co-instructors, Wilson Smith of Nike, Inc. and Bob Lucas, as well as the students and athletes Brandon Robins and Will Groulx for their enthusiastic participation and willingness to discuss this studio and the projects.  Thanks also to Portland Store Fixtures for their generous lending of the forms to display student work on final review day.


Visiting professor gives students the challenge of designing a chair

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The task sounds simple: design and build a chair. We sit in chairs all the time—how hard could it be? The reality, as 15 interior architecture students discovered, is far more complex. These students are in visiting professor Nils Ole Zib’s furniture design studio, where, according to Zib, “It’s probably the most difficult furniture to make.” Zib is the 2012 Margo Grant Walsh Professor in Interior Architecture.

Nils-Ole Zib teaches his studio in the wood shop

Nils-Ole Zib teaches his studio in the wood shop

Each student ended the term with a built prototype of a chair, but began the term studying and measuring existing chairs. They found that some famous chairs are uncomfortable, while other unassuming ones are excellent to sit in. Students then had to decide what type of chair they would design, and whom it was designed for. They couldn’t get too specific, as “you don’t have your name written on it, so it has to take some variability in size,” says Zib.

Zib required students to use wood to construct their chair, which dictated some of the forms and construction assemblies they could use. “The material allows you to do some things and restricts you from doing other things,” says Zib. Students were forced to ask, “What is wood able to do?” Students explored all types of wood, including standard pieces of wood, plywood, and press-formed veneer.

“There are limitations to wood and certain characteristics you have to design with and can’t avoid,” says Ellie Nonemacher, a graduate student in interior architecture. “Understanding wood down to its smallest element is key to a sound, structural chair.”

Zib, an independent furniture designer, product development consultant, and educator based in Denmark and Sweden, brought his own perspective on furniture to the studio. Zib sums up his philosophy as: “Get rid of all the extra stuff and scrape it down to the essential chair that you can actually sit in.” He asks students to justify their design decisions and always asks them ‘why’ to ensure they’re not adding something without good reason. Then at the end of the design process, students will add their own artistic touch and interpretation. “That makes a chair interesting.”

Now at the end of the studio, the class has an appreciation for the design of something as simple as a chair. “A chair can be one of the simplest forms of furniture, but it’s difficult to design,” says Nonemacher. “You also have to be willing to evolve with your chair and the material you have chosen.”

A student constructs a prototype of her chair

A student constructs a prototype of her chair

Finished chairs await critique at the final review

Finished chairs await critique at the final review

Students presented their finished chair designs one-by-one to a panel of reviewers and fellow students.

Students presented their finished chair designs one-by-one to a panel of reviewers and fellow students.