Followers of new ideas in exhibition design, museum planning and interactive space might want to check out Gravity Free advisor Jonathan Alger. Via Jonathan Alger
Featuring interviews with Charles Eames’ daughter, Lucia and grandson, Eames Demetrios, filmmaker Paul Schrader, TED founder and past Gravity Free speaker Richard Saul Wurman, and former Eames Office designers and past Gravity Free speakers
Jeannine Oppewall and
Deborah Sussman. via YouTube
“The Helix Wave” a kinetic sculpture by Reuben Margolin installed at the
Museum of Discovery in Little Rock, Arkansas. Opening January 2012.
Video by Reid Johnston. Via YouTube
Gruen's Work as Real Life
Bob Gruen
Street View captures the locations of iconic album photos including one Kiss album by rock and roll photographer legend and Gravity Free speaker Bob Gruen.
Via DailyMail
Martin Kastner Recognized
Martin Kastner
Past speaker at Gravity Free Martin Kastner gets shout out in Time magazine's "Invention of the Year" issue.
Via eater.com
Deborah Adler was the principal designer behind the Target ClearRx system. Motivated by a desire to make people's lives easier and safer, she designed a comprehensive system for packaging prescription medicine as her master's thesis. The result: a completely reinvented prescription bottle and label.
In 2004 she brought this innovation to Target Brands Inc., and together they developed the ClearRx system. Before spearheading her own multidisciplinary design studio, Deborah Adler LLC, she was a senior designer at the multi-disciplinary design firm Milton Glaser Inc. in New York. Her work ranges from identity systems, magazines, and book jackets to product packaging, restaurant interiors, and stadiums. Adler’s work has been shown at the Art Director’s Club in New York and at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). Her work was featured in Graphis Design Annual, Design Life Now: National Design Triennial 2006, New York Magazine, Business Week, and on NBC Nightly News, CBS Sunday Morning, and National Public Radio. Her ClearRxsm was in the New York Times Magazine “The Year in Ideas” issue of 2005 and listed in “The Best Inventions of 2005” issue of Time Magazine. www.deborahadlerdesign.com
Dana Arnett holds the honor of being named by I.D. Magazine as “one of the 40 most important people shaping design internationally.” Famous for his Harley-Davidson designs, Arnett is also known for dispensing unconventional wisdom throughout the design and creative industries with his irreverent presentations. He is, quite simply, a design rock star. As the founding principal of the internationally-recognized design firm of VSA Partners, Arnett solves a diverse range of creative challenges for the likes of Harley-Davidson, IBM, General Electric, Coca-Cola, Cingular Wireless, Chronicle Books, and TimeWarner. Over the course of his 21 years in the field, Arnett and the firm have been globally recognized by many competitions and designations including Communication Arts, AIGA, Graphis, The Type Directors Club, the American and British Art Directors Clubs, The LA Film Festival, theAR100, and the American Marketing Association. Arnett was a 1999 inductee into the Alliance Graphic International, and he is a former member of the AIGA National Board of Directors. www.VSAPartners.com
Andrew Ashton immerses himself in the design process from strategic planning to artwork, writing to image making, and product naming to information design. His creative mind has picked up the reigns for branding, print communication, advertising, event-based projects, and cultural projects. In 1994 he co-founded a design studio called Nelmes Smith Ashton (NSA), which later evolved into Precinct Design. In 2003, Ashton founded Studio Pip and Co. The studio’s clients have included the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Australian Institute of Architects, and the Melbourne Fringe Festival. Ashton is a member of the prestigious Alliance Graphique Internationale, and has lectured about graphic design at Swinburne University and Hongki University in Korea. He initiated the Melbourne Design Market with the National Design Centre, he participated in the Forty Eight lecture series, and he created a film investigating the public's perception of graphic design. Currently, Ashton keeps busy with a comprehensive web-based design blog. www.peoplethings.com
Design Observer calls illustrator and graphic designer Marian Bjantes “a visual contortionist, whose ideas about shape and space know no limits.” Fast Company brands her the “Master of Frills.” She calls herself a “lapsed graphic designer,” focused on work that is “personal, obsessive, and sometimes just plain weird.” With roots in typography, graphic design, illustration, and content, Bantjes has created hand-patterned and custom type work for clients ranging from retailers to agencies to publishers to textile and furnishings designers. Her work has been featured in CA Design Annuals, and honored by the Western Magazine Awards, the Type Directors Club, and Print magazine. Bjantes’ collaboration with furniture brand Droog landed her work in the “Saved by Droog” exhibitions at the Salone del Mobile in Milan. The Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum holds four of her pieces in its permanent collection. Most recently she published “I Wonder,” which Steven Heller in The New York Times Magazine called “a wondrous display of virtuosic craft.” www.bantjes.com
Jake Barton is founder and principal of Local Projects, an award-winning design firm focused on museums and public spaces. Local Projects partnered with Thinc Design to create “The National September 11th Memorial and Museum” at the World Trade Center. The design firm also made a cell-phone tour for the Statue of Liberty, three commissioned films for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and all of the media for the new Museum of Chinese in America. Other clients include Grand Central Terminal, The National Museum of American Jewish History, the Museum of the City of New York, the Tribeca Film Festival, and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. Barton was a finalist for a National Design Award in Communications in 2006. His work has also received two gold, one silver, and one bronze medal from the IDSA Industrial Designers Society of America, as well as five awards from I.D. Magazine, and three from the AIGA. He has a master's degree from NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program, where he currently teaches the master's thesis class. Before founding Local Projects, Barton worked as an exhibition designer for Ralph Appelbaum Associates. www.localprojects.net
The scope of their projects will amaze. Linda Batwin and Robin Silvestri
are co-creative directors of batwin+robin productions, inc, a New York
City-based firm. Over the past 15 years, Batwin + Robin Productions has
designed and produced multi-media experiences for museums, theater
and theme parks. Their work represents a broad spectrum of skills,
insight and experience necessary for multi-faceted communications
design, development and production.
All of their projects are guided by a design philosophy, which focuses on
solid content delivery that takes advantage of the innovative use of
technology and materials. They will explore how they collaborate with
architects and exhibit designers, on a broad range of innovative exhibit
experiences, which results in each project having a unique look and feel. www.batwinandrobin.com
Henry Beer redesigned the Boulder, CO downtown area — infinitely upping the city’s cool factor and architectural prestige. In 1973 he co-founded Communication Arts, a multidisciplinary firm that applies design as a strategic service in shaping clients’ visions. CommArts' projects have been recognized with awards from the Urban Land Institute, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the International Council of Shopping Centers, and the Art Directors Clubs of New York, Denver, Houston, and Los Angeles. Beer has completed more than 400 projects for national and international clients. Major projects include Madison Square Garden in New York, Park Meadows Mall in Denver, Ontario Mills in Ontario, CA, Diagonal Mar in Barcelona, Spain, Dolphin Mall in Miami, Bugis Junction in Singapore, St. Louis Union Station in Missouri, the Downtown Boulder Mall, the Prudential Center in Boston, and JFK International Arrivals Terminal in New York. Author John Windsor says, "When my good friend, Henry Beer, enters a room, his energy is overwhelming." www.commarts-boulder.com
Bryan Berg
Architect and Guinness
World Record Card Stacker
Bryan Berg is an architect, designer, teacher, and the Guinness World Record Holder for card stacking. His model towered over others measuring more than 25-feet tall and constructed without glue or tape — just physics. Author of two books, "Cardstaker Book, Secrets of the World's Master Card Architect" and "Stacking the Deck," Berg's 13-Day On-Air Installation of the New York City Skyline, built for charity tsunami relief in ABC's Times Square Studios in February 2005, was seen by millions of Good Morning America viewers. His work has been featured in Wired, Reader's Digest, Men's Health, Games Magazine, Maxim, The National Enquirer, National Geographic for Kids, Time Magazine for Kids, and 321 Contact. He has appeared on CBS This Morning, Good Morning America, The Today Show, Ellen DeGeneres, Martha Stewart, Guinness Prime Time, Ripley's Believe It Or Not, The Discovery Channel, and CNN. Berg served on the design faculty for three years at the Iowa State University Department of Architecture, where he received his degree in Architecture in 1997. In 2004, Berg earned his Master of Design Studies from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. www.cardstacker.com
Lars Uwe Bleher is an architect, scenographer, and exhibit designer. He has been a creative thinker at the Frankfurt-based Atelier Markgraph since 2004. The interdisciplinary design firm has over 20 years' experience with cultural-, business-, and science-oriented projects. Its service spectrum covers all types of space-based brand or theme-related communication tasks ranging from exhibitions and trade fair presentations to showrooms and corporate architecture. In addition to brands like DaimlerChrysler, Mercedes-Benz, T-Online, Heineken, Sixt and Kahla, the designers also work for cities such as Mannheim and Frankfurt, as well as for numerous museums, including the Deutsche Museum Munich and the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt. "We entertain and educate at the same time, without giving people a headache," says Bleher. Since he started working with Atelier Markgraph in 1996, he has designed and realized numerous award-winning national and international projects. In recent years, Bleher has led a bi-continental life, teaching architectural design and digital design media at the University of Oregon while also remaining an active leader at Atelier Markgraph in Frankfurt. www.markgraph.de
Stephen Brown
Market Research Professor and Author
Some have observed that the titles of Stephen Brown’s management-thriller books are suspiciously similar to those of his best-selling author, Dan Brown. Others posit that perhaps Stephen and Dan are twins, separated at birth. Who knows the true secret of the Brown bloodline? Maybe it’s just a quirky conspiracy theory. Well, “quirky” isn’t the only word used to describe Stephen Brown. Professor of Marketing Research at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, Brown is widely regarded as the “antichrist of marketing.” A danger to his discipline, he has challenged many of marketing’s most sacred cows and clashed with some of the field’s foremost gurus, including Philip Kotler and the late Ted Levitt. Perhaps Stephen’s greatest achievement was having an entire manuscript rejected by Harvard Business School Press. “They were appalled by my suggestion that marketing is the art of blowing smoke where the sun doesn’t shine.” Brown has written 20 books in all, he is renowned for his conference presentations, and he has been a visiting professor at the University of California, the University of Utah, and Northwestern University. Oddly, they didn’t invite him back. www.sfxbrown.com
Jason Bruges can’t be categorized. He’s not purely a lighting designer. Architect doesn’t fully fit, nor does sculptor. What he has been called: "ground breaking," "innovative," and “subversive.” Bruges and his eponymous London-based studio conceive and develop projects “that create interactive spaces and surfaces that sit between the world of architecture, site-specific installation art, and interaction design,” says Dezeen magazine. Much of this work centers on light-based design, exploring interactivity with the public and the environment through materials and technologies. While observers struggle to define Bruges’ practice, Wallpaper Magazine makes it simple. In its “Essence of the 21st Century” design awards program, Wallpaper named Bruges “one of the 10 most important creative figures working in the world today.” Bruges also received Britain’s prestigious D&AD Award. Recent installations include work for onedotzero transvision at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Tate Britain, and the Puerta America Hotel in Madrid. His studio developed several interactive lighting schemes for pedestrian areas in London’s Olympic Park for the 2012 Olympic Games. www.jasonbruges.com
Paul Budnitz is a filmmaker, animator, painter, sculptor, clothing designer, Internet entrepreneur, and computer geek — in short, a serial obsessive. As founder of the postmodern toymaker Kidrobot, Budnitz is at the epicenter of the urban vinyl toy craze. These toys double as art pieces, designed by a motley crew of contributors: graffiti artists, musicians, DJs, illustrators, and comic-book artists from places like Hong Kong, Japan, New York, and San Francisco. "When I first started this company is was really hard to explain to people what I was doing. People would ask, ‘Are they art or are they toys?'” Budnitz says. “I'd say, 'Both, and selling them is part of the artwork, too.' That question has always driven me a little crazy. Now the toys are in museums and they're for sale in stores." One of these urban vinyl toy contributors is famous Japanese designer, Takashami Murakami and another is Frank Kozik, a rock-poster artist. Sometimes the toys are designed solely by one artist, and other times the design happens as collaboration between as many as 12 artists. Unlike mass-produced toys like Barbies or Hot Wheels, urban vinyl toys are sold in limited runs of 500 to 2,000. www.paulbudnitz.com
Homaro Cantu invented the edible menu. He also founded the first restaurant ever to cook using a class 4 laser (which can burn through human skin). Cantu is a chef, entrepreneur, designer, and a leader in the field of molecular gastronomy. He is the executive chef at his Chicago-based restaurant, Moto, where the dining experience has been described by the NY Times as “dinner theater on your plate” and “mad scientist meets gourmet chef.” In addition to Moto, he also owns Cantu Design, a business focused on taking the human dining experience to a new level. As a result, he has 12 patents pending around various food-delivery systems. Through a dedicated process of design, and in collaboration with DeepLABS design and engineering experts, Cantu Designs is utilizing his innovative technology to develop products and services having applications in the following areas: food, housewares, entertainment, advertising and marketing, health and nutrition, pharmaceuticals, and aerospace. Using a cross-disciplinary perspective and state-of-the art, user-centered design principles, Cantu Designs' overall goal is to create and invent new ways to enjoy life. www.motorestaurant.comwww.cantudesigns.com
“Brash zealots” is what Fast Company calls motorcycle designer Matt Chambers and his motley crew at Confederate Motorcycles based in Baton Rouge, LA. These designers and motorcycle builders are purists whose aim is to “bridge conceptual modernism and vehicle design.” And it shows. One notable moto reviewer called Confederate’s design mission “a rolling antithesis to market-driven conformity.” Since Chambers founded Confederate Motorcycles in 1991 with proceeds gained from selling his law-firm partnership, the former trial lawyer has made good on his mission to “memorialize the industrial machine age” by perfecting a balance of technology and the primitive to create what he calls “kinetic sculpture.” The result: Confederate’s F113 Hellcat model won Germany’s prestigious iF Gold Award for Outstanding Design. I.D. magazine named Confederate’s Wraith model “the world’s sexiest motorcycle,” and Cycle World magazine dubbed the bikes “the Lamborghini of motorcycles.” But when one of your personal mantras is lifted from Hunter S. Thompson — “It’s better to be shot from a cannon than squeezed through a tube,” — such Gonzo accolades should probably be expected. www.confederate.com
In 1979, designer Aldo Cibic moved to Milan to work with designer, Ettore Sottsass on a momentous project. The two partnered in 1980 to create of the most prestigious Italian design firms: Memphis Group, a producer of postmodern furniture, fabrics, ceramics, glass, and metal objects. Under the direction of Cibic, the language of the work produced was harmonious and balanced. In 1989, Cibic embarked on his own, founding Cibic & Partners. There, Cibic designed and manufactured furniture and objects with Cibic’s "standard" trademark: everyday products that reflect the importance of taking care of oneself. Cibic swims like a fish in the fields of architecture, interior design, and industrial design. He teaches at the "Domus Academy" in Milan and the "Royal College of Art" in London. His additional work includes interior design for the large "Selfridges" stores in Manchester, the department stores "Beymen" in Istanbul, the brand "Esprit," and "Habitat" chain stores in Italy and England. In 2005 he was named director of the department of design at Fabrica, the Benetton Research and Development Communication Centre, where presently he continues as a consultant. www.cibicpartners.com
Chip Conley is known for designing boutique hotels with concept themes and emotional connection. In 1987 at age 26, Conley began Joie de Vivre Hospitality. Today, he is the CEO and chief visionary of the San Francisco-based company. Later, Conley opened the iconoclastic Phoenix Hotel, which broke tradition by developing an accommodations concept aimed at a specific niche market: rock ‘n’ roll. Today, the Phoenix is internationally renowned for its list of celebrity guests. Conley and his unique in-house creative services team have created sexy urban boutique hotels and more than a half-dozen suburban boutique motels. In 2005, Joie de Vivre opened the Hotel Vitale, America’s first post-hip boutique hotel on San Francisco’s waterfront. Joie de Vivre sets itself apart by taking a conceptual approach to the creation of its properties. From the cinema-inspired Hotel Bijou and natural luxury of Hotel Vitale, each property has its own dynamic personality. Each business is differentiated not only by its compelling design but also by its ability to establish an emotional connection with guests by catering to their psychographic rather than demographic profile. www.jdvhospitality.com
Marketing strategist, Richard Costello has been General Electric’s “We Bring Good Things to Life” guy for 22 years. He is an expert in marketing strategy, branding, communications, team facilitation, and market research. Prior to founding MagicEcho, Costello worked as the “brand guru” for GE. He led the development and implementation of the long-running “We Bring Good Things to Life” advertising campaign. Costello has also provided invaluable marketing counsel over the years to every GE business including producers of light bulbs, jet engines, plastics, appliances, financial services, and medical systems. Additionally, he was part of the business team that transformed the culture of GE from a sleepy bureaucracy to a lean, aggressive growth machine. Costello has served on the board of the Association of National Advertisers, The Advertising Council, and BPA International. Currently, he is on two not-for-profit boards, the Norwalk Education Foundation, and Shakespeare on the Sound (outdoor summer theater in Rowayton and Greenwich, CT). Costello is the author of "Marketing Success: Providing Choice."
www.magicecho.com
Rob Delamater was the former vice president of creative services at Joie de Vivre Hospitality, a line of boutique hotels dressed to the nines with concept themes. In his prestigious position, Delamater oversaw the Creative Services Department — an in-house concept development sector, marketing department, ad agency, public-relations agency, and web and graphic design agency for all Joie de Vivre Hospitality businesses. Delamater was responsible for managing the development of concepts and themes for all new projects from the very beginning (usually before the property was named) through their grand openings. Continuing as the creative force behind many of Joie de Vivre’s new properties, Delamater charges forward as an invaluable consultant for the hyper-creative hospitality business. The creative thinker also owns and operates Lost Art Salon in San Francisco, a gallery featuring early and mid-20th century artists dedicated to creating affordable collections for people with eclectic tastes.
www.jdvhospitality.com
Jean Cocteau once said it’s important not to confuse seriousness with gravity. Interior designer, Jamie Drake adheres to that statement. Drake’s great aspiration in life is to create interiors that are refreshingly modern while at the same time classic and comfortable. To accomplish this, he often gives the color wheel a spin — using his artist’s palatte fearlessly. Drake launched his firm, Drake Design Associates, immediately after graduating from Parson’s in 1978. Since then, he completed an array of projects for an impressive roster of clients. His notable residential interiors include a Los Angeles showplace for Madonna and multiple projects for New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg. His numerous professional awards include his 2003 induction into the Interior Design Hall of Fame (Interior Design Magazine’s venerable acknowledgement of great achievement in the field), the IFDA New York Circle of Excellence for Interior Design, and the Andrew Martin International Interior Designer of the year award. In 2000, Drake received the D&D Designers of Distinction Award and a Partnership for the Homeless Director’s Award. “There is little that doesn’t inspire me,” says Drake.
www.drakedesignassociates.com
Karin Fong directs and designs for film, television, and environments. Before joining conceptual design firm, Imaginary Forces in 1994, Fong studied art at Yale and worked at public media organization, WGBH Boston. Her resume includes the opening sequences for “Charlotte’s Web,” “Zoom,” “Ray,” “The Cat in the Hat,” and “Charlie’s Angels.” Her work on PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre earned Fong an Emmy for title design in 2001. She has also directed commercials for Honda, Janus, Chevrolet, and Herman Miller. Other work includes art installations and experience design pieces for DJs Sasha and John Digweed, Wynn Las Vegas, Fremont Street in Vegas, and the LA Opera. One of Fong’s most recent projects was production of the title sequences for the film “Magic Trip” featuring footage from beatnik author Ken Kesey’s psychedelic acid trips. She holds the honor of being named one of the Top 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company magazine. Fong has had work in the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, Artists Space, and The Wexner Center.
www.imaginaryforces.com
Motion-design wizard Mark Gardner is one of the style geniuses behind the celebrated television show “Mad Men.” His contribution — the Emmy-winning 36 seconds of opening-title roll — is the latest in Gardner’s string of lauded title sequences and other motion-graphics work. In addition to his 2008 Emmy win for Outstanding Main Title Design for “Mad Men,” Gardner received a 2010 nomination for his title-design work for “Nurse Jackie,” and Gold and Silver ProMax BDA Awards for his work on launch promos for the new Dusk network. As a director at preeminent motion-design and visual-effects firm Imaginary Forces, Gardner also developed the title design for the live-action version of the beloved children’s film “Charlotte’s Web,” and has brought his motion-graphic expertise into three dimensions with recent experience-design projects created for Wynn Design and Development in Las Vegas and Macau.
www.imaginaryforces.com
Ryan Genz co-founded CuteCircuit, an innovative fashion company that is pioneering wearable technology and interaction design. CuteCircuit is the first company to merge wearable and telecommunication technology to create emotionally rich experiences for consumers in the fashion, sport, and communication markets. One of the company’s products, “The Hug Shirt” is a wearable Bluetooth accessory for your mobile phone. The shirt gives the physical sensation of being hugged long distance through telecommunication networks. This fashion-tech tee was nominated as one of the Best Inventions of The Year by Time Magazine. Genz’s design work with CuteCircuit has been exhibited at the NEMO Science Museum in Amsterdam, the Design and Emotion Conference, International Symposium of Wearable Computing, the “How Smart are We?” Symposium at RIBA, “Tomorrow's Textiles” at the Science Museum in London, Nordic Exceptional Trendshop in Denmark. Most recently, Hollywood starlet Katy Perry turned heads while as she strutted the red carpet at the MET Ball wearing one of Genz’s garments: a gown studded with over 3,000 LEDs.
www.cutecircuit.com
Thirty years ago, eyeglasses were simply utilitarian, corrective optics. Then Gai Gherardi and Barbara McReynolds got into the business. Launching l.a.Eyeworks in 1979, these creators of bespoke frames singlehandedly “pioneered the notion that eyewear is as much about fashion as it is about optics,” wrote the New York Times. Their artistic, iconoclastic frames have attracted legions of fans among artists, musicians, creative types, cultural icons, and bold fashion hounds. A former protégé calls them “the most passionate, creative team in eyewear today, with a rich, informed history. And they’re very brave. They make things that people don’t attempt to do.” Vox and Out Magazine honored the pair with its Voices of Style Award, while they have been hailed as “innovators” and among the industry’s most influential women by the Optical Women’s Association. Their work has infiltrated popular culture, evident everywhere from a giant Chuck Close self-portrait to the film “Blade Runner” to paparazzi shots of Sir Elton John, who sported l.a.Eyeworks at his wedding.
www.laeyeworks.com
Jim Gilmore is a professional observer. His appetite for understanding the structural underpinnings and patterns of day-to-day human behavior is insatiable. A magazine stand is his intellectual candy store. The result? Non-stop inquiry, ingenuity, and curiosity. His creative thinking is rooted in extraordinary business instruction and work experience. Gilmore is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and he is an alumnus of Procter & Gamble. Prior to co-founding Strategic Horizons LLP with Joe Pine, Gilmore was head of CSC Consulting's Process Innovation Practice. His passion for lateral thinking and his unrelenting energy are touchstones for helping companies uncover the next big idea. His longest-standing client, Whirlpool, has kept Gilmore engaged since the late 1980s. Just Google "Whirlpool Insperience," "Whirlpool Real Whirled," or "Whirlpool Quality Express" for a sampling of what he instigated there. On a more personal note, Gilmore's musical tastes tilt toward the eclectic, coarse-cut voices of Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, David Gray, and Wayne "The Train" Hancock. He enjoys Coca-Cola over Pepsi, Vans over Nike, and anybody over the New York Yankees.
www.strategichorizons.com
Jess Gonchor got everyone's attention as a production designer with his work on Bennett Miller’s “Capote,” starring Academy Award winner Philip Seymour Hoffman. He went on to design the blockbuster “The Devil Wears Prada,” which starred Golden Globe Award winner Meryl Streep for director David Frankel. After that, Gonchor worked on the Coen brothers’ Academy Award-winning films “No Country for Old Men” and “Burn After Reading,” for which he won an Art Directors Guild Award and was a nominee for Excellence in Production Design, respectively. As such, Gonchor has earned a place among filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen's "repertory" company of film pros who can grasp ¬ and bring their off-center sensibilities to life. Gonchor's work with the Coens not only includes his award-winning production design for "No Country for Old Men," but his nominated work on "A Serious Man" and the reimagining of "True Grit," which film-industry editor and analyst Kristopher Tapley calls "production design of the highest quality and precision."
http://www.imdb.com
Publishers Weekly calls him “the world’s best rock and roll photographer.” John Lennon and Yoko Ono proclaimed him their personal photographer and friend. Winner of Mojo Magazine’s Honours List Award for Classic Image, Bob Gruen has documented the most influential rock ‘n’ roll artists of the past 40 years. From Muddy Waters to Elvis to KISS to The Sex Pistols to Green Day, Gruen’s work exposes the onstage, backstage, and offstage performers — and personas — that define rock culture. Gruen’s work has been shown in galleries and museum exhibitions worldwide, including a large multimedia exhibition at the FAAP University Museum in Sao Paulo, Brazil, which drew more than 40,000 visitors. Gruen’s photos have also been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The National Portrait Gallery in London recently acquired Gruen’s iconic shot, “Sid Vicious with Hot Dog,” for its permanent collection.
www.bobgruen.com
Dick Ham was a photographer and cinematographer with the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II. He was founder and chairman of the Motion Picture Production Department of San Francisco City College, where he worked for 27 years influencing several generations of San Francisco filmmakers.
Jonathan Harris makes projects that reimagine how humans relate to technology and to each other. Combining elements of computer science, anthropology, visual art, and storytelling, his projects range from building the world’s largest time capsule (with Yahoo!) to documenting an Alaskan Eskimo whale hunt on the Arctic Ocean (with a warm hat). He is the co-creator of “We Feel Fine,” which continuously measures the emotional temperature of the human world through large-scale blog analysis, and has made other projects about online dating, modern mythology, anonymity, news, and language. After studying computer science at Princeton University, he won a 2005 Fabrica fellowship and three Webby Awards. His work has also been recognized by AIGA, Ars Electronica, the state of Vermont (for which he co-designed the state quarter), Print Magazine (which named him a 2008 New Visual Artist), and The World Economic Forum (which named him a 2009 Young Global Leader). His projects have been shown at The Museum of Modern Art and Le Centre Pompidou. He now floats between Brooklyn, NY, the open road, and cyberspace — documenting his life with one photo a day.
www.number27.org
Dutch designer Ari ‘t Hart has been called a “master architect of the modern fly fishing reel.” For 50 years, Hart has continued to push innovation in reel mechanics, materials, and design — hand crafting functional art for passionate anglers. As he says of his work, "My reels are futuristic, made with the absolute best of materials and, of course, they must be beautiful.” In 1993, the Museum of Modern Art showed its regard for Hart’s approach to functional design by acquiring his landmark Remco Reel for permanent placement in its Architecture and Design Collection — the only fishing reel to ever be honored in this way. His style has since evolved and been inspired by his own travels through fly fishing Meccas Patagonia, New Zealand, and Chile. Hart uses his own reels — as do heads of state, captains of industry, and European royalty. Although the master craftsman's work has a futuristic look, Hart himself remains old school, never taking a fish with him. "When I catch a fish, I give it a kiss and let it go. I tell him that maybe I will catch him another day," Hart says.
www.exclusivereels.com
Founder and Creative Director of Thinc Design, Tom Hennes is a distinguished designer and thought leader in exhibition design. His award-winning work awakens the senses intellectually and aesthetically — integrating design that displays a deep-seated appreciation for history and world cultures. His exhibition designs for natural history museums, national heritage projects, science centers, aquariums, and children's museums engage and educate through their innovation and creativity. His versatility has led to a broad range of projects, from theme park attractions to exhibitions for select corporate clients. In his current work, Hennes explores the ways in which exhibitions and other media can be designed to form and sustain active communities. His research into audience perspectives and the integration of visitors' individual and collective experiences into his designs have increasingly placed him at the forefront of the field. Prior to launching Thinc Design in 1992, Hennes designed for theatre and opera as well as trade shows, product introductions, and other corporate events. He holds multiple patents for immersive theatres and 3-D projection techniques.
www.thincdesign.com
Kit Hinrichs is a master of narrative design and an AIGA Medalist whose work can be seen in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. He is also the co-author of numerous books including “Long May She Wave,” “Stars & Stripes,” and “Typewise.” Hinrichs studied at Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, and began his career doing both illustration and design in New York. Later, he formed an independent design consultancy with Anthony Russell, and in 1976 he moved to San Francisco to form a national partnership called Jonson, Pedersen, Hinrichs & Shakery. In 1986, the San Francisco office merged with Pentagram, a multi-disciplinary design firm. Hinrichs’ accumulated design experience incorporates a wide range of projects. At Pentagram he leads a graphic-design team with expertise in corporate communications, packaging, editorial, and exhibition design. He is an AIGA Fellow, past executive board member, and a member of the AGI. Currently, he is a trustee of Art Center College of Design, a board member of the San Jose Museum of Art, and serves on the Accessions Design and Architecture Committee at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
www.studio-hinrichs.com
Artist Theo Jansen creates "Animari," giant, multi-legged walking creatures that roam the Dutch coastline, feeding on gusts of wind. Over the years, successive generations of his creatures have evolved into increasingly complex animals that walk by flapping their wings in response to the wind, discerning obstacles in their path through feelers, and even hammering themselves into the sand if they sense an approaching storm. Jansen studied physics at the University of Delft in Holland before turning to art. Today, he creates artificial life through the use of genetic algorithms that simulate evolution inside their code. His animal creations have legs, muscles (pneumatic pistons within the plastic tubing), stomachs (plastic bottles for storing air), and nerves (collections of on/off values that work much like logic gates). Jansen uses plastic electrical conduit to make some of the computer's most promising designs. He then lets them roam free on the beach, measuring their success, and updating his model. Eventually, he wants to release these animals in herds on the beaches, to live their own lives. Jansen’s work has been widely exhibited in Europe and the U.S.
www.strandbeest.com
In the world of Freddy Justen, principal of D’Art Design Gruppe in Neuss, Germany, the key to effective design is the art of “undesigning.” Graduating from the Institut des beaux Art in Liege, Belgium with a degree in product design, Justen and partners started D’Art Design Gruppe as an interdisciplinary agency for design with emphasis on 3-D communications (such as stand, retail, interior, and product design). Having steadily grown, the agency is now an internationally-awarded design company, receiving high honors from the International Design Forum. In addition to his work at D’Art Design, Justen teaches communication architecture at the Peter Behrens School of Architecture, Dusseldorf, and is a member of Forum of Design and Architecture in Germany. He believes that design is foremost a form of human communication. Thus, all designers must employ the principles of good communication, which often leads to undesigning: a fundamental turning away from design solutions such as color, form, sound, and aesthetics, as well as a rejection of traditional design categories and disciplines.
www.d-art-design.de
Martin Kastner is a multidisciplinary designer and founder of Crucial Detail design firm in Chicago. In 2004, Grant Achatz, owner of Alinea restaurant in Chicago, enlisted Kastner to help conceptualize and design the identity, service ware and sculpture for Alinea. Over the next year, Kastner designed over 30 custom pieces of service ware for Alinea. Together they will discuss experimentation and iconoclastic new ways of presenting food.
www.crucialdetail.com
Growing up in Iowa, Michelle Kaufmann has always had a deep understanding of the relationship between humankind and the environment. This awareness is engrained in all that she does. She believes that how we develop our landscape is an integral part of our culture and that what we build, and how we build, should improve the environment rather than harm it. When Kaufmann relocated to California after college, she found a lack of affordable, sustainable, well-designed homes, and realized she could make a difference through her architecture. In 2002, she founded Michelle Kaufmann Design and began the crusade to make thoughtful, sustainable design accessible to all. Her work is widely published, and her homes have been showcased in a number of museums including the National Building Museum, the Vancouver Art Center, and MOCA in Los Angeles. MKD was listed as one of “The Green 50” by INC magazine, and Kaufmann was listed as one of the top 100 people “Who Matter Now” by Business 2.0 magazine.
www.michellekaufmann.com
Larry Keeley is the man BusinessWeek called “Mr. Metric” — an innovation strategist and one of a handful of people in the small pack of consultants that chief executives invariably call on for counsel. Keeley owns a consulting firm called Doblin, which is recognized as “the leading consultant in innovation metrics and training” by the Microsoft Executive Circle. His goal there is to turn innovation effectiveness in a science. To that end he is a member of the board at the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he teaches graduate design strategy courses. He’s pioneered work in deconstructing different kinds of innovation, building diagnostic measures of innovation, and analyzing the root causes of innovation failure. Paradoxically, he happens to be the keenest critic of managing solely by numbers. "Innovation cannot be done formulaically," says Keeley. "Putting the right numbers into the wrong innovation process won't give you results." He tells companies that first and foremost, they need to discover and understand their own "innovation DNA" — that is, what they do best — before they can move on to building systems that improve their innovation success.
www.doblin.com
From his millinery studio in the heart of Harlem, Rod Keenan produces men's hats in bold, fashion-forward styles. His designs follow a time-honored tradition, combining modern vision with handcrafted, detailed construction. Keenan studied fashion in Paris at Parsons School of Design before returning to New York where he received his millinery degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology. After honing his skills with apprenticeships at leading milliners Lola Ehrlich, Victoria DiNardo, and Woody Shelp, Keenan set up his own studio. Each year, he produces two lines: straw hats for spring and felted-fur hats for fall. Keenan's hats are available in select stores around the world. The list of his devoted clients includes Alicia Keys, Brad Pitt, Justin Timberlake, Bill Murray, Prince, Sir Elton John, Vince Vaughn, Lisa Marie Presley, Robin Williams, and Samuel L. Jackson. While Keenan has never advertised his hats, he has enjoyed remarkable press exposure — testaments to the admiration of his followers. Keenan’s hats have been featured in myriad publications and have also been worn in numerous films including “Charlie's Angels,” “Mars Attacks,” and “The Fast and the Furious.”
www.rodkeenannewyork.com
“The history of book design can be split into two eras: before graphic designer, Chip Kidd and after,” says Time Out New York magazine. Since Kidd first appeared on the scene in 1986, a new standard was set for provocative book-cover design. Creating more than 1,500 covers for big-name authors including Cormac McCarthy, Don DeLillo, and Haruki Murakami, Kidd has earned himself monikers like “inky colossus” and “design demigod.” Publishers Weekly describes his work as “creepy, striking, sly, smart, and unpredictable,” noting that Kidd’s covers “make readers appreciate books as objects as well as literature.” USA Today hails Kidd to be “the closest thing to a rock star” in graphic design today. Kidd is a recipient of the International Center of Photography’s award for Use of Photography in Graphic Design, as well as the National Design Award for Communications, the industry’s highest honor. When he’s not busy designing a cover for the latest New York Times Best Seller from his office at Alfred A. Knopf, Kidd is likely working on his newest project: a graphic novel about Batman.
www.goodisdead.com
A highly successful Israeli retail entrepreneur, Yaron Kopel has held a number of titles. He’s been head strategic manager for Promarket Group (Israel's leading promotion company), head of retail business at Microsoft Israel, and creator/partner of Zer4u (Israel's largest flower chain). He is also creator and partner in Shenkin, Israel's leading candles and soaps chain, now an international company. In 2003, Kopel was named Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the prestigious annual competition sponsored by Ernst & Young. As creator and partner of Té Casan, a new global women's shoe brand, Kopel plucked designers from the obscurity of big-name design studios and gave them prominence in this multinational project. Retail locations include a chandelier-hung, glass-staircased Soho store filled with handcrafted, limited-edition shoe collections.
Jeff Kuo is a longtime wristwatch and design aficionado at the forefront of a renaissance of U.S.-based small, independent watch brands based primarily in California. He founded San Francisco-based Xetum after having been unable, over the course of a decade, to find a timepiece that had the appropriate blend of modern design, Swiss mechanical components and pricing. The Xetum timepiece collection represents the culmination of this decade-long search. His work has been displayed along with pieces from modern artists such as Jeff Koons and Shepard Fairey. "There's enough watch purity here, but they're not so esoteric that only the watch community would be interested," Kuo says. "These watches are for guys who are into both watches and design." Hodinkee, a highly-reputed watch publication, says of Kuo’s watch design, “This is the type of watch you expect to see in the Museum of Modern Art here in New York, and to be perfectly honest, we wouldn’t be surprised if in a few years’ time, we did.”
www.xetum.com
Whether he’s fashioning funky lamps or haute-couture accessories, product designer Janne Kyttanen gives life to the inanimate. Through the technology of rapid manufacturing and 3-D printing, his designs are born with punch and panache. Kyttanen’s design studies began at the Escola De Disseny, Elisave in Barcelona, continuing at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. Upon graduation he was offered a position as a designer and 3-D visualizer at an industrial design bureau in The Netherlands, Sinot Design Associates. During his stay at there, he worked with clients in the aviation, electronics, and cosmetics industries. He left the bureau to launch his own company, Freedom Of Creation, which specializes in 3-D printing and layer-manufacturing projects. Some of his creations include handbags that resemble futuristic chainmail, laser sintered polyamide jewelry (bubble-gum pink in color), and hyper-modern chairs that pose like sleek tripods. Kyttanen's work has won design awards, including the Best Newcomer Award 100% Design 2003, the Red Dot Design Award 2005, and the Interior Innovation Award Cologne in 2006. In 2007 he was awarded the Young Designer of the Year prize in Finland.
www.freedomofcreation.com
"No matter what product you are designing, nature is always the best database,” says designer Franco Lodato. “There is more in the world to be discovered than there is to be invented." Lodato believes his statement through and through — he went to school and earned degrees in biology and design to prove it. His approach to his work as a designer, inventory, and visionary is based on holistic consideration of end users' experience. As chief designer for Motorola iDEN Subscribers Group, he was the design strategist of new phones and co-branding for Nextel/Sprint products and its partners worldwide, which include the Wearables Offspring concepts, NASCAR series, Phat Farm, Baby Phat, and the special edition phone for Bloomingdale's. He holds 45 U.S. design and implementation patents in very well-known consumer products. A native of Italy, Lodato is a graduate of the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan and the Venezuelan Institute of Technology. His recent design work on the Maserati Birdcage 75 won the prize for Best Concept Car at The Geneva Car Show in March 2005 and the Concourse d'eleganze at Pebble Beach USA in August 2005.
www.pininfarina.com
Eva Maddox is a pioneer in the development of brand strategy and communications through design. Founder of Eva Maddox Branded Environments, her research-based design approach identifies and integrates a client's "DNA" into tangible experiences. Fast Company calls Maddox one of the “change agents...designers and dreamers who are creating your future.” She is the recipient of more than 100 awards for design excellence. A few examples include the prestigious Chicago Magazine 2002 Chicagoan of the Year award, the International Women's Forum Women Who Make a Difference award, and the 2000 Star Award from the International Interior Design Association (IIDA). A two-time Purpose Prize winner, Maddox holds honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Cincinnati and Farris State University and has been elected to the IIDA's College of Fellows and inducted into the Interior Design Hall of Fame. She is also co-founder of Archeworks, a non-profit alternative design school in Chicago, and is active in the International Women's Forum, The Chicago Network, Architectural Society of the Art Institute of Chicago, The World Future Society, and Perkins+Will, a sustainable design firm.
www.perkinswill.com
Reuben Margolin was raised in Berkeley, California. A love of math and physics propelled him to Harvard, where he changed paths and got a degree in English. He then went on to study traditional painting in Italy and Russia. In 1996 he became obsessed with the little green caterpillar, and set out to make wave-like kinetic sculptures. In 2004 he moved to his current studio in Emeryville and began making a series of large-scale undulating installations that attempt to combine the logic of mathematics with the sensuousness of nature. He has since made about 18 of these mechanical mobiles, which operate using a system of pulleys and motors to create motion. These one-of-a-kind sculptures have been exhibited internationally. “My sculptures remind me of puppets — they’re suspended by strings and manipulated by an incredibly complex mathematical set of hands,” Margolin says. “It would be impossible to control 81 strings with my own fingers. A puppet operated by a set of mathematical hands makes the piece really graceful, abstract, and modern.” Margolin also makes pedal-powered rickshaws and has collaborated on a couple large-scale pedal-powered vehicles.
www.reubenmargolin.com
Mitchell Mauk is principal and founder of Mauk Design, an exhibit design agency based in San Francisco. Mauk has won multiple gold and silver awards from the Industrial Design Society of America and the Society of Environmental Graphics, and he was named Exhibit Designer of the Year by EXHIBITOR Magazine in 1987. A book titled “Mauk Design” by Conway Lloyd Morgan highlights the pinnacles of Mauk's creative work. One example from the book: Mauk was the first American designer to have a light design manufactured by the prestigious Italian lighting firm Artemide. Also, his work has been featured in Communication Arts, Interiors & Sources, VM+SD, AXIS, Graphis, and is in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress. A graduate of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA, Mauk began his career at Bass/Yeager Associates before moving on to Designworks, the industrial design firm owned by BMW. At Mark Anderson Design in Palo Alto, he was senior art director and was involved in developing the graphic image of the early Apple computers, as well as corporate identity for Sun Microsystems Inc. and Herman Miller's Office Pavilion.
www.maukdesign.com
Design critic Michael Webb calls him “the world’s most ingenious and poetic lighting designer.” The New York Times praises him as “a restless explorer of styles and technologies.” Such restlessness puts Maurer at the forefront not only of lamp design and light-producing technical innovation. When he can’t find the right type of light source for a concept, he simply invents it. These explorations of light’s properties and possibilities — as well as the means to create and direct it — have led to several patents for Maurer. One of Maurer’s innovations is a web of microscopically thin and flexible organic LEDs, which are embedded in unexpected materials like wallpaper. The late Italian industrial designer Vico Magistretti said of Maurer, “Ingo makes use of technology, but he doesn’t take it too seriously. The only serious thing about his work is its humor — and the result is sheer poetry.” Maurer’s solo exhibitions include venues like the Cooper Hewitt, Berlin’s Bauhaus Archive, the Vitra Design Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art. Maurer recently received the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany in recognition of his life’s work.
www.ingo-maurer.com
After earning fine arts degrees at Principia College in Illinois, husband and wife duo, Charlie and Nancy McMillan took a storybook trip around Europe. Together, they further developed their painting and drawing techniques, then came back to the United States and took on a string of jobs art directing, illustrating, and designing. In 1985, the couple founded the McMillan Group — an exhibit, architectural, and communication design firm. As co-founders and directors of McMillan Group's design team, their work includes the GE Technolab exhibit at Walt Disney World, BMW's North American exhibit program, corporate centers like the Johnson Controls Showcase for Building Environments, and the “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs,” which toured four U.S. cities between 2005 and 2007. Along with the couple’s current museum projects, they are consulting with the GE Design Council to create a worldwide exhibition design standard for GE. Charlie also writes for design publications while Nancy does freelance illustration. The couple like to spend as much time on their sailboat as possible.
www.mcmillangroup.com
After earning fine arts degrees at Principia College in Illinois, husband and wife duo, Charlie and Nancy McMillan took a storybook trip around Europe. Together, they further developed their painting and drawing techniques, then came back to the United States and took on a string of jobs art directing, illustrating, and designing. In 1985, the couple founded the McMillan Group — an exhibit, architectural, and communication design firm. As co-founders and directors of McMillan Group's design team, their work includes the GE Technolab exhibit at Walt Disney World, BMW's North American exhibit program, corporate centers like the Johnson Controls Showcase for Building Environments, and the “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs,” which toured four U.S. cities between 2005 and 2007. Along with the couple’s current museum projects, they are consulting with the GE Design Council to create a worldwide exhibition design standard for GE. Charlie also writes for design publications while Nancy does freelance illustration. The couple like to spend as much time on their sailboat as possible.
www.mcmillangroup.com
Jeannine Claudia Oppewall is a four-time Academy Award nominee for her production design of the films “Pleasantville,” “L. A. Confidential,” “Seabiscuit,” and “The Good Shepherd.” She entered the film industry in the 1970s and worked as a set designer before rising to the position of production designer in 1983. For the next several years, Oppewall designed a variety of films for a diverse list of directors. Movie titles she’s designed for include “The Big Easy” and “Sibling Rivalry.” The film that really launched Oppewall was “The Bridges of Madison County.” After that blockbuster, she went on to design “Wonder Boys” and “Catch Me If You Can.” Of her career, Oppewall says, "What I do for a living is not dissimilar from what an actor does. I have a different set of tools, but it's the same process. The reason that it's fun to design sets is that it allows you to try on personalities that you'd never otherwise experience." Oppewall has produced radio documentaries about the Calvinist faith she was born into, and she’s written a handful of scholarly articles about insects. Born and raised in Massachusetts, Oppewall has a master’s degree in medieval studies from Bryn Mawr College.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0649223
Ron Pompei is an award-winning, multidisciplinary artist whose work has revolutionized the concept of design, and whose stunning projects include interiors that have helped transform shopping into a social and cultural experience. His client list includes Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Levi's, Coca-Cola, the Discovery Channel, and the California Academy of Sciences. In particular, he has pioneered the idea of the "transformative environment" — a shop or work space that impacts visitor on a physical level as well as an emotional, intellectual, and spiritual level. It is a philosophy that has been dubbed “C3” — the integration of Commerce, Culture, and Community — and one that Pompei believes has the power not simply to revitalize urban venues, but to transform the way people socialize and interact. He has won a host of accolades and awards, including an American Institute of Graphic Arts Annual Design Award and "Store of the Year" Award from Visual Merchandising + Store Design Magazine in 1998 and 1999. Pompei has also been named in Display and Design Ideas Magazine's top 30 most influential people in the U.S. design industry.
www.pompeiad.com
Two million Americans throw trash into plastic receptacles that Karim Rashid designed, while another 750,000 park their rears on his cheapo plastic chairs. Dubbed “the poet of plastic” by Time magazine, Rashid is a rock star in the fields of product and interior design, fashion, furniture, lighting, and art. Trained as an industrial designer, Rashid has created over 2,000 designs for mass-production as well as private enjoyment. Born in Egypt and raised in Canada, he now lives in New York where he has his own studio. Rashid’s approach to design can be described as functional and holistic. His "Oh Chair" for Umbra is one of his most famous designs. He recently published a book titled “Design Your Self,” explaining how to improve all areas of life. His chief method of persuasion is to make the banal better so that people notice design more. He likes creating expensive furniture and perfume bottles just fine, but what really gets his creative juices flowing is the everyday: manhole covers, a cremation urn, disposable cigarette lighters, garbage bins, salt-and-pepper shakers, and plastic pens. "I want American Standard to come to me to do the toilets for Home Depot," he says.
www.karimrashid.com
In 2004 Francesca Rosella co-founded the tech-fashion company, CuteCircuit Ltd. The company crafts “wearable technology”— smart textile-based garments. CuteCircuit is the first company to merge wearable and telecommunication technology to create emotionally-rich experiences for consumers in the fashion, sport, and communication markets. Rosella holds a master’s in interaction design from the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea in Italy. She came into CuteCircuit with experience as a fashion designer for Valentino and Esprit. One of CuteCircuit's products, the “Hug Shirt,” can deliver a comforting squeeze when the shirt’s embedded Bluetooth sensors are activated. The shirt was nominated as one of the best inventions of the year by Time magazine, and CuteCircuit was also awarded the first prize at Ciberart Conference in Bilbao, Spain for its techy threads. Rosella’s work with CuteCircuit has been exhibited at the NEMO Science Museum in Amsterdam, Design and Emotion Conference, International Symposium of Wearable Computing, Nordic Exceptional Trendshop in Denmark, and at WIRED NextFest for two consecutive years in New York City and Los Angeles.
www.cutecircuit.com
Stefan Sagmeister is among today’s most important graphic designers. At his firm, Sagmeister Inc. he works with clients like the Rolling Stones, HBO, and the Guggenheim Museum. He’s been nominated five times for a Grammy Award, and won in 2005 for his album design of the “Once in a Lifetime” Talking Heads boxed set. He created a stir with a poster design for his talk at the AIGA conference in 1999 — an image created by cutting the type onto his own body with an X-Acto knife. In 2001 he published a best-selling monograph titled “Sagmeister, Made you Look.” He teaches at the School of Visual Art in New York and lectures worldwide. A native of Austria, he received his MFA from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and studied at Pratt Institute in New York on a Fulbright scholarship. With a swanky style and a bohemian outlook, Sagmeister claims that he has only learned 20 things in life so far — but he managed to publish these personal maxims in spaces normally occupied by advertisements: billboards, projections, light-boxes, magazine spreads, annual report covers, fashion brochures, and giant inflatable monkeys.
www.sagmeister.com
Jennifer Siegal is founder and principal of Office of Mobile Design (OMD), which focuses on designing "portable, demountable, and relocatable structures.” Featured in Fast Company as an expert on mobile architecture, Jennifer is interested in finding environmentally-sustainable solutions to unconventional design problems. Recent professional projects include the Mobile ECO LAB, which is used throughout Los Angeles County to teach kids about environmental issues. Siegal realizes humans today are changing location more frequently and in greater numbers than ever before. At the same time, the electronic revolution is allowing them to remain in close contact. "I felt there was a need for architects to look at the way people really live and work," Siegal says. "Today you can be living and working without anyone really knowing where you are. For me, mobility is not about erasing everything that exists, but adding to the infrastructure in a more environmentally sound way — a more intelligent way of inhabiting the landscape — resting lightly on the ground.” Siegal owns an office in L.A., an airstream trailer, and an adobe house in a Texas art colony.
www.designmobile.com
The scope of their projects will amaze you. Robin Silvestri and her design partner, Linda Batwin are principals and co-creative directors of Batwin+Robin Productions Inc., a New York City-based experience design firm made up of only 12 employees. Over the past 15 years, the firm has designed and produced multimedia experiences for museums, theaters, and theme parks. Their work represents a broad spectrum of skills, insight, and experience necessary to create multi-faceted communications design, development, and production. All of their projects are guided by a design philosophy — focusing on solid content delivery and taking advantage of technology’s innovation. Together Batwin, Silvestri, and their team collaborate with architects and exhibit designers on a variety of exhibit experiences. The result? Each project has a wildly unique look and feel. Silvestri’s most recent work includes the National Museum of the Marines Corps, an installation for the Library of Congress, more than 100 media programs for the Walt Disney Family Museum and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.
www.batwinandrobin.com
Cameron Sinclair is the co-founder of Architecture for Humanity, an organization promoting architecture for humanitarian crises and providing design services to needy communities. The organization is working in nine countries on projects like post-tsunami home reconstruction and development of medical facilities to combat AIDS in Africa. Sinclair was trained as an architect at the University of Westminster and at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London. His postgraduate thesis focused on providing shelter to New York's homeless population through sustainable, transitional housing. After school, he moved to New York where he worked as a designer and project architect. He contributed to the book “WorldChanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century,” and he co-edited "Design Like You Give a Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises." Fortune Magazine named Sinclair one of “seven people changing the world for the better.” He is the recipient of the 2005 RISD Emerging Designer of the Year, the Lewis Mumford Award for Peace, and the Wired Magazine 2006 Rave Award for Architecture for his work in responding to housing needs after Hurricane Katrina.
www.cameronsinclair.com
Marty Smith knows why customers ignore or pay close attention to your exhibits. An engineer by trade, Smith has spent the last six years studying the science of sales and marketing. He measures and analyzes consumer behavior and what he calls the "purchase experience," to determine which sales and marketing tactics work. He is now applying his research to the trade show industry. Smith is president and founder of Ethnometrics, the industry leader in bringing retail store behavioral research to the exhibit floor. This consulting firm is committed to providing measurement-driven customer solutions to business applications for Fortune 500 companies like Best Buy and Whirlpool. Smith’s expertise focuses on the fact that business entities spend countless resources on items that they think create value for customers but never verify the effectiveness of these resources in delivering that value. Smith’s ultimate goal is to optimize this spending by eliminating and/or redirecting it to venues that provide the maximum return on investment in order to make expos and conventions world-class experiences.
www.ethnometrics.com
Dr. Frank Soltis is regarded throughout the world as one of the most significant computer scientists of the twentieth century. Based on his Ph.D. dissertation research, he created a revolutionary computer architecture, which led to a totally new breed of computers: the AS/400 (now System i) server that changed the world. Today, Soltis is IBM's chief scientist for the System i computers. He’s a Porsche-driving IBM engineer who’s been called "the AS/400's Elvis." Soltis has a knack for educating, too — he is an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota where he runs graduate courses on high-performance computer design. Soltis is an award-winning author with several books, technical papers, and other publications to his credit. He holds more than 25 patents and published invention disclosures related to computer systems. In his spare time he enjoys working on and racing Porsches with his sons.
Frank Stephenson is considered one of the hottest talents in the automotive design industry. He is the designer of the 2001 BMW MINI Cooper and the BMW X5. He moved to Ferrari/Maserati in 2002 as design director where he worked on the Ferrari F430, Ferrari FXX, and Maserati MC12. Today, at age 47, Stephenson is head of the Fiat, Lancia, and Light Commercial Vehicle Design Centers in Turin, Italy. He was born in Casablanca, Morocco to a Norwegian father and a Spanish mother. By the age of six he was speaking French and Arabic. Today he is a graduate of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA and speaks eight languages. "It's just a matter of osmosis," he says, of moving around all his life and picking up languages along the way. Today, the future design direction of the Italian automaker Fiat rests largely in his hands. His mission is to help create cars that express Italian design with instant desirability factor. Successfully done, this will reverse a dramatic 15-year sales slide that has threatened the 106-year-old company's very existence. Important upcoming model launches with the new design direction for Fiat and Lancia will lead the way.
www.mclaren.com
Her graphic identity system for the 1984 Olympics still makes people smile. Deborah Sussman, a pioneer of environmental graphic design, creates visual imagery and applications for architectural and public spaces. She has led Sussman/Prejza & Co. as its founder and principal in designing an array of notable projects. A few of the projects Sussman has undertaken include creating the identity of the 1984 Olympics (which received Time magazine's award for "Best of the Decade"), designing product exhibits and corporate interiors for Hasbro Inc., and coming up with an award-winning pedestrian wayfinding system for Walt Disney Resorts. Sussman's honors include a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Bard College for "outstanding work in the field of urban environmental design.” She is a fellow and founder of AIGA/LA, she is an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), and she is a fellow of the Society for Environmental Graphic Design. Her work has been featured in Architectural Record, Architecture, Domus, and Print, as well as The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Time. Sussman is the first woman to exhibit in New York's School of Visual Arts' "Master Series."
www.sussmanprejza.com
Phillip R. Tiongson is a designer, filmmaker, and software engineer who loves telling captivating stories. He uses a playful combination of computers, sensors, and projection in an effort to explore the connection between storytelling and computation. At the MIT Media Lab, he completed his studies in media arts and sciences with the Interactive Cinema Group. He was awarded his MFA in film directing from Columbia University, and has worked as a freelance designer and software developer for IBM and other technology companies. One of Tiongson’s most recent projects was doing post-production work on “Arroyo Drive,” a film about a Filipino father and son struggling to connect. He exhibits his interactive stories around New York City — seeking to dismantle and reconstruct the craft of filmmaking using the toolbox of a software engineer. Born in rural Tennessee, he finds it hard to believe he now lives in the East Village. He is a partner in the design firm Potion.
www.potiondesign.com
Imagine a row of flatscreens against a RGB-controlled background and a 250-year old olive tree from Cypress. These are the kinds of components that comprise Nico Ueberholz’s imaginative exhibit designs. Ueberholz studied architecture and communication design at the Bergische Universität Wuppertal, focusing on trade show stand construction, object design, and architecture at an early stage in his education. Above all, the cooperation with renowned designers such as Bazon Brock, Wolfgang Körber, Sigfried Maser, and Klaus Winterhager shaped his future work. When he was still a student, Ueberholz was already working for Architekturbüro Deutschland, a leading German architecture firm. In 1985 he founded his own advertising agency and the ART Light Company. Light creations and fitting color concepts for business presentations have become Ueberholz's trademark. At Euroshop 2005 Ueberholz designed an intriguing exhibit with his “field of tension between nature and technology” — incorporating a live 250-year-old olive tree and a row of flat screens against an RGB-controlled background on which atmospherically intense landscape pictures were projected.
www.ueberholz.de
Rick Valicenti is recognized as one of the premier graphic designers in practice today. In 2006, he was a recipient of the prestigious AIGA Medal for Design Excellence. Illustrator Marian Bjantes says of him, “No other body of work by any designer has this amount of strength, while plundering depths of style and defying uniformity.” Valicenti’s Chicago-based design collaborative, Thirst, works with architects, cultural leaders, publishers, designers, and others to “pursue the elusive ideals of intelligence, fashion, and real human presence within today’s world of communication.” He is the author of “Emotion as Promotion,” a book in which Thirst’s design work is featured. Valicenti’s work is included in the permanent collection at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum. He has also received two President’s Design Awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and was nominated twice for the prestigious Chrysler Design Award. Valicenti says that the real reward of producing art and design is “found in those flashes of time lost for a moment in the moment — when gravity is a welcomed collaborator, there is no choice but to be very present.”
www.3st.com
Michael Vanderbyl is has a life-long goal to merge traditionally segregated design forms like graphic design, product design, and interior architecture. In his efforts to accomplish this mission, Vanderbyl has gained international prominence in the design field as a practitioner, educator, critic, and advocate. His design firm, Vanderbyl Design has evolved into a multi-disciplined firm with expertise in graphics, packaging, signage, interiors, showrooms, furniture, textiles, and fashion apparel. His work is represented in the permanent collections of the Cooper Hewitt Museum, the Library of Congress, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Museum Die Neue Sammlung in Munich. In 1994, Metropolitan Home magazine inducted Vanderbyl into their Design 100 Hall of Fame. Time magazine included his line of home textiles for Espirit in its "Best of '87" design issue. His client list is quite long, and includes IBM, Polaroid, and the Walt Disney Company. In 2000 he was named an AIGA Medalist in recognition of his exceptional achievements, the highest honor in the graphic-design field.
www.vanderbyldesign.com
Tucker Viemeister opened a world of pain-free possibilities for victims of arthritis with his redesign of Smart Design’s Oxo “GoodGrips” kitchen utensils. Formerly fulfilling the role of lab chief at Rockwell Group, an innovative design firm based in New York, Viemeister worked with clients like Gap, JetBlue, and Mercedes revamping product designs. He’s the former president of Springtime-USA, and he helped to establish Razorfish’s physical design capability and Frog Design’s New York office. When he became too big a fish for the pond he was swimming in, he branched off to spearhead his own industrial design company, Viemeister Industries.
www.redrockwell.com
Massimo Vignelli was born in Milan and it was there, and also in Venice, that he studied architecture. He came to the United States from 1957 to 1960 on a fellowship, and in 1965, he became co-founder and design director of Unimark International Corporation. With his wife, Lella, he established the offices of Vignelli Associates in 1971, and Vignelli Designs in 1978. His work includes graphic and corporate identity programs, publication designs, architectural graphics, and exhibition-, interior-, furniture-, and consumer-product designs for many leading American and European companies and institutions. Vignelli has had his work published and exhibited worldwide, and has entered in the permanent collections of several museums — notably, the Museum of Modern Art, the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Montreal, and the Die Neue Sammlung in Munich. He is a past president of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGl) and the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AlGA), a vice president of the Architectural League, and a member of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA). A monographic exhibition of Vignelli’s work toured Europe between 1989 and 1993, and was featured in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Helsinki, London, Budapest, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Munich, Prague, and Paris.
www.vignelli.com
The structure of architect Arturo Vittori’s life is a unique and fantastic form. Beginning at the base: he was born in Viterbo, Italy, later studying architecture and aerospace design at the University of Florence. Relocating to Paris, Vittori worked with renowned architecture practices, Santiago Calatrava and Jean Nouvel. In 2002 he joined London-based architectural firm Future Systems to work alongside artist Anish Kapoor for a subway station project in Naples, Italy. In 2005 he joined Francis Design as a yacht designer and stylist. Then, in 2002 Vittori co-founded Architecture+Vision with Swiss architect Andreas Vogler. The firm's practice focuses on innovative concepts in architecture, applying technologies from the aerospace sector to terrestrial projects. The firm recently performed studies for inflatable structures for the European Space Agency, and built a prototype of the tent named “Desert Seal.” The prototype first exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City and has become a part of the museum's permanent collection. Vittori is a member of the Italian Architects Chamber and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is currently working on research projects with humanitarian goals.
www.architectureandvision.com
The New York Times calls Moritz Waldemeyer “the go-to guy for cutting-edge technology.” The BBC sticks with “good old-fashioned whiz kid.” Still others label him a fusion designer, combining design and technology. While defining Waldemeyer’s practice may be impossible, what is clear is the desire others have to work with him. He has collaborated with design, architecture, and fashion renegades Ron Arad, Yves Behar, Zaha Hadid, and Hussein Chalayan, developing “fusions of technology, art, fashion, and design” that bring light and interactivity to their work through combinations of mechanics and electronics. Among his work are installations for Audi at the Salone del Mobile in Milan, interactive furnishings such as an LED-embedded chandelier that displays SMS texts, chairs that create halos based on the seated person’s clothing hue, and LED- and laser-embedded performance clothing for musicians such as Mika, Bono, OK Go, Rihanna, and Kylie Minogue. One of his most recent projects was a pair of vegan shoes with built-in LED lights for Leona Lewis’ TV performance.
www.waldemeyer.com
Charlie E. White has been called "the father of modern airbrush,” and he is the subject of numerous books and periodicals on illustration. White studied at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA and started his first design studio in 1964. In 1967 he moved to New York where his energetic artwork embodied the rebellious spirit of the times, giving new life to illustration. White's work helped pull American advertising art out from under the shadow of old-school illustration. In the process, his illustration and design for film and print became legendary. His clients include the Rolling Stones, Esquire, Playboy, Nike, Levi's, Coca-Cola, and Volkswagen. In 1991 he founded the ad agency OLIO Inc. where he used a hands-on management approach inspiring each team member to strive for excellence. The myriad projects that fell under White’s direction included Sam Goody Record Stores, Treasure Island (hotels/casinos), and Point Marine Park (in Durban, South Africa). White was also responsible for the concept development of Planet Hollywood (in Orlando, FL), the Paris Hotel and Casino (in Las Vegas), and the Ko’Olina Marine Adventure Park (in Honolulu).
www.olioinc.net
Marcel Wilson is a landscape architect, writer, and educator based in San Francisco. In 2007 he founded Bionic, an innovative landscape architecture, planning, urban design, and ecology practice. His efforts in the field have transformed him into a visionary leader to landscape architects — expanding the craft by addressing complex environmental and cultural conditions presented by our world today. His work combines sharp analysis with social responsibility, experimentation, and creativity. When he graduated from the Harvard Design School, Wilson was awarded the prestigious Weidenman Prize for design excellence. He has since worked for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, and is a former principal at the internationally-renowned landscape architecture firm, Hargreaves Associates. His portfolio of design and management experience includes waterfronts, infrastructure, universities, high-rise construction, landscapes on structure, and post-industrial sites. In addition to his private practice, Wilson teaches graduate-level design studios in landscape architecture, planning, and urbanism at the University of California at Berkeley.
www.bioniclandscape.com
With the publication of his first book in 1962, Richard Saul Wurman began the singular passion of his life: making information understandable. In his book “Information Anxiety,” he developed an overview of the motivating principles found in previous works. His 80 books focus on subjects that fascinate and challenge him. His past is studded with awards, honors, and achievements. Wurman received both Bachelor and Master of Architecture degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, and graduated with the highest honors. He received the Kevin Lynch Award from MIT for creation of the ACCESS travel guides, he was honored by a retrospective exhibition at the AXIS Design Gallery in Tokyo, and he was awarded the Pacific Design Center lifetime achievement award and the Chrysler Design Award. Wurman was Chair of Graphic Design & Product/Industrial Design of the1995 Presidential Design Awards, he created an annual design competition for the AIGA, he has chaired the TED conference, and he was twice named one of the 100 elite of the technology industry by Upside Magazine. Wurman’s new publishing company, TOP, publishes books and related media on health and well-being.
www.wurman.com
Production manager, Joe Zenas excels in producing live shows, special events, and museum-exhibit projects. Since joining experience design agency, Thinkwell Group Inc. he has produced the Thea Award-winning “Jurassic Park Institute Tour” and “Sesame Street Presents: The Body,” (an interactive, educational experience for children and their parents). Prior to joining Thinkwell, Zenas spent three years with Universal Studios’ creative group, where he oversaw the concept development of new shows and attractions for all of Universal’s properties around the world. As a freelance producer and production manager, Zenas was intimately involved in the production of 10 Super Bowl half-time or pre-game shows, the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta, and the Hong Kong 1997 Spectacular, celebrating Hong Kong's reunification with China. Bringing that experience to Thinkwell, Zenas has focused the company’s energies on creating memorable, publicity-generating extravaganzas for a number of clients.
www.thinkwelldesign.com
Titanium 
ClearRx System
Darwin Chair
Cowbird Debut
Football LED video jacket
EELS: A Projection
A Plea to Design With Conviction
Thoughtful Design
Eames:
Building
Gruen's Work as Real Life
Martin Kastner Recognized
Dana Arnett
Andrew Ashton
Marian Bantjes
Jake Barton
