Design Revolution Road Show

Amidst inclement weather, the Academy of Art in San Francisco hosted our official kick-off event today at their 601 Brannan campus. The day was chock-full of student engagement, critique, and celebration. At 10am, we opened up the trailer doors (weather: cloudy with a chance of showers) to welcome the first batch of students. As the Academy of Art is (I think) the largest art and design school in the Bay Area, there were dozens and then hundreds of students from a wide range of design disciplines: graphics, industrial, interior, multimedia, communications, and more.

At noon we headed inside for our lecture and Q&A session. By today I had almost no voice left from the previous three days of stops, but mustered enough volume to present the Design Revolution Toolkit tenets (Empower, heal and catalyze; Always put the user first; Don’t reinvent the wheel) to a group of about 175 students, educators, and guests. The Q&A after proved to be intense, on the cusp of confrontational. While the goal of my presentations is to ask questions about how we collectively design for the greater good in the best ways possible, I found myself answering questions (defending myself, in some cases) about distribution models and financial sustainability of both Project H and some of the products in the exhibition. One attendee went as far as to say “I think what you are doing is great. But I think you are a little naive.”

Of course I am happy to have these critical discussions—these comments and discussion are what will propel our work forward. I explained that we as Project H Design have had to make up our own rules, but in doing so we hope to prove that there are ways to do things outside of the luxury- and consumption-driven design status quo. We may very well be naive, but we’ve invested all of our time and energy into promoting and furthering how design can serve social imperatives, and that is a good start. We may not have a rock-solid business plan, or health insurance, but we know there is inspiration in our initiatives.

At 1pm (weather: starting to sprinkle), we ventured out to the trailer with everyone who had attended the lecture. Students were infatuated with the Whirlwind Wheelchair and tested it out to understand the importance of the long wheelbase in traversing rugged terrain. Keith Plymale, who teaches architecture at the Academy (as well as at UC Berkeley and CCA) stopped by to check out the Airstream itself. Many classes from the Academy’s other campuses across the city stopped by as well, including Mark Bolick and industrial designers from Project H’s recent “Furniture for Refugee Families” studio.

From 4-6pm, we closed down the trailer exhibition temporarily for my media interviews scheduled by the amazing Pamela Williams, who handled the publicity on behalf of the Academy for the event. Special thanks to the guys from The Black Harbor (who produced an awesome video trailer for us), Apartment Therapy, Terra Eco, and Core77 for great post-event coverage!

At 6pm the real fun began (weather: rain showers). A taco truck, the Sweetface Bakery cupcake truck, along with a mobile pizza oven and creperie pulled into the parking lot and served up delicious treats for the duration of our Parking Lot Party. Over 400 people were there to celebrate the official send-off for the road show! Attendees included students, designers, educators, media, and more. Dwell Magazine, Metropolis Magazine, Rob Forbes (formerly of Design Within Reach, now launching Public Bikes), Whirlwind Wheelchair, Public Architecture, Architecture for Humanity, Martin Fisher of Kickstart, Third Eye Blind frontman Stephen Jenkins, my accountant, and of course my family, were all there with libations in hand. One of our favorite local bookstores, Builders Booksource, attended with a stack of Design Revolution books to sell.

As the the night came to a close (weather: more rain showers!), Aaron from Whirlwind Wheelchair and Matt took their wheelchairs out to the skate park towards the rear of the parking lot, and as you might imagine, some Jackass-esque shenanigans ensued (video above).

The day was jam-packed with exhibition interaction, great discussion, and of course celebration. We can’t think of a better place to have officially launched our adventure, and we’re so grateful for the Academy of Art’s support and organization (Susan Toland, Phil Hamlett, and Mary Scott- you guys rock)! Thanks also to Pam Williams’ publicity skills, as we successfully spread the word through dozens of media outlets.