Design Revolution Road Show

March 23rd, 2010

Recap: Pratt Institute, March 22nd and 23rd

We spent two days at Pratt, parked right in the middle of their plaza- a veritable sculpture garden and bucolic campus amidst the hustle of Brooklyn. We were particularly excited to come to Pratt as many of our colleagues and friends (including Project H’s awesome New York-based team) were coming out for the show! In attendance were Eddie Chiu (designer of Mobee, the toy for children with cerebral palsy featured in the second room of the exhibition), professor Robert Rabinovitz (who coincidentally had recently met my old high school friend Natalie!), Provost Peter Barna, department head Matthew Burger, my book editor from Metropolis Diana Murphy, and the book’s foreword author Allan Chochinov of Core77.

Diana Murphy of Metropolis Books (my publisher!) and Allan Chochinov of Core77 and Pratt faculty (author of the book’s foreword!)

On Monday, we gave a lecture after being introduced by department head Matthew Burger, who is so passionate and articulate about the power of design and the role of education in shaping future designers’ values. He spoke about hearing Victor Papanek speak in the 1970’s, and that everyone in the audience (designers in suits) thought he was crazy. (Note: Victor Papanek is quoted in our presentation, calling for the end of industrial design if it continues to produce such superfluous objects as “sexed up shrouds for typewriters” and more. At the end of the day, another professor told us he used to teach at Purdue with Victor Papanek, who he reported was a very cranky, difficult, disagreeable, but genius, educator and designer). The Q&A section brought up some interesting discussions of working domestically versus abroad, and how the scale of needs may change, but the need for good design does not.

We also got a chance to meet with Eddie Chiu, who designed Mobee. He told us the backstory of the design as part of a Parsons project he did while still in school. Watch his interview video below with professor Robert Rabinovitz.

Also present was a student named Vera from the School of Visual Arts, who is trying to put together a thesis for the coming year. Her interest in design for social impact brought her out to see the trailer, and we spoke about the challenges of doing “design that matters” in the right way, and not just doing it for a portfolio. Watch her video below.

At the end of the day, I got a chance to sit down with Kristina Drury, our New York team’s co-head and a former Pratt student. She now works at Pratt and is an amazing voice in our Project H community as a proponent for doing “design for the greater good” in the right ways. Her cohort Dan Grossman unfortunately could not attend (we missed you, Dan!). A special thank you to Deb Johnson and Laurel Voss from Pratt for helping to coordinate the parking of the Airstream and all of our logistical details.

March 23rd, 2010

Daily Postcard: March 23rd

From left to right: Airstream, Hippo, Boy, Dog

March 22nd, 2010

Daily Postcard: March 22nd

Looking out the window of the Engineering building at Pratt

March 22nd, 2010

Quote From The Road: March 22nd

When: March 22nd, 1:23 p.m.
Where: Lecture hall at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY

Industrial Design Chair Matthew Burger: “Everything comes full circle; the avant garde will eventually become the old guard.”
(On progress in design and hearing Victor Papanek speak about a revolution in industrial design in 1972)

November 8th, 2009

Individual School Pages: Check for Updates

We’ve confirmed 25 different high schools and colleges as official stops on our tour! Each school has its own informational page, which can be accessed from the list on the Itinerary page here. Please check back regularly for updates on each school page- we will be adding specific schedule and location info for where the Airstream will be parked at each stop, along with when and where the lecture will be held as soon as we have confirmed details with each school.