Pratt Institute Archives

A Q&A with Design Maven Linda Celentano

Spotlight articles shine a light on designers we admire, asking leaders in the field about their work and their design journey. In this interview, we spoke with renowned industrial designer Linda Celentano. Based in New York, Linda has built a remarkable career spanning many decades and disciplines, creating work for iconic brands like Nambé, Smart Design, Knoll, Alessi, Dansk, and Rosenthal.

industrial designer Linda Celentano portrait — *Photo courtesy of Linda Celentano.*

A graduate of Pratt Institute and a longtime professor of Industrial Design there, Linda studied under legendary educators Rowena Reed Kostellow, Dr. William Fogler, and Gerald Gulotta. Her work is defined by its elegance, clarity, and human-centered innovation. She is famous for designing everyday objects that invite interaction and reflect her belief that “good design beckons the human touch.” She has been awarded many prestigious design awards and her work is part of the permanent collections at The Cooper-Hewitt National Museum of Design and The Chicago Athenaeum. We asked her about defining moments as a designer, continuing to push creative boundaries after decades in the industry, and the experience of collaborating with young designers.

Q:

How did you become an industrial designer?

A:

I woke up one day as a student and I learned that real people design yoyos and church interiors and everything. Wow, that was such a wakeup moment. My father was a mold maker for injection mold-making. He made steel molds for companies like Chanel and Donna Karan. It’s so fascinating when you’re a kid, anything your parents do is compelling. He would come home when I was 5 years old with stuff from work and we were always so impressed. We had no idea what he was talking about, it was just a chance to hang out with dad and see what he does when he goes to work. So, I’ve been around people that work with their hands a lot. There are a lot of engineers and teachers in my family and they all had an influence on me.

I loved playing in the woods, making little houses in the field, making and building things. When I got to Pratt, I learned that there was a way to actually make things three-dimensionally that were real products for the world. I became fascinated with art and industry. Making one-of-a-kind things just didn’t tickle my fancy.

Q:

You’ve had a remarkable career designing for brands like Nambé, Alessi, and Knoll. Looking back, what are the defining moments that shaped you as a designer?

A:

One of the most defining moments for me was working in a factory. I was designing, but I was also in a factory environment. I encourage my students to work in a factory as a summer job. The miracle of manufacturing becomes a reality once you see products being prototyped, manufactured, and going through quality control. You get to see the whole process from beginning to end. It is about process, not just the event of a produced final product. Once you understand working in the factory environment, you understand manufacturing all over, in all realms. The factory was out here in Passaic, New Jersey, and we manufactured products for orthopedic surgery. I spent a lot of time in the operating room, observing surgical procedures and then I went back into the factory and worked with the men and women in the shop where we develop prototypes. I would run down to Canal Street and get pieces of wood, plastic or foam or metal or whatever and bring them back to mock something up first.

What was so cool was that once you three-dimensionalized the idea, you could jump into the computer, start creating the manufacturing drawings, bring that to the prototype department, and start getting things actually made. It’s all experimentation until it gets to the assembly line. That’s seeing something come to fruition. The assembly line thing gets me every time.

Another defining moment was, as a child, seeing the table being set every day for each meal—going through that ceremony of choosing settings for the table. That was an important design experience. Seeing cooking and everything involved, and seeing my parents treasure something beautiful would really capture my attention; seeing that moment that they would admire something. After washing a glass, they would hold it up to the light to see the clear crystal. Moments like that were so important.

Q:

Many of your designs have become iconic design objects. Could you share the story of one that is particularly meaningful to you?

A:

Candlesticks for Nambe by designer Linda Celentano — *Candlesticks for Nambé, designed by Linda Celentano. Photo courtesy of Linda Celentano.*

One of my favorite stories is from when I was designing for Nambé. I love designing initially in three-dimensions. So, I bought a lathe and I dragged it up to my old apartment and put it in the dining room—because that’s the only place I had for it—and turned candlesticks on the lathe in my dining room. There were chips and material all over the place! It was so funny but, for the sake of good design, it was worth upsetting my whole home. I just love that, to be young and kind of nuts. It was exciting, and they went on to be very successful designs.

I remember coming from a meeting from Dansk one day with my business partner, Lisa Smith, and everything went poorly. Nothing went right. So we’re in the elevator and we’re complaining about how the meeting went, and there was some guy in the elevator. We’re carrying our bags and everything, our goods, and he looks at us and he says, I’ll look at your work. It turns out that he was the marketing director for Nambé and that little complaining session led us into a 30-year working relationship with a client. So, you never know how things can come together.

Q:

Your work embodies abstraction, elegance, and innovation. How do you continue to push creative boundaries after years in the industry?

A:

I love working experimentally and coming up with new designs, whether it’s in glass or metal or ceramic or whatever material. When you’re working experimentally, boy, you just don’t know if it’s going to sell. You have to hit it right with marketing and everything that’s going on in the world and what people are looking for. You may be showing the most beautiful thing in the world and if it’s not fitting into the marketing plan, then you have to move on.

I depend very much on my colleagues, particularly Karen Stone, Jeff Kapec, Deb Johnson, Lisa Smith, and Gina Caspi. I’m forever running designs by them to get feedback. This experience is dear to me because I really value their feedback and opinions. I will also run things by Bruce Hannah and Tucker Viemeister, and they’re very patient with me. I work by myself and I hire freelancers, so getting that feedback is really critical as well.

Q:

You’ve said that “good design beckons the human touch.” Can you elaborate on that?

A:

As a child, I was always drawn to the warmth and kindness of others. Design is wanting to be close to the things you love. It’s that simple.

Q:

How has your design philosophy evolved over the years? What principles have remained unchanged?

A:

In the beginning, we would start things three-dimensionally and really develop them in three dimensions. The things we came up with to make things three-dimensional were quite remarkable, we didn’t have the advantages of all these computer programs to make something feel real even before it was a product. Back then we were working conceptually in three dimensions: plaster-spinning, making things out of wood, cardboard, spackle, museum board, ceramic, plastic, so many different materials. We did pencil drawings of everything that we needed to manufacture. And then, eventually, we were working on the computer, which was amazing. Today the computer gets us to so many interesting levels as far as manufacturing, marketing, and being able to show beautiful renderings. What’s essential for me is to have a 2D/3D/2D/3D process. I’ll come up with a doodle or a ceramic shape or a clay form and then I’ll work with my freelancers. I’m certified in Solidworks but I remember Gina Caspi telling me, “Linda, you can’t be excellent at everything. Why not just be a 10 at the things you’re good at and then hire people that are all 10s.” That was some of the best advice I was ever given by Gina.

Now I work with young, up-and-coming designers. We draw up the design in Solidworks and then we get a 3D print. I see the 3D print, which is half scale, and I’ll make my markings on it to note the changes. Then we’ll go back to the computer, improve the model, do another 3D print, take another look, make improvements, and so on. So, it’s a 2D/3D thing. Ultimately, after everything’s refined, you get a full scale 3D print.

When you do the first Solidworks model and pop it into a keyshot rendering, it’s so powerful. The client sees that and they say, Let’s do it! Let’s make a sample right away! And I have to tell them, No, we really need to backtrack and make these smaller refinements before we can go ahead and make a sample. There’s so much process work that needs to be done on the road to that goal. So, how things have changed is that you have to work with the computer and with people and go back and forth. Once again, design is a process, not an event.

Q:

If you could go back and give advice to yourself as a young designer, what would you say?

A:

I would say that it’s okay to be an introvert. The world is full of extroverted people. Susan Cain, who wrote the book Quiet, said that introverts are many of the real workhorses of the world. It’s good to have an understanding of this, within yourself and with others, that it’s okay to be an introvert. Why try to make an introvert into an extrovert? On a scale of one to ten, I’m a four or five, on average. But, over the course of my day, I might be a one, a two, a three, a nine, a seven, a six, and then a five. I try to encourage students to be okay with where they’re at for the day and for the moment.

Q:

What excites you most about working with younger designers, and what challenges come with it?

A:

Old school and new school. It’s so exciting to work with young designers. It can be sad, though, for some old school designers. They’ve had to hang up their slippers because they don’t have the technology to support themselves any longer. They know how to make things by hand. They know how to turn things on the lathe but they don’t have the technology. I feel that teaming up with young people who have that technology makes for a great team between old school and new school. And I work exclusively with young people. I learn from them and they learn from me. I work with my team at home here in my studio, over Zoom. I am texting them or I’m on my iPad, sending them doodles, 2D and 3D drawings, or photographs. We pull up Solidworks, and they will model the idea.

We’ll be designing something and I’ll use Rowan Reed Kostellow’s principles and language. They, too, are from Pratt, so they also know Rowena’s principles and language. It is not just about looking at something and saying, I like it. I don’t like it as much. It’s not good enough. Rowena taught us the language of three-dimensional literacy. So the two of us will be looking at the work and I’ll say, You need to make the concave and negative space of the volume of the form deeper to improve the overall proportion. Or, The curve on the spline needs to be a faster curve with more accents towards the end of the curve. Or, the negative volume could be more horizontal instead of vertical, so it relates better to the other objects in terms of the overall proportions. This kind of language. I encourage all designers and design students to read Rowena’s book, Elements of Design, to take workshops with us at The Rowena Group, to follow our newsletter, and to follow us on Instagram. I want them to understand that being able to communicate in three dimensions with real language is the way to go today. It creates so much freedom. The freelancer I’m working with completely understands everything I’m talking about. I could talk to anyone who’s a designer from anywhere in the world and they would understand. Anybody can understand that language, if they really listen to it, but not everyone can speak the language. Pratt students, when they get out there, they really sound like geniuses. Learn a new language!

Of course, you are not only speaking to other designers. You might be working with marketing, and they might have a background in art history or some creative field that led them there, giving them some kind of visual understanding of things. To be able to say things like, That space should be more concave so the liquid can flow more, right now it’s too shallow, that’s valuable. To be able to describe the qualities of a design with someone outside the design team while using this language is really important, too. Certainly in terms of working with people in quality control in the factory. The language is beautiful. It’s not just something that you do in class.

Q:

Can you share a time when collaborating with a younger designer changed your perspective?

A:

There are many examples, but I’ll mention one. I was working on a deadline. There were a couple of us working on the project and we sprayed a large print of a render to lay it onto a board. When it went down onto the board it didn’t lay flat and I nearly lost my mind. No! What are we going to do! I’ll never forget what the young student said. He said, “There’s always a way.” And he managed to undo it, lay it down flat, and it was perfect and everything was fine. Whenever I run into a problem or a challenge like that, I hear his voice and I think, There’s always a way.

Q:

How can emerging designers best leverage the wisdom of design veterans while still asserting their own vision?

A:

The Ultimo Tea Kettle for COPCO, designed by Linda Celentano. Photo courtesy of Linda Celentano. — *The Ultimo Whistling Tea Kettle for COPCO, designed by Linda Celentano and Sam Lebowitz. Photo courtesy of Linda Celentano.*

You’ve got to be working with people that are open-minded and let people in. I try with my freelancers to really hear them, what they have to contribute. I love being able to say, What do you think is best? Or, How do you see this going? Or, What do you think is better, transparent or opaque? Which do you like better? I love getting their feedback. They’re visual people, just like I am. It’s a gift to be able to work in a team setting, not only because of their incredible skills but because of what we have in common. When I was a senior at Pratt I was working with Sam Lebowitz. He taught me so many things. He taught me the difference between a 32nd of an inch and a 16th of an inch. When I designed eyewear, boy, that became really important. I designed a whistling tea kettle for Copco with him. I was just a senior in college, and here we were. He gave me so much leeway. It was wonderful. That tea kettle was a great seller for over 25 years, which is almost unheard of in housewares unless you are an OXO product!

Q:

What are the most significant shifts you’ve seen in the design industry over the course of your career?

A:

Everything changed with computers and digital work. Everything changed dramatically, and definitely for the better. But I’m worried that many things are being designed for a Keyshot render. It’s unbelievable. I have a Calphalon coffee pot. It makes no sense. I have to open the lid this way to pour the water over the top of the lid. It’s all backwards and crazy. And then the filter paper holder is not tall enough, so when you swivel the cone shaped paper it gets all jammed up and the water doesn’t drip through it properly. I had to work with it . Reason why I didn’t return it is because the quality of the coffee it made was good.

On the other hand, when I went to Turkey, I was in a museum and I saw a pair of boots that were gorgeous. They were handmade and they were so beautiful. There’s no way they could have been designed on a computer. They were designed on the foot, there’s no question about it. We can’t lose the old ways but we also can’t deny ourselves the advantages of modernism.

Q:

Many industries experience ageism—have you faced this in design? How do you think the industry can better value experience?

A:

Ageism is a serious problem. For me personally… people open the doors more for me now as I’ve gotten older. Gray hair will encourage that! I haven’t really experienced it in my life other than the beautiful experience of hearing someone like Patricia Moore talk about how we don’t say the word ‘elderly’, we say ‘elders’. There’s such beautiful meaning in the wording that she uses in terms of human beings. There used to be a bench near the elevator in Pratt Studios and they took it away. I don’t know why, but that elevator is quite slow and it was so nice having a bench there. I remember Lenny Bacich used to say, Try being human. He, along with Rowena, Dr. Fogler, Gerry Gulotta, Ralph Applebaum, Lenny Bacich, they were all mentors and friends, and they spoke their wisdom!

Q:

What do you think separates a good designer from a great one, especially after decades in the field?

A:

Some designers are trainable and others have raw talent. Great designers are both. Maybe I could substitute the word ‘training’ for ‘designers who know how to educate themselves’ because it’s all a learning process. It’s all a process from beginning to end, and understanding that, once again, it is a process and not an event. Keyshot is an event. The process of designing something is an educational process. It comes along with being inspired, getting good feedback, and exploring; pulling in years and years of training and then being as open as a child when you first design something. I can be stubborn at times, but I definitely still get into that child-state when I’m designing.

We can’t lose the old ways but we also can't deny ourselves the advantages of modernism.

Bill Fogler, when he was ill with terminal illness, asked me to take over his class. That was the hardest experience I ever went through; going through his illness with him. He taught for 35 years. I said, “How can I fill your shoes? That would be impossible.” And he turned to me and said, “Linda, all you have to do is love them.” And that’s all you have to do with people in life, just love them. Students especially, because they’re really struggling. They’re really trying to make it work and make it happen. If you approach them with that kind of care and openness, it’s a wonderful thing. There are times you just want to shake them! Every time I want to shake them a little bit I think, No, no, that’s not the right approach.

Q:

Do you see a generational divide in design thinking, or do core design principles remain universal?

A:

I’m experiencing people being drawn to each other because of their common interests. It’s like writing a good script. It takes time, you’re crafting it from the beginning, and there are so many players involved. It’s like a good dance performance, right? Everyone’s in relation to one another. I don’t think I ever feel like, Those young kids, what do they know? It’s time to really applaud the youth in the world. They have so much to give and they’re incredibly optimistic. Thanks to them, I feel a lot of hope for the future.

I do that in my own little world on a local level. I can change the world in my day-to-day thinking and exchanges with people, whether it’s talking to my mom or my neighbors or my client—just taking a real interest in them and in what’s going on in my world; living more in the present, in the moment. If everyone lived their life fully in a local way , society would be a better place. Someone said to me recently, When you’re on the phone, and someone’s just said something that interests you or pleases you, smile. Don’t save that for an audience. Try to capture more joy in your life.

I think it’s important to encourage the youth. Don’t break their spirit. There are times when we just need to know that we’ve been listened to. A young person is so amazed when you ask them about themselves. There is a family that lives across the street from me and the young son just applied for colleges. I helped him with some of his applications, and his whole world opened up when he knew I was there for him. There are different speeds to how people respond to things in life. I think of my grandfather so often, of him just nodding and saying, Show me more. He had very few words to respond to me as a young kid. There was more of an outpour from me because his interests were so broad and he wasn’t judgmental. There is a great generational divide if we’re not open-minded. No matter where we are, no matter how old we are, no matter what generation we are, we need to be open-minded.

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A Q&A with Footwear Designer Charlotte Logeais

Spotlight articles shine a light on designers and design materials we admire. Our founder and principal designer Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman has met many wonderful designers as an educator and career designer, and in our Spotlight interviews we ask them about their work and their design journey. In this interview we spoke with senior footwear designer and art director Charlotte Logeais. Charlotte has been a designer at Nike* for over two years. She began in the kids division and is currently a senior designer on the Women’s Lifestyle team. To her, design has always been about storytelling and problem solving. With a bachelor’s degree in industrial design from Pratt Institute and a Master’s degree from USC integrating design, business, and technology, she is well versed in the power of design as well as the power of style. Her experience as a professional ballet dancer gave her an athlete’s mindset, and she knows the value of performance footwear firsthand. We asked her about the challenges of footwear design, emerging trends in the footwear industry, and what makes a great shoe.

Portrait of shoe designer Charlotte Logeais. — *Photo courtesy of Charlotte Logeais.*

Q: What is inspiring you at the moment?

A: The biggest thing that’s inspiring me at the moment are fashion week runway shows. I love seeing all the runway collections and how each designer creates their own world while still aligning with the history of the brand. I also enjoy seeing how the runway trickles down into street style.

Q: Could you tell us about your role at Nike? How do you fit into your team there?

A: I work on the Nike kids design team. I’m technically on the performance side, but the cool thing about the kids team—especially for me, being newer to the footwear industry—is that you get to work on a broad range of products. I’ve been able to work on lifestyle shoes, like the Air Max 1, and on performance product as well, like running. It’s been great to get to work on such a wide range of products and it’s helped me discover what I’m most passionate about. It’s been a great team to first start on at Nike.

On the kids team you can push the boundaries a little bit more and really have fun with the design. Kids love bright colors, they love shoes that are playful and energetic. They get super excited about designs that are colorful and vibrant – it’s the first thing they notice about a shoe.

In footwear, we work two years out. The process is kicked off by a brief and then the design team begins pulling inspiration and sketching. Various priorities in the product brief will inspire the visual direction of the design. If it’s a shoe that needs to emphasize comfort, it’s probably going to be a more rounded form language. If it needs to emphasize speed, maybe it’s more angular. Those notes help us determine the visual language.

My favorite part of the product creation process is when the team comes together to sketch together on a new project. It’s the most creative time we have each season. We go find a room—the whole kids team—and we sketch together all day for a couple of weeks on the projects of the season. Then each project lead will take all of those sketches, identify the common threads, and bring it to the finish line.

Once the design has been finalized, we send out a tech pack and get our first samples back to revise.

Q: What drew you to footwear design?

A: I kind of stumbled upon it, which is funny considering I grew up in Portland, Nike’s backyard. When I was at Pratt doing my undergrad degree, I applied to a footwear design internship at Adidas and interned with them for six months. I’d never really sketched sneakers before and fell in love with it during that internship. I’ve always loved fashion and sport, and did classical ballet for 10 years, culminating in one year professionally before going to Pratt. In ballet, your feet are your main tool, but pointe shoes have barely evolved since the 19th century. So it’s rewarding for me to be able to bring innovation to athletes through footwear design.

Q: Of the skills that you learned at Pratt, which do you find most valuable in your work?

A: Design thinking is a big one, and the design process overall. In footwear, we’re given a product brief by our marketing team. That brief tells us who the consumer is, what they’re looking for, and what the priorities of the product need to be. Then it’s the designer’s job to take that information and create a design. At Pratt it was definitely drilled into us that you get your brief, you find inspiration, you sketch, you refine your idea, you present it, and then begin the development process.

Q: Footwear is an industry known for inspiring cult followings. What are your main challenges as a footwear designer?

A: Being on the kids team is definitely a design challenge for me. I’m not the target consumer, and I think it’s a big challenge to design for someone who isn’t you while still wanting to imbue the project with your personal aesthetic and sensibility. It’s a good challenge: to keep the consumer at the center of the product while still being able to bring in my perspective. Whenever we get to interact directly with the consumer it helps us to understand what they want from a product. As the kids team covers toddler through grade school, it’s a pretty large range and we have to tailor each design to what the specific age group needs.

Q: From a personal standpoint, what makes a great shoe? One you’re excited to wear?

A: For me, comfort is a huge thing. I want a shoe that I can wear all day long and it will be super comfortable. Also, a shoe that feels versatile and can transition between working all day at the office to going out for a drink or going to a pilates class. Having a shoe that can move with you throughout the day and keep you comfortable the whole day is the biggest thing for me. Beyond that, I like having some sort of icon on the shoe, a hero aspect of the shoe.

The shoes that I’ve been wearing the most right now are the Vomero 5s, they’re an old school running shoe that have now pivoted into lifestyle.

Q: How does sustainability factor into design and production at Nike?

A: Sustainability is definitely a big priority. As a designer, I partner with material and color designers, and materials are usually the biggest sustainability play. We’ll often make sure to prioritize materials that have a certain percentage of recycled content to try to reduce the amount of new materials being brought in and reuse as much as possible. That’s a big priority, especially in the kids business. I think we’re one of the teams that is making the biggest effort with that. The youngest consumer really does care about the environment and about what their future is going to look like, so sustainability is especially important for them, and knowing that we also care.

Q: What do you see as interesting emerging trends in the footwear industry today?

A: Some of the biggest trends are new digital tools. AI has been a huge one, getting to input a prompt and have ideas generated for you, often ideas that you couldn’t imagine or that are just super out there. AI is a powerful initial ideation tool for brainstorming and creating concepts. Midjourney is one of my favorites right now, I actually discovered it while pursuing my master’s at USC.

In the past, I’d just go on Pinterest and scroll for aesthetically pleasing imagery to create a mood board, but now you can create your own imagery for that mood board through AI. It makes each mood board a bit more unique, and you have the control to create the imagery that you want to work with. Now I do a bit of a combination of both, searching for inspiration images as well as generating them myself. I still do love Pinterest though… and I have so many boards.

Q: Are there other areas of design you would like to explore?

A: I purchased an apartment last May and have spent the last seven months renovating it. It’s in a hundred-year-old loft building in downtown Portland and it was a blank canvas, so I did all the interior design for it, working with the contractor and everything. That’s been a journey! But, It’s super rewarding to see it come together. The results of interior design are so physical. Whatever decision you make, you’re going to see it in real life. That has so much impact. Interior design is something that I’ve discovered I really enjoy doing, and I would love to do more projects like this.

Being in footwear, I’ve realized that lines are so important to me, when things align and how they are offset from each other. I think I’m driving my contractor a little bit insane, making sure everything is perfectly aligned and organized. Design to me is seeing how forms have relationships and fit together.

Footwear designers look at trends and forecasting. We are tied to the fashion world, so part of the job is keeping up with that, seeing what people are drawn to, whether that’s in person or through social media. On the performance side, we follow the different sporting events. In the NBA, there’s an interesting intersection of style and sport every time the athletes walk down the tunnel onto the court. Following influencers on Instagram is another good way to keep up with global fashion trends. Maybe I like their style or the way that they combine different clothing items in unexpected ways. Following those creators helps me stay connected to fashion and innovation. When I lived in New York, I could just go for a walk and see amazing street style everywhere. Living in Portland that’s a bit more difficult, so I rely on travel and Instagram.

Q: What do you see for yourself as a designer and for your career going forward?

A: I feel like I’m just getting started in footwear but I see a long future for myself in the industry. I’d love to work on more adult performance product.

I also value having my own design pursuits on the side, like interior design. I used to paint a lot and that’s fallen off in the past couple of years. I think it’s important to find the time to keep yourself fulfilled, to have those external pursuits that don’t involve the pressure to perform as much as your day-to-day work. The renovation project has been taking all of my energy so I think, once that is finished, I can find time to paint again. I also used to meditate every morning and I haven’t done that in a while. For me, finding the time for mindfulness and sport helps me stay balanced.

*Views are her own and do not reflect those of her employer.

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A Q&A with Biomimicry Expert Ignacio Urbina Polo

Spotlight articles shine a light on designers and design materials we admire. Our founder and principal designer Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman has encountered many talented designers throughout her career, and in our Spotlight interviews we ask them about their work, their design journey, and what inspires them. In this interview we spoke with design leader and biomimicry expert Ignacio Urbina Polo. Ignacio has his own design firm in addition to being the current chair of industrial design at Pratt Institute and the chief editor of di-conexiones, a prominent Spanish industrial design platform. He is known for his innovative initiatives across design disciplines and for his international collaborations with design schools in Latin America, Europe, and Japan. We asked him about the power of biomimicry, the importance of communication in design, and the connection between being a designer and being a musician.

*Photo courtesy of Ignacio Urbina Polo.*

Q: You are known for your innovative biomimetic studios. Could you talk about how you became interested in biomimicry and nature-inspired design?

A: When I did my undergraduate in Venezuela, there was a course called Bionics Applied to Design. At that time we understood that it was something related to nature, and we were trying to apply certain concepts from nature. It became more clear to me when I started working in the Brazilian Laboratory of Industrial Design in Florianopolis, Brazil—a significant initiative launched in the early 1980s by German designer and theorist Gui Bonsiepe and a team of Brazilian designers—where I did a specialization with the Mexican designer Fabricio Vanden Broeck, an alumnus of Ecal in Switzerland. It became clear that getting interested in the complexities of nature can be useful for us as designers. I remember learning about notions of growth and notions of systems, notions of structure. I started to understand that for the projects we do—in the sense of designing objects and trying to create material outcomes—we need this expertise that is different from engineering. My school was pretty technological. We did math and physics and focused on structure and materials. But with bionics, because the term biomimicry came later, we began understanding how we can use nature to help us in our design work.

Q: How does a biomimetic approach impact the design process?

A: When I finished my undergraduate and moved to Brazil to start working in the field of industrial design, the field concentrated on how objects communicate with people, how they function. It focused on the idea of structure and how we actually make pieces and parts and components. It focused on how we make those parts strong enough, and how those parts can be manufactured with machines. This was an engineering approach. The idea of aesthetics? We were barely touching it. There were just little flavors of it: This needs to be balanced, this needs to be in scale. We were focusing on how we construct. When the idea of bionics came along, there was a lot of thinking: What is the natural form about? How does it work? We were automatically more connected with beauty because beauty and structure: they came together. Without having to spend too much time, we were doing structure—trying to make components stable and working with the structure visually and physically—and the aesthetic was intrinsic to the natural building strategy, and came naturally out of the process. A bionic approach was solving all of the engineering problems and, at the same time, the aspects related to aesthetics.

Q: Could you share an example of a nature-inspired design or collaboration with nature that has inspired you?

A: During my time at the Brazilian Laboratory of Industrial Design I had the opportunity to explore diverse areas. The LBDI’s key areas of focus included industry projects, design promotion, and educational programs. A highlight of my experience was attending the bionics course with Fabricio Vanden Broeck that I mentioned earlier. This course opened my eyes to the works of various designers, engineers, and architects, like Frei Otto and the renowned Italian designer Carmelo Di Bartolo, known for his nature-centric research and design.

One of Fabricio’s projects at Ecal was particularly intriguing. He focused on replicating the seed distribution and ejection mechanisms found in nature. His prototypes aimed to mimic the dispersal methods of airborne seeds. His goal was to apply these natural, random distribution patterns to the allocation of medicines and supplies in urban areas ravaged by earthquakes. This approach was not only about mimicking natural forms but also about applying complex concepts of natural growth and systems to solve pressing issues. This was especially relevant considering the significant damage caused by the 1985 earthquake in Mexico City. Such innovative thinking demonstrated how biomimetic design could extend beyond aesthetic interpretation and tackle real-world challenges effectively.

Q: You and, by extension, your website, di-conexiones, are an impressive design resource. You have an extensive social media presence as a design thought leader. What are some of the things you enjoy about communicating about design? How does this tie into your position as the chair of industrial design at Pratt?

A: I knew that there was something interesting and important about disseminating design and talking about design. The more I talked about design, the more it enriched my own work. I wanted to see what was out there, and if there was a better way to do this or that. Communicating about design is something we need to do all the time. The platform di-conexiones started as notes to myself. Fifteen years later, there are more than thirty people writing and it is something that I still feel is interesting. I have my professional practice. I have my job as an educator. I work in an institution. But di-conexiones is an independent website, meaning I don’t have to answer to anybody to write what I write. I haven’t made it a business, partly because I have other businesses to take care of but also because I want that freedom. At least for now, I need to maintain this independent way of talking about design – that is why I enjoy it. It has to be for myself and for the community.

I always have the idea, I need to write about this. I do free research all the time because I don’t have to deal with anybody, and this creates a space that is more interesting to research my own ideas. I think we need that for what we do.

Q: You’re also a musician, do you see a cross-over between musical improvisation and design ideation?

A: There are many parallels we can make between music and design, though they are very different as well. The first difference is that we perceive them with a different sense. So the acoustic space is the territory of musicians and, as designers, we don’t often work within the acoustic space. Another big difference is that music is a performance art, meaning you play and then you hear it. As designers we create before you see the outcome. We create and then we see. Where I see connections between music and design is in the design process.

I tell my students that there are three aspects that are interesting to consider in design, and the same three aspects are important to a musician. When we learn to play an instrument, there are three elements that we need to figure out. The first is physicality, meaning that I need to understand the physical instrument; how to play the notes, the technique. We need to develop that technique. We need to get good because the better we are at the instrument, the more we can hear the nuances of the sound. It is the same in design. The more we do models, the more we draw: the more we see.

The second part is the content of the music, the form. The music tells you, This is rock, this is jazz. Music, because it is a language that you can write, you can learn. The music has a structure that you can play, there are typologies. I can play rock because the rock has a standard form that I can recognize. The more I study the history of music, the more genres I can recognize. We can think of design in the same way. What is the typology? What is the form, the history of the art? All of those things are within the content. It can take a whole career to understand these things. So one part is the instrument, the technique, the second part is the content, and the third part is the sensibility to get involved.

If you’re a good musician, you can play the instrument and you know how to play certain kinds of music, but you have to develop a sensibility to create music that nobody else can. The moment you play, there needs to be an energy—a sensibility—that makes you not only a good technician and a good musician but also a good performer, who can communicate with the music. That’s why we connect with certain musicians and we don’t connect with others.

At Pratt we have a 3D methodology that teaches how to observe and create the phenomenon of form and how to talk about that. That is close to what we do with music. We work with eyes and hands in design and with hearing in music, but we are also trying to communicate and create a connection. This is a special thing you need to work on that is the third part of the design process as well as the music process.

For example, we can talk about the song of a birthday party; it has three notes and the form is very simple. We can also talk about a Beethoven suite that has many parts, and each part has a momentum. Both of these demonstrate the three aspects I talked about; How do you play it? What are the notes? What is the feeling? In product design it is the same. You can design a flower vase that is very simple. It can be one material, one gesture. Or you can design a car that has 7,000 pieces. The designs still need to answer the same questions.

Because design is different from music, the response happens later. There is a timing gap. When people actually get the product is when you confirm the response. With music, you feel it right away. The way you play music, that will be the way you design. This is not mathematical, it’s more qualitative, and this is something that you learn. It could be thought of as a designer’s voice but I could even go back to more basic things. Part of what you contribute as a designer is not even conscious. The big musicians are not saying, I’m good. They just do their thing. It’s the same with good designers. They just do it.

This is part of why it’s difficult for me to talk about innovation. Every time we talk about innovation, it seems like we are saying that we are going to innovate on purpose. In reality, innovations often happen later, when somebody recognizes, Oh, there is an innovation there. But you weren’t working on that. If you do good work, there may be an innovation in there somewhere. As designers, we are close to innovation because we have that thing that innovates.

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Designer as Artist

Exploring the Intersection of Design, Craft, and Art

Design is often thought of as a practical discipline, focused on creating functional objects or systems. However, design can also be seen as a form of art, with designers as artists who use their skills and creativity to produce beautiful and meaningful objects. The art of making, whether it be through design or craft, has evolved over time. Designers and makers have constantly sought to create aesthetically pleasing and functional pieces, and the question of whether a piece of design or craft needs to be functional remains a topic of debate. This article explores the relationship between design and craft, Designer as Artist, the role of aesthetics in both fields, and the differences between handcrafted and mass-produced pieces.

Craft and design have a long history of overlap and collaboration. Many areas of design, such as jewelry, furniture, ceramics, and fashion, are also considered crafts. The difference between craft and design lies in the production process. Craft emphasizes the action of creating something with your hands, using historic techniques and a mastery of materials. Design, on the other hand, often involves the use of technology, mass production, and a focus on functionality.

Design and Art

The boundaries between design and art have blurred over time, leading to the emergence of the concept of “designer as artist”. Many designers are motivated and inspired by materials, and find joy in mastering various mediums. For example, the furniture designs of Charles and Ray Eames are often considered works of art due to their innovative use of materials and attention to detail.

Another example of a designer as an artist could be the fashion designer Alexander McQueen. McQueen’s runway shows were known for their elaborate and theatrical presentations that often incorporated sculpture, performance art, and other elements beyond just the clothing. His designs were not only functional but also conceptual and thought-provoking, pushing the boundaries of what could be considered traditional fashion design.

Aesthetics play a significant role in the relationship between design and craft. The intricacy and attention to detail that goes into creating furniture or ceramics can be appreciated when examining them. Aesthetics are crucial in communicating the intended message of the piece in both design and craft. Although functionality is often a central focus of design, it is not always necessary for a piece to be considered good design. Some designs are created purely for their aesthetic value or to make a statement or evoke an emotional response. The same can be said for craft, where many are functional, but some are purely decorative or conceptual. For example, the glass sculptures of Dale Chihuly are considered works of art for their beauty and innovative use of color, despite not having a specific functional purpose.

Craft as a Preconceived Notion

The term “craft” often carries a negative connotation, as it is associated with being amateurish or not up to par with professional design. However, this is not always the case. The act of creating something with one’s hands can result in beautiful and functional pieces. Jewelry, furniture, ceramics, and fashion all fall under the category of craft.

While the method of fabrication is a key difference between craft and design, it’s important to note that there is often overlap between these two fields. While craft pieces are typically one-of-a-kind and made by hand, there are many designers who incorporate handcrafted techniques into their work, resulting in pieces that are both functional and aesthetically pleasing. Similarly, while design pieces are often mass-produced, there are many designers who create limited-edition or one-of-a-kind pieces that blur the line between design and craft.

One example of a designer who blurs the line between design and craft is the fashion designer Rei Kawakubo. Kawakubo’s work with her label Comme des Garçons is often described as avant-garde, with pieces that challenge traditional notions of fashion and design. Many of her pieces are handcrafted, with a focus on the techniques and materials used to create them. While her pieces are often mass-produced, there is a strong emphasis on craftsmanship and attention to detail.

Another example of the intersection of craft and design is the work of the lighting designer Lindsey Adelman. Adelman’s pieces are all handcrafted in her New York studio, with a focus on the techniques and materials used in their creation. While her pieces are often produced in limited editions, there is a strong emphasis on the craftsmanship and attention to detail that goes into each piece.

The Future of Craft

There is a growing concern that craft is a threatened field. As technology continues to advance and mass production becomes the norm, the art of handmade objects is in danger of being lost. However, there are still many people who are interested in learning craft skills, and there are a variety of ways in which they can do so. While academic classes such as those offered by Pratt Institute, can be a great resource, not everyone has access to them. Many people learn craft skills from family members, friends, or online tutorials.

Despite the challenges facing the craft industry, there is still a bright future for handmade objects. Creative marketplaces, craft communities, studio rentals, and shared maker spaces are all helping to promote and preserve the art of craft. Additionally, there is a growing appreciation for the value of handmade objects, and designers and consumers alike are recognizing the unique beauty and quality that comes from a handcrafted piece.

Design and Craft: Learning from Each Other

Finally, it is important to recognize the ways in which design and craft can learn from each other. Hands-on making is an influential process that can make better designers, and designers who understand craft techniques can create more thoughtful and meaningful designs. One example of this is the success of the ceramics brand Franca, which emphasizes the importance of craftsmanship, design, and artistry in its products.

The relationship between design and craft is complex, with both fields valuing aesthetics and functionality. While craft is often seen as a preconceived notion, it can be a valuable skill that should be celebrated. As the creative industry evolves, the intersection of design and craft will continue to be a source of inspiration and innovation.

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Design News N.024

Design News is your tiny dose of design, technology and other important news, curated monthly by Interwoven Design. In this series we share the latest on our favorite topics, including women in design, technology and architecture, and sustainable design. In this issue: a tribute to women in the fields of design, science, and technology, a Nigerian architect and designer to watch (and follow!), a historic moment in plastic policy, and a cute new audio device with a retro design that takes us back to the 80s.

If/Then she can!

Life-sized orange 3D-printed statues of women stand on a lawn — These life-sized 3D-printed statues depict women who have excelled in STEM fields. Photo credit: IF/THEN®, courtesy of the Smithsonian Institute.

The Smithsonian will commemorate Women’s History Month in March by displaying 120 life-sized neon orange statues depicting women who have excelled in the fields of science and technology. Over 3 million visitors have experienced the installations since they started popping up in 2020, and the IF/THEN website features a biography of each woman showcased in the piece. The 3D-printed statues are the largest 3D printed project of its kind, and will be displayed in the museum’s gardens and in select museums in the Smithsonian network from March 5th to March 27th.

via Smithsonian Institute

Oshinowo x Sharjah Architecture Triennial

Portrait of Tosin Oshinowo in her office — Architect Tosin Oshinowo will curate the 2023 Sharjah Architecture Triennial. Photo by Spark Creative courtesy of cmDesign Atelier.

Nigerian architect and designer Tosin Oshinowo has been appointed to curate the 2023 Sharjah Architecture Triennial. The aim of the Triennial is to highlight architecture across western Asia, southern Asia and the African continent, and this second edition will focus on “sustainable architecture, urbanism and infrastructure.” Oshinowo, a socially conscious voice in the field, intends to offer a new perspective on sustainable architecture with an emphasis on adaptability. She is the principal designer at the Lagos-based architectural firm cmDesign Atelier, a firm known for socially and environmentally responsive projects throughout Nigeria and the African Continent. She describes herself as an “Architect, Designer, Curator, Creative Entrepreneur, History-Junkie & Mummy!” on her instagram profile, an account well worth following for those interested in art, fashion, architecture, and design.

via Dezeen

Plastic pollution from source to sea

colorful plastic utensils on a white background — Leaders from 175 countries will create the first UN treaty to regulate plastic production and pollution. Photography by Heiko Prigge.

World leaders from 175 countries have agreed to draw up a legally binding UN treaty that will regulate plastic production and pollution on an international scale for the first time. Passed at the UN Environment Assembly in Kenya, the resolution calls for participating nations to determine a set of universal rules and timed targets to work toward the end of plastic waste.

via Dezeen

Playful tech device for kids

Yoto Mini audio device with data cards — Pentagram’s Yoto Mini audio device is designed for children but appeals to all ages. Photo courtesy of Yoto.

The Yoto Mini is a screen-free audio device with retro styling that evokes classic 80s designs. The form is a small white box with cheerful red knobs and a card slot on the top where kids insert a card of their choice to make a music selection. The cards themselves have a clean, jaunty styling that uses bold color and charming illustrations to engage the user. The playful system, designed by Pentagram, includes hundreds of diverse audio options for kids to explore, bringing an analog interaction back to what can so easily be screen-obsessed lives.

via Designboom

Pratt presents: Woman Made

This special panel discussion will feature distinguished designers included in Phaidon’s recently published book Woman Made: Great Women Designers. The text provides a comprehensive overview of some of the most influential and iconic designs created by women. The talk is free and open to the public, and a video recording will be available after the event.

via Pratt Institute

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