Spoon is an ice cream scoop designed for a junior ‘Ceramics For Design’ course at The Cleveland Institute of Art. The class focused on the technique of slip mold casting- an excellent introduction to materials, process and production. We were asked to design a small item (of our choice) to be manufactured in small editions. 

The class follows more or less a traditional industrial design process, from gathering inspiration, sketching, developing the concept in CAD, generating a 3D print for a plaster mold to be created from, slip casting the porcealin, and finally firing and glazing.

During a course  at college I was simply asked to design a ‘seating device’’ with the only constraint being time- 2 weeks. Without many requirements I gave myself two guidelines:

1) It had to be able to support as much weight as possible.
2) It had to be collapsible. 

Drawing inspiration from stone arch bridges, I came up with an idea for a seating device that used key stone shaped segments to hold the sitter. Instead of being held static in place, these segments sandwich a flexible sheet of stainless steel. As each panel is bent, the segments lock together creating a rigid seating surface and backrest. Not only is this construction extremely strong, but it can also fold completely flat when not in use.

Zip was originally designed as a student furniture project at The Cleveland Institute of Art. It was redesigned, fabricated and shown at an exhibition titled ‘Use Me’ with The American Design Club for ICFF, May 2011.

AWARDS

2007 IDSA Merit Award

The SAYL chair for Herman Miller leads the way in ergonomic task seating: lighter, more ergonomic and technologically advanced, SAYL is also the lowest cost task chair produced by Herman Miller. 

By rethinking every part of the chair, we were able to innovate the back structure and offer the first frameless suspension system, inspired by suspension bridges. Beyond obvious mechanical innovations that this construction offers, our goal was to remove anything that was not necessary while still delivering the high level of performance and aesthetics that the Herman Miller brand is known for.

The unique back rest suspension material allows for a full range of movement while the open pattern keeps you cool while you work, making it an ideal design for nearly any workplace. In addition, SAYL offers many choices in suspension materials and colors in both task and side chairs that will suite the taste of any consumer. A highly affordable chair, empowered with first-class ergonomics, elegant engineering and an extremely small environmental impact adds a new level of sophistication and value to the Herman Miller product offering.

With the team at Fuseproject, I was responsible for early concept ideation through refinement for manufacturing for the entire Sayl family. In addition to my contribution to the main Sayl design concept, I was heavily involved with the back pattern concept and refinement, lumbar support and side chair concept development and refinement.

AWARDS

2012 Green GOOD Award
2012 IDEA Awards - Bronze
2011 GOOD Design Awards
2011 FX Design Award Best - Workplace Seating
2011 Mix Interior Awards - Product Design of the Year for Furniture
2011 Core77 - Winner for Furniture and Lighting
2011 D&AD - Notable in Product Design
2011 Australia International Design Awards - Best of Architectural and Furniture Design
2011 IDEA Award - Silver
2010 Treehugger Best of Green Awards
2010 International Design Award - Product Design of the Year

Light has unique properties that can change one’s mood, ignite the development of new ideas and enrich moments to be shared and remembered. In honor of this, we created a high performance LED task light that is beautiful, affordable and highly functional… The Fade Task Light. The Fade Task Light works in any environment – home, office and all the spaces in between. It is fluid and adaptable with an articulated arm that can be smoothly adjusted 120º yet remains firmly in position when posed.

The intuitive dimmer and color temperature slider control on the iron base allows the light output to be precisely set to the perfect color and luminosity, and an integrated USB port in the base keeps your mobile devices charged and ready to go. 

Aside from the light quality itself, we find that motion and flexibilty are the most important factors in the world of task lighting. The problem with traditional task lights is that pivoting hinges are difficult to positon and often losten up or break over time. Recognizing that the hinge is the most essential, but also one of the most problematic components of a task light, we set out to design a lamp arm and hinge that approached these issues in a new way. 

Utilizing a sheet metal construction, the solution is able to unite the arm and hinges as a single part. Not only is the construction strong, light weight, and extremely flexible, but also significantly cuts down on the amount of material, processes and assembly used to manufacture conventional task lights.

The Fade Task Light is available in four unique color and die cut pattern configurations that were inspired by light and the organic patterns they can create.

Working with the team at Boxclever, I was responsible for the early concept, concept development and refinement on this program. I saw the concept through from the first sketch to prototypes, model making, CAD, and up to the final details including hole patterns and CMF.

Span is our vision for the modern timepiece, an elegant amalgam of analog and digital elements. Tasteful and intuitive, Span provides only the most crucial alerts and notifications on its curved OLED display. The watch is intended to be used in tandem with a smartphone, not act as its replacement. 

Made of polished stainless steel and sleek black ceramic, Span's interface is navigated with a jog dial on the bezel. Span's jump hour timekeeping operates on a quartz movement; the digital components can be recharged with a micro-USB charging port concealed in the back of the watch.

With the Boxclever team, I developed the overall look and function of this concept. I created the prelimary concept sketches and first round of 3D models. Later, I was tasked with tuning and refining details, color, material and finish. 

AWARDS

2015 IF Design Award
2014 Gold International Design Award 

When Monohm CEO George Arriola approached Box Clever as a design partner for their new mobile device, the challenge was simple, yet complex - what does the post-smart phone era look like? What is an heirloom mobile device? We responded with the design for Runcible, a beautiful circular device. The team wanted to break the black rectangle mold and introduce an organic and natural shape that also brings a unique, intuitive UI to the mobile handset. Adding natural wood and materials heightens the sense of holding a treasured keepsake that can grow and evolve as time goes on. Runcible is user and developer friendly, leveraging Mozilla’s Open Web platform.

With the team at Boxclever I was responsible for form and detail development on this program.  My role was to explore features, details and materials as well as refinement to the overall form and part break treatment. I was also involved in a packaging and accessory phase for the Runcible concept- to be realeased shortly.