Please join us on Thursday, May 16, from 6–8 pm for the opening of the Graduate Thesis Exhibition, which features work in a wide range of media created by the 194 master’s degree candidates graduating on June 1. The show in the RI Convention Center provides students the opportunity to present a final body of work produced as the culmination of their experience in RISD’s 16 graduate departments.
Posted by Carly Ayres | Date Posted: 17 May, 2013
RISD ID Seniors, Henry Freel and Kaitlyn Schoeck have just launched a Kickstarter to create the Packatt Cases, high quality leather and wool felt Macbook and Macbook Pro cases. Paying homage to their roots in the Industrial Design department, the team has appropriately named themselves “Studio 161″ after the department’s location at 161 South Main Street.
Studio 161 is the product of an independent studio in the department, under the esteemed guidance of Bill Foulkes. Freel and Shoeck have been working to create a product that you can love, but, more importantly, that appeals to the Kickstarter market. Quality leather goods couples with soft grey wool and American manufacturing seemed to be the best fit.
The result is beautiful. The team has created cases that are great for carrying your Macbook anywhere, anytime. They can stand on their own and they are easy just to just throw in your bag.
The rewards? Their own product: The No. 13 (for 13″ Macbook and Macbook Pros as well as the new 13″ Retina Display Macbooks) and the No. 15 (for 15″ Macbook and Macbook Pros as well as the new 15″ Retina Display Macbooks).
Check out their project and support these fine folks here!
Posted by Carly Ayres | Date Posted: 10 May, 2013
RISD ID Senior, Wesley Chau has recently been receiving some much deserved press for his ‘Drop the Beat‘ wearable electronic drum set. Crafted from neoprene, velcro, piezo sensors, arduino, hookup wire, acetate, and fabric, the vest aims to elevate the artist’s presence during live performance. Each drum pad is embedded with a piezo sensor and is attached to the vest with velcro.
The audio in the video (below) was recorded with the vest and GarageBand.
Drop The Beat from Wesley Chau on Vimeo.
The project was featured on Fashioning Technology and Fast Company.
Oh, and most recently, you can watch it demonstrated on The Discovery Channel.
High five, Wes!
Posted by Carly Ayres | Date Posted: 09 May, 2013
The Innovation By Design Awards recognize the design world’s most inspired, impactful work.
Submit your most award-worthy project from the past year in one of the categories below; our judges will select the projects with the greatest business impact!
Finalists will be featured in the October 2013 issue of Fast Company. The competition spans virtually every design discipline—with a special category for student work! Perfect for all you lovely RISD students with penchants for design.
In October 2013, the awards ceremony will coincide with a day-long design conference, which will convene the world’s best designers and decision makers.
THE DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES IS MAY 13, 11:59 PM EST.
Posted by Carly Ayres | Date Posted: 07 May, 2013
A selection of work from the show
After what may have seemed like an eternity to many of you, we are proud to share with you photos from the RISD Industrial Design Senior Show, for the undergraduate class of 2013. The show took place earlier last month, and was met by hundreds of people who broke fire code regulations to see the work exhibited at Woods-Gerry. The open bar flowed freely and Maureen bakes cookies to celebrate the occasion.
We were fortunate enough to have Wesley Chau swing by in the aftermath to capture some shots of the work devoid of the throngs of bodies that surrounded it that night. Check out a few photos below and click through the gallery to get a better look at the work that was on display.
Congratulations, Class of 2013!
Motor bike by Toshi Sakaguchi and Lukas Scheurer
Drop the Beat, interactive drum vest by Wesley Chau
3D Printed Wallpaper by yours truly
Full gallery of photos, taken by the always excellent Wesley Chau below.
Posted by Carly Ayres | Date Posted: 06 May, 2013
Interested in being a part of the RISD-ID.ORG Team for 2013 and beyond?
Carly and Isaac are graduating and are looking for young, motivated Industrial Design students to take over the blog next year. We’re hosting a meeting on the sixth floor this Thursday, 6:15p-7:00p to tell you a bit of what that entails and create the team to carry on after we graduate.
We initially started the blog our sophomore year as a way to tell others beyond RISD what the department is all about. We showcase student projects, on campus events, faculty work, as well as interviews with awesome alumni. It’s a great opportunity to get reach out to your favorite designers to interview, as well as learn more about what is going on inside the department.
We’re looking for people to be involved at a variety of levels from admins to photographers, writers to programmers, and everything in between.
Swing by Thursday night to find out more, or, more importantly, PIZZA.
www.risd-id.org
Best,
Carly + Isaac
Posted by Carly Ayres | Date Posted: 08 April, 2013
The RISD/Brown/Erfurt Solar Decathlon team has been hard at work this break, hosting a conference and workshop in Germany. Allison Chen from the team reached out to us to share some of their recent work.
On Tuesday, March 26th, the RISD/Brown/Erfurt Solar Decathlon team invited energy and construction industry representatives to a meeting at the Fachhochschul in Germany to discuss sponsorship for the 2014 competition in Versailles, France.
In the morning, the students presented their design process in German and English, and introduced the three institutions they represent. After a Q & A session and a short lunch, each representative joined a group with one German student and one American student to give specific feedback and recommendations.
One company representative described the team as having extraordinary “spirit,” and the energy between the members as exciting. Sasha Azbel (RISD MArch ’14), says, “I think this is where ingenuity and innovation come from in the real world, when different people from different backgrounds, from corporations and academia come together and offer this one time and space to talk about ideas.”
The team is currently following-up with the companies to involve them in the R&D process.
About the Solar Decathon
The Solar Decathlon is an international competition that challenges twenty collegiate teams to design, build, and operate a solar-powered house. RISD is participating in Solar Decathlon Europe that will be held in Versailles, France in the summer of 2014. They had the category of Innovation, which was not a category in the United States Solar Decathlon. RISD, Brown, and the University of Erfurt are collaborating together on this project.
If you are a current student and are interested in participating, please email them at
solardecathlon2014[at]gmail[.]com.
Posted by Carly Ayres | Date Posted: 32 March, 2013
It’s that time of the year again! The Rochester Institute of Technology announces their annual Thought At Work: Industrial and Interaction Design Student Conference to be held October 18-20, 2013.
This year, the conference will be a three day event with speakers, and workshops focusing on the topic of “Analog vs. Digital” So far, the speaker list includes Pattie Moore, Spencer Nugent, and David Weeks. Thought at Work is a great place for students to learn, share experiences and make personal connections with other design students and professionals.
Linda Deng of this year’s planning committee told us that they aim to create a relaxing and collaborative atmosphere for everyone to exchange ideas and knowledge. The team really want students from design programs throughout the US and Canada to participate in this year’s conference, so they wanted to spread the word to RISD Industrial Design students.
Posted by Carly Ayres | Date Posted: 30 March, 2013
We love nothing more than a project you can actually use—with a shelf-life that extends beyond your final critique—and that’s exactly what Marty Laurita created here with “The Tank.”
Hand-crafted from flat sheet metal, this bespoke fuel tank was designed to fit a 1980 Honda CB750 Custom.
“Made from 18-gauge cold-rolled steel, the parts began as paper cutouts sized from a wooden buck. The steel was all shaped by hand on the English Wheel and hammer-smoothed. The construction is five pieces TIG-welded together and smoothed with Bondo. The aluminum fuel cap and steel bung were purchased and welded in place, however, the bottom bung and fasteners were all made by hand.”
“The paint-job was also done by hand; a Satin Nickel Rustoleum product with a Plasti-Dip stripe, finished off with an Acme FC710 automotive clear coat.”
Nice work, Marty! See more of his work here.
Posted by Carly Ayres | Date Posted: 21 March, 2013
