Life goes on.
Until it doesn’t
This project deals with the North American funeral ritual. Mr. Constantine examined the ways in which the dead are treated both in current North American society and in other cultures, the underlying concepts behind these ways of doing things, and whether these practices truly serve the best interests both of the dead and of the living. Through his work he has sought to create value and memory through the use of symbolic content drawn from a number of traditions, as well as to promote healing through the thoughtful use of ritual.
Bio
Charles was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. He has worked in furniture design, apprenticed for sculptor Charles Parks, and spent time in a bronze foundry. His work has been shown at the 2008 Brooklyn Designs show, and won him an exhibition space at the 2008 London Design Festival.
Charles Constantine
Beth Atanacio
Design for Life: Sharing is Caring
This thesis presents design as a communication tool used to strengthen family relationships. It investigates constructive foundations for interaction by positively highlighting diversity and creating commonalities.
Bio
Beth graduated from SUNY Buffalo with a BFA in Communication Design. After several years of interactive and print design, she missed getting her hands dirty and entered Pratt’s ID program. She loves to explore fogotten places, indulge in desserts and go dog-watching; though not necessarily all at once.
Chang-Yen Tsai
Structural Patterns
Any visual phenomenon can be recognized as a two dimensional pattern, and anything physical can be seen as a structural system. In the fields of pattern design and structure systems design, designers start from different perspectives and work in very different processes. Interestingly enough, the results of both are similarly recognized as continual patterns. However, patterns are usually graphic designers' last resort for filling awkward empty spaces, and in some circumstances patterns are only attached on the surface but not related to any functional aspects. On the other hand, the process of structure design is always involved with function and efficiency, but often shows a lack of aesthetic thought. There are some architects now focusing on designing sculptural structure systems, but pattern design in these circumstances is still generally an afterthought and not closely related to the entire design process.Therefore, in this thesis, I examine both structural systems design and pattern design, and hope to find a universal principle to combine these two fields.
Bio
Chang-Yen Tsai studied fine arts as an undergraduate and then became a public artist in Taiwan. He tries to incorporate his full range of life experience into his work in the field of industrial design, and is always looking for the perfect combination of functions and aesthetics in order to improve quality of life.
Carolyn B. Schaeberle
Beyond the Tap: Effectively Implementing Drinking Water Solutions in the Developing World
Over 2.2 million people, mostly in developing countries, die each year from diseases associated with poor water quality. There are a vast number of organizations that have developed viable technologies to supply a safe drinking water source to those affected by the world water crisis. However, providing clean water alone cannot eradicate the problem. In fact little has been done to address the problems associated with what happens “beyond the tap” (after the water has been purified) and how people interact with it. To place these concerns in context I have traveled to to rural Honduras where I observed the issues associated with the transportation and maintenance of clean water. I designed solutions to directly improve their existing methods. It is my intention that these solutions can be implemented around the world.
Bio
Growing up in New Hampshire, Carolyn dreamed of becoming a ballerina. Twenty years later, she hung up her pointe shoes and picked up a power drill. After receiving her Engineering degree from Smith College she went on to work for DEKA, developer of the Segway. She realized that she was more fascinated with how people interacted with the technologies being developed rather than the technologies themselves.
Grace Souky
Objects & Separation:
Discovering the Power of Things
Objects connect us with the world. They are how we choose to communicate with others and a big part of how we are perceived. Could it be that we appreciate certain objects entirely based on their emotional value? Do objects have this built-in significance, or do we give them their meaning? Is there a relation between objects and separation, and could things bring emotional comfort in times of need?
Bio
Born and raised in Venezuela to Lebanese parents, Grace currently has a serious love for New York. Though formerly trained as an architect, she has come to the conclusion that empty spaces are an absolute bore, so she has taken it upon herself personally to fill them with the most precious things.
Jin Chung
Poetry Without Words: The Role of Intuition in Design
How does a word, a note or a simple line echo emotions in your heart? You often hear people speak of the poet's intuition, the musician's intuition, the artist's intuition, even the scientist's intuition. What about the designer? Do designers not utilize intuition in their creative processes? In design we often hear about process and very little about intuition and the origins of the designer's creativity. Is it because design is midway between art and the sciences, creating a sense of insecurity that drives us to ground ourselves in process and justification? Or is it because intuition is simply misunderstood?
Bio
“Born in LA, grew up in Europe (Rome and Paris mostly), went to Brown University, worked a couple of years in Asia ( and ), now my 7th semester at Pratt.”
George H. Estreich
Transformation: Mutable Design Conforms to a Variable Life
A product that fulfills a variety of needs is satisfying and less prone to obsolescence. Using transformable design, products can better accommodate various tasks and circumstances, often performing more specifically and therefore more reliably. This thesis examines shape-shifting design, its benefits, and its drawbacks.
Bio
George Estreich is a graduate of Binghamton University and former science teacher. Alongside his passion for design, he is an avid outdoorsman, musician, photographer and explorer.
Omid Sadri
Packaging That Cares: Food Packaging and Overeating
Today’s “super-size” culture has led to many concerns about our eating habits. Present packaging is challenged by the ever growing issue of overconsumption and its impact on health. Today’s on-the-go lifestyle demands food packages that simplify, inform, and enrich user experience. This thesis explores package interaction and its role in altering eating habits. Through exploration of new forms of packaging that communicate proper portions and heighten awareness of consumption, the definition of trust and honesty in food packaging is redefined.
Bio
Iranian-born Omid Sadri received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from NJIT and worked as an engineer before following his passion for graphic arts and design. While freelancing as an illustrator and graphic designer, Omid operated a confectionary retail business in New York City. In 2006, he decided to further pursue his passion for design and began his graduate degree in industrial design at Pratt Institute.
Beth Fuller
Fireproof: Redefining
The Smoke Alarm Experience
Thousands of people die every year in fires at home during which there was no operating smoke alarm. Most of the time, the alarms fail to operate not because they are broken, but because their owners have disconnected them or taken the batteries out. By studying how people interact with their smoke alarms, I have explored reasons why people knowingly disable their alarms, even though doing so puts their lives in danger. Ultimately, my thesis redefines and reprioritizes various aspects of the smoke alarm experience to create solutions that make people feel happier, calmer, and safer.
Bio
Beth was born and raised in Boston by amazing parents. Her lifelong partners in crime are her triplet brother and sister. After earning a degree in urban planning at Cornell, she loved the idea of positively influencing people through citywide planning initiatives. Beth’s education in industrial design is yet a further exploration of ways to impact people to make their lives better.
Rui Lu
Bond, Emotional Bond
(In a Modular Style)
A long-lasting relationship developed by consumers with their products is not only a tremendously rewarding accomplishment for designers, but more importantly, a move against the environmental damage caused by short product life spans as well. To achieve this, the key is to create an emotional bond between consumers and products. While there are many ways to stimulate emotional bonding, modular design provides a unique opportunity. Being flexible on configuration, modular design allows numerous possibilities in promoting self-expression, social pleasure, a personal sense of accomplishment and a lasting appreciation, which all contribute to a stronger emotional bond. This thesis develops a design strategy to create an emotional bond through modular design, and test it by designing everyday objects that people will refuse to discard.
Bio
After a bachelor’s degree in industrial design and two years as a cell phone designer in China, Rui wanted to take a step further. After two and a half years his foot is finally about to land, and now he’s ready to take the next step.
Lan Lin
What Do You See?
Color is everywhere in our daily lives but does everyone see it? I didn't for quite a long time until the year of 2002. In 2002, I started to take art and acting courses and I suddenly woke up to the sense of color. There are many New Yorkers who say that New York City lacks subtlety in color and is mostly dark: buildings, streets, subways and signs, etc., are dull, grey and depressing. How can we designers improve this situation? How can we designers change people's impressions of NYC? My concept is to "break the rules" and hopefully to use this idea as a tool for other designers and artists to use in their works. Challenging thought patterns makes designers and artists open their eyes, and allows all people to see the world differently. We are in the new era of color!
Bio
Born in Beijing, China, Lan has now lived in NYC for the past twelve years. With a background in Chinese Literature and Computer Science, she has worked across a number of different fields, including Advertising, PC Game Design, Touch Screen Kiosk Development, Programming, etc. Lan is currently a part-time radio DJ in NY and teaches both language and art on the weekends. In studying Industrial Design, she is finally pursuing her dream of self-realization as a thinker and a designer, constant in her passion for life. Lan loves what her thesis advisor, Frederick, once said: “as a designer, you have to be a child, who has a sense of responsability.”
Jerod Hugghin
The Soul of the Foot: Innovations in
Footwear Inspired by Human Biomechanics
The human foot is an amazing piece of anatomical design. The subtle movements and arched structure of the foot make it possible for humans to stand upright and propel themselves while supporting and balancing the weight of the body. However, footwear has been developed throughout history as rigid soles strapped to the feet. This basic construction continues to this day, with ergonomic innovations limited to inserts or additions to the flat, rigid soles that actually harm the feet. In this thesis, I have extrapolated the basic skeletal structure into a new form of a shoe sole. One which moves with the foot, an innovation that could change the way shoes work.
Bio
Jerod was born and raised in Austin, Texas. He received a Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering from A&M University and for a time, worked as in the oil and gas industry in Houston. He moved to New York to pursue an Industrial Design career, a field which he hoped would allow him the creativity and expression he always wished for.
Tiffany Burnette
Solo
This thesis explores various ways in which comfort and security can intersect to aid a woman traveling the globe alone in having an amazing, meditative, and life-altering experience. 10 years ago a statistic for women traveling alone did not even exist. Today women travel solo for business, making up about 50% of business travelers worldwide, for pleasure, and often times both. With an overflowing amount of people in the world, women must exercise safety and knowledge of place, while also having a pleasurable and memorable travel experience.
Biography
As a graduate of The University of the Arts with her Bachelor degree in Industrial Design, Tiffany holds a patent from her previous life as a Pharmaceutical Package Designer. Now, Tiffany is pursuing her Master's degree at Pratt with an interest in trekking the world to explore herself and the world around her.
Won Young Cha
Nature creates, People design
Natural forms evolve. Nature in its evolution "designs", grows, encourages and rejects in the service of life. Nature makes what it needs in an ever adaptive way. Designers can learn from these patterns. We learn the lessons of nature and follow its intelligence in developing and using tools and in creating things for function and beauty. As humans, we have moved beyond problems of survival, but we have created other problems; how to make our tools beautiful so we appreciate doing everyday things.
By observing and interpreting nature we can see a wealth of forms that can be an inspiration for our designed objects. Structures, shapes, patterns, and materials all can be used to make our objects more enjoyable and thus more useful. By examining variations and repetition, many new and fun forms can make everyday tasks exciting.
Biography
Won Young Cha received her first degree in journalism in Korea. She then studied fine art in New York prior to enrolling at Pratt for Industrial Design.
Keen Gat
Souvenirs and Brooklyn
Souvenirs and Brooklyn are the central themes of my project. Through reading and interviews, I’ve been investigating some of the ideas related to souvenirs: place, narrative, scale, nostalgia and desire are a just a few. I am using Brooklyn as a sort of case study to inspire design experiments (and provide a reason to hang out in Coney Island).
Biography
Since college, where my major was Geography, I’ve spent most of my time trying to make designers’ ideas come true in the form of props and displays. I’ve really enjoyed my time here at Pratt learning about where those ideas come from.
Julia Greene
Making the Cafeteria Cool: Setting the table for student empowerment and community development through design
The cafeteria system in New York City public schools is the largest in the country, serving over 850,000 meals each day. However, it is still largely unused by the students, especially at the high school level because it is simply uncool to go there. Students who cannot afford to buy their own lunches often forfeit nutrition for the sake of hanging out with their friends. I am working with art students at Vanguard High school, a public school in Manhattan, in order to give the students ownership of their space and make going to the cafeteria a fun, viable alternative to McDonald's and the local pizza place.
Biography
Julia will probably bake cookies for the thesis presentations. You should come see her presentation, if only for the baked goods.
Yu-Shan Huang
The Message of Carrying
Subways spread all over New York city from Queens to Brooklyn,and from Bronx to JFK. It is the major transportation mode for the New Yorker. Therefore security is a critical issue to address. By studying how people carry their belongings and human behavior on subway, it is the goal of this project to create a safer way to carry passenger's belongings on the subway.
Biography
Yu-Shan graduated from Shih-Chien University Fashion design department in Taiwan. With her love for design and fashion, she aims to be the connector between industrial and fashion design. Through her double majors and culture backgrounds, she is able to combine function and aesthetic in her works.
Carolina Kim
Domestic Intelligence: Objects for Thoughtful Living
Historically, we have developed new technology for the purpose of “faster results” and “greater efficiency” however these time saving innovations have resulted in more of us spending our waking hours working and commuting and less time at home with family and friends. Using ecological systems as a reference point and analogy for the home, my goal with this thesis has been to create a seamless network between users and ordinary household objects to encourage us to move more thoughtfully through our everyday acts and refocus on the importance of home.
Biography
With prior degrees from the University of Pennsylvania (philosophy) and Parsons School of Design (fashion design), Carolina is ready to hang up her collegiate stripes. She has plans to stay in this weekend with her boyfriend, a book and a big glass of wine.
Kandice Levero
Hold On
At Pratt I have studied Solid works, slip casting, machining, furniture design, three-dimensional philosophy and a lot more. I wanted to show all of it off in combination with my own personal aesthetic in a small video with interaction set to music. If you could design three minutes of a film what would it look like? I mean control every tiny detail. “Hold On” is a thesis about gorgeous little things and their place in a film. Working with symmetry of the number six I have designed a set for a short movie. What can a set specifically designed for six look like? I hope everyone is at least delighted and surprised by the results of this colorful experiment. This is my second video project in what I hope becomes a larger collection of thoughts and reflections on design. Please see all the work at nonejusto.com. Email if you want to answer that three minute question.
Biography
Kandice Levero is trying hard to remember that the world is big and she is small. She wishes life was a Hemmingway book or maybe a Fellini film. Or maybe a little yellow glass marble, or a berry bowl, or a big pink wedding cake.
Ebbin Martin
Trash to Treasure
While I would like to say that I learned alchemy, or acquired the midas touch for this thesis: "Trash to Treasure", the truth is more pragmatic. I foraged in trash bins, dumpsters, Goodwill and the street for raw materials with which to design 'new' products. Research, interviews and experimentation informed my design process, leading me to the composition of 'useful' objects made up of cast-off waste. You, the listener/viewer/reader, have indirectly taken part in this thesis as a 'disposer of objects', the very fuel of my exploration. Thank you for that!
Biography
I grew up in a liberal college town in the Midwest. The son of one Artist/gardener/beekeeper and one Biochemist/smoker/workaholic, I was exposed to enormous ideas - both fictional and seemingly fictional. I spent (too) many years as a student, bicycle mechanic, cook and welder before realizing 'Industrial Designer' was a job title, and that it described exactly what I really enjoyed doing most: making things. As a student of Fine Art, I had to make things have a function; as a student of Engineering, I had to make things look good; as a student of Anthropology, I wanted people in 10,000 years dig up something I made. To me, Industrial Design is the natural intersection of these three disciplines: Art, Engineering and Anthropology. The studies of beauty, function and need mixed in a blender to produce shampoo bottles, pint glasses, and tennis shoes. I cant wait to get started.
Jason Neufeld
Design Pollination
Did you know that Brooklyn was once commonly referred to as "the Vegetable Capital of America"? Today, interest in agriculture can be observed in the flourishing farmers markets and increased availability of locally produced food. With research that ranged from picking tomatoes at a community farm in Brooklyn to beekeeping in Manhattan, my thesis focuses on pollination and its connection to food production. My concepts and designs explore urban agriculture and the relationship we have with bees.
Biography
My interests oscillate between art and science. I view industrial design as a medium that integrates these two pursuits. As an undergraduate, I studied environmental science at the University of Texas. In Austin, two friends and I formed Redstart Paint Design, a partnership specializing in decorative murals.
Dimitri Sideriadis
Presence: Using low-tech methods to set up emotionally satisfying high-tech communication experiences
My project is about satisfying our most basic communication wishes. Simple experiments and emotional investigation lead to personalized communication objects that express the nourishing nature of informal intrapersonal contact.
Biography
I grew up and went to school in Connecticut. Then I moved to New York with my wife, Julie. I want to design meaningful experiences.
Noel Spangler
A Serious Need for Play: Design With Unity In Mind
War, terrorism, poverty, global warming, corporate greed…According to the wisdom of the ancient seers and modern-day mystics, the world is fast approaching a ‘crisis point’ in which the fate of humanity will depend upon its ability to awaken from its current ego-induced “trance” and enter into a new dimension of consciousness based on a more unfied perception of reality. This thesis proposes a model of “play” that is non-goal-oriented, unstructured, and paradoxical in nature, which is intended to expand awareness by loosening the mental boundaries that reinforce our sense of separation from ourselves and the planet.
Biography
Noel Spangler was trained in fine art and earned his Bachelor’s degree in film from Vassar College. At Pratt, he designed whimsical products and experiences for both children and adults. Noel’s study of philosophy and his practice of Transcendental Meditation has also served to stimulate his curiosity about the deeper nature of reality.
Heather Taylor
Dressing Everybody
Dressing EveryBody combines two great passions: a love for clothing design and a desire to help others. Like the rest of us, people who are physically challenged have a need for clothing that is functional, as well as fashionable. This thesis studies how clothing is put on and taken off the body and specifically focuses on the needs of people with limited hand dexterity, upper body limitations and the lower-body clothing issues of wheelchair users.
Biography
Heather has always wanted to make clothes and her drive to help others has led her to enter a design field where the two can be combined. Prior to coming to Pratt, Heather studied product design at Parsons School of Design and worked in Interior Design for six years.
Kenzan Tsutakawa-Chinn
What kind of cultural and visual ideas can we mix and share together to create a common vernacular? This is a story about some LEDs and my gramma. Every good idea comes from my grandmother. I took some stuff from my gramma and put some lights in it. A lot of lights. Good ideas can come deep memories, and some deep memories are shared. Can we recognize common "phrases" among us to discuss our station in life? How can we use these visual ideas and phrases to share and comment? I tried to do this with light.
Biography
Kenzan Tsutakawa-Chinn has made furniture in Seattle, textiles in Copenhagen, and a mess in New York. He is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, and a native of the Pacific Northwest. He's an Eagle Scout who loves his gramma and knows how to tie many knots, including a falcon's nest. KTC hopes that some day he can do to design what KFC has done to chicken.
Miralba Yepez
Spank!: Fetish Furniture
This thesis focuses on creating and designing fetish furniture that can accommodate a couple’s alternative lifestyle.
A married couple have asked me to design them furniture that can be used for both every day occasions and for after hours play. Furniture that is functional, attractive, and can be transformed from day furniture to fetish furniture. Through art, film, and design, sex has always influenced us and will continue to do so. We need to be open-minded within our own sexual culture to help us better understand others’.
Biography
Born in Ecuador and raised in Queens, New York since she was a little tot. Miralba has always wanted to make furniture and her interest for the weird and unusual have driven her to become a designer. She has a BFA in Graphic Design from the School of Visual Arts and hopes with her new skills derived from Pratt, she will start her own furniture business for the weird and unusual.