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Summary and Photos by Beth Van Why

On October 12 the University of the Arts Industrial Design program and Bresslergroup partnered to host the second Philadelphia-based Designer's Accord Town Hall Meeting. This also took place during DesignPhiladelphia, the largest design event of its kind in the nation. Tying in to the DesignPhiladelphia schedule broadened the attendee base, exposing the Designers Accord to a larger audience and widening the discussion through new voices.

The original framing for this Town Hall was "How do we move past talk and towards action? Join together with designers throughout the city to develop and begin exploring an action plan. Start responding to the questions raised around the responsibilities of designers in society." This focus of wanting to not just talk about the amazing work that is happening but to go deeper into exploring how we apply the discussion led to the development of a 3-person moderated panel. This created the opportunity to hear more about how designers are completing projects in accordance with the issues relevant to the Designers Accord and the broader design community. The panel featured three Philadelphia-based designers, working towards a more sustainable design approach in relation to their specific fields.

The first speaker was Mathieu Turpault, the head of design at Bresslergroup. Mathieu presented an in-depth look at the design of a mousetrap. One might consider this a banal, everyday object, but the in-depth presentation explored material sourcing, packaging redesign, and ultimately, moving production from China back to America. Bresslergroup's design and engineering approach reduced parts and assembly costs – cutting assembly time in half. By rethinking packaging, they were able to remove all extraneous blister packaging and integrate the remaining recyclable materials into the instructions – thus serving more function. Questions from the audience asked how the designers were able to present these changes to the client. Mathieu shared the needs of framing the information not just in sustainable carbon footprint but, often more importantly, in cost savings.

Monique Curry, founder of Association for the Advancement and Integration of Design spoke about the role of creating educational opportunities within communities that typically aren't approached with a design-minded process. She presented projects they're exploring that connect designers, design students, and communities to further interdisciplinary and multicultural learning through skills application and project exploration.

Douglas Bucci, a jewelry designer and educator, rounded out the panelist presentations. Why a jewelry designer? Doug's work draws inspiration from the human body and the needs of the internal system to operate smoothly. He also works predominantly in the computer, developing his work with CAD and cutting-edge production methods, such as rapid-prototyping. Doug presented his research and work in medical equipment, something that comes from his connection to diabetes, and the need to regulate the body's internal needs. His work is a direct manifestation of these needs and can be created anywhere in the world through direct manufacturing. Rather than producing locally and shipping his designs around the world, Doug has set up connections to 3D printers local to the final product destinations – effectively removing the need to ship or transport anything other than the digital sending of a print file. The students in the audience quickly began asking for more in depth discussion on how, as the designer, he has changed the relationship to the objects and the manufacturing methods. This dialogue, referencing back to Turpault's American-made mousetrap, helped frame the possibilities of production occurring at the distribution location and the importance of considering the entire cycle of the product's life cycle.

The Town Hall also kicked off the University of the Arts annual Industrial Design Charrette, focused this year on "Values at Work". The three-day department-wide project explored the soul and spirit of design, challenging that we need to design for within to be able to better design from within – inherent to the sustainable needs of the designer and the design. The dialogue from the Town Hall directly impacted the student work and applied the discussion into practice immediately following the event. After the short project students presented their work to guests and critics, many of whom has attended the Town Hall meeting, thus continuing the conversation immediately, and laying the groundwork for a continued application of ideas into the near future.

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