Vision on Design
Sustainability is quickly becoming a vital consideration within design. A countless number products are discarded and wasted all the time; a phenomenon I wish to reduce. I believe that the design community might be able to achieve this by shifting the focus of design from a sort of “create more and discard the old” mindset to more of a “maintain and improve what already exists” mindset. I also believe that we might be able to subtly change the way the general public approaches older products of theirs – hopefully creating less wasteful habits. I believe that re-using, recycling and repurposing old, perhaps obsolete products to be a vital part of the future of design. Naturally, this includes keeping a product’s purpose close to the original, or re-thinking it entirely.
To put it simply, I find a lot of how the public uses modern products to be quite wasteful. Many people replace their telephone yearly. Many others discard I believe that a designer should focus on quality and timelessness. Any product, created for any purpose should be designed with quality in mind. A product with quality is one that will last longer and be better appreciated by its user. With sustainability becoming a more and more weighted consideration within the design community, I believe that designing timeless quality products to be invaluable. A quality product requires less maintenance, doesn’t need replaced (as often) and as such will promote less wasteful habits.
Professional Identity
I have a background that allows me to see problems and opportunities from a broader perspective. Having lived across Europe and having attended various international schools. I have had the privilege to interact with and explore many different cultures. In doing so, I have learned to put myself into another person’s shoes.
This skill makes me a natural decision maker within a group, as I can understand how people might react to a given product or system. I am also usually a maker in a group as I tend to find myself prototyping and experimenting with ideas whenever the opportunity arises. Making has long-since been a hobby of mine – with the building blocks evolving as the years progress.
I have various competencies with respect to making and communicating ideas. Sketching has been a skill of mine that I have cultivated since I was young. Woodworking and modelling with card and foam are two skills that I acquired in my high school years. In my high school years, I also gained a foundational knowledge of 3D modelling (Fusion 360) and working with other design software. Most recently, I began to use Figma: mostly a website designing platform.
I have worked on many projects. The most notable include a rugby tee considering different kicking styles, a desktop organiser with various electronic features, a keyboard-based game for the visually impaired, and most recently, a van and shelving system eliminating a major bottleneck in the package delivery system: loading the delivery vans.
This last project has been extremely exciting for me, as I have a great interest in the automotive industry. I have grown up around automobiles and many of my inspirations come from the automotive industry. People like Christian von Koenigsegg, Michael Mauer, and Horacio Pagani who have seized an opportunity that they were presented with – and upturned the automotive world as we know it.
I gain much of my attitude and personality from sports that I do. I have played rugby from a young age. In rugby, you must be confident in your abilities, lest you receive an injury because you didn’t commit. You also tend to bigger challenges no different from small ones – “The bigger they are, the harder they fall”.
Such is the designer that I strive to be. I want to be a designer who finds opportunities others might fail to see, who tackles the issue no one is willing to tackle, and who upturns an industry, maybe even the world as we know it. It may be ambitious, but I believe that with enough hard work and a little bit of ingenuity, it’s a height that I can achieve.
