How would you describe your design approach, and what principles guide your work?

I think of any object I design as a link that connects its user to the world around them. This could mean connecting a person to a task or the people they’re with, or to something more nebulous like an emotional state. The physical object is just a means to facilitate a warm, positive experience. Everything begins and ends with the experience of the person who uses the thing.

Has being based on the West Coast (in Portland) shaped your perspective on design?

Portland has a strong culture of people pursuing their creative passions and doing so with a high degree of craft. It is also a place where you can find a balance between the energy of human culture and the beauty of the natural world. This inspires me as I strive to make work that encompasses both.

Can you walk us through your creative process from concept to finished
product?

I like to begin with some small functional problem and imagine a way to add ease, efficiency, or delight. I start sketching with that in mind, trying to build something onto that functional framework. When thinking about shapes, I consider ways that an object can communicate its purpose while taking on its own unique personality.  develop and finalize the form using physical models and CAD.

Most of my ceramics work is slip cast, meaning that liquid clay is poured into plaster molds to create each piece. This is a multi-step process, involving creating the final model, rubber mother molds, and, finally, the plaster working molds. Once I have those, I pour liquid clay into the plaster molds, then pour it back out, leaving coating of clay inside the mold. After it cures, I dissemble the mold, remove the part that remains, and then clean dry, fire, sand, glaze and fire it again, finally resulting in a finished piece.

How do material selection and sustainability play a role in your designs?

In my ceramics work, materials are largely defined by functional considerations like strength, firing temperatures, and food-safeness. Food-safe ceramic materials are completely inert and non-toxic. Ceramic objects are also amazingly durable and will last quite literally forever - unless you smash them, of course. Plastics, on the other hand, degrade over time and can leach harmful chemicals into the environment. Very few made functional objects are inherently sustainable, so my goal is to make objects that will have a long, useful life made in the least harmful way possible.

What has been one of the most challenging projects you’ve worked on, and what did you learn from it?

I was once in talks with an online retailer to make a large custom order of ceramics that exceeded what I was able to make in my studio. It was my biggest order ever and I was excited at the prospect of taking my business to the next level. I hired a domestic ceramics factory to do the production of my design. Everything started out great, but the deeper we got into the project, the more it veered off course- the factory was not able to produce the pieces they agreed to, the customer was frustrated with the delays, and I ended up losing a deposit and the client. It was a real financial and personal stress. Yet it seems so much smaller in hindsight. I learned that there’s a limit to what I can control, and there’s not much use in beating myself up about what I can't. This is basically true of the entire medium of ceramics. There are so many opportunities for something to go wrong...and it does! You just have to roll with it.

How do you balance creative freedom with the constraints of working with clients or manufacturers?

For me, constraints are what drive creativity (which is probably why I ended up a designer and not an artist). Constraints are what give something a reason to exist. Every natural object, from stars to rocks to squirrels, are the result of constraints like the laws of physics or the search for food guiding their formation. Outside of my ceramics work, I work at a consulting company that designs and develops products for everyone from big brands to entrepreneurs. In my client work, I see my job as being the advocate for the eventual users of the product - making sure that the brand’s priorities are met while maintaining the user’s experience.

Where do you see product design heading in the next decade, and
how do you plan to evolve with it?

There is no doubt that AI will have a huge impact on the field of product design. The speed at which AI can iterate on aesthetic concepts and the realism of AI visualization is shocking and will only improve. I imagine that product designers’ roles will become less creative and more curatorial, where AI will be a generation engine that spits out concepts and the designers’ role will be to choose from the heap what is relevant or exciting, steering the process towards what will resonate with other humans.

At the same time, we’ve already seen how AI slop is taking over visual communication. There’s a danger that combining AI design with cheap automated production methods will lead to ever-increasing piles of trash. I believe there will always be a strong desire for tactile handmade objects that provide a meaningful link between the people who make them and the people who use them. Those types of objects will only become more important in a less human future.

What advice would you give to young designers looking to make an impact in the field?

This is a unique time in history, when in all parts of our culture accepted practices and systems are being destroyed, often without any thought about what will replace them. It's dangerous but also creates opportunity. My advice to young designers is to imagine what could fill this vacuum and to work to create a world filled with connection, pragmatism, and meaning rather than cruelty, hollowness, and isolation. This is the time to make the world you want to live in.