Chris Arnold, Shea Tillman, and Dylan Piper-Kaiser co-teach within the design foundations program in the School of Industrial and Graphic Design. With backgrounds in community planning, engineering and product development they bring over fifty years of combined professional experience into teaching industrial design foundations.

The development of successful products which deliver beautiful interactions, are functionally sound, and are accessible at an appropriate price, requires that the designer skillfully and creatively orchestrate decisions affecting perceived value while weighing them against their potential cost. In order to teach how designers manage this delicate balance, the faculty have co-developed this three-week study, titled Flat-pak Luminaire, as part of a comprehensive sequence of studio projects for foundations-level design students. Students are tasked with the design and fabrication of a pendant luminaire, produced entirely of sheet-stock materials (limited to three 31.1” x 15.1” pieces, less than .25” thick) without adhesives or secondary processes. The luminaire was selected as the medium for this project due to considerations with quality of light, tension suspension structure, and intrinsic value.

Flat-pak Luminaire, ¼” plywood and Masonite, Bristol paper, acetate, and clear acrylic Luminaires, approximately 1’ x 1’ x 1’, 2016

Student work clockwise from top left: Corbin Leach, Jarod Long, Reed Whetstone, and Wyatt Renfro