Research Team

WHY DID YOU APPLY TO THE ITALIADESIGN FIELD SCHOOL PROGRAM?

Even during my first year studying design at SFU I was aware of the italiaDesign school through the effect the students who had participated in prior years had on the culture of SIAT. When these students returned they brought back with them a level of awareness, and intelligence in their discourse that filtered down into the rest of the students in the school through contact and discussion with them. As a result of this, participating in the field school became a goal of mine very early on in my own studies. I wanted to experience the intensive immersion in design and culture that they had experienced and I wanted to bring the experience back to the school in my own way as well.

WHAT I LEARNED

About design?
That people should always be one of the first considerations in anything that is designed and that good ideas should drive what is being done. If the idea is strong then good form and good systems follow more smoothly and more naturally.

About innovation?
That innovation requires a dialogue and flow of ideas to truly take off. The most innovative and inspiring design we saw in Italy was coming from designers who were actively involved in the schools and the ideas and experimentation that was being pushed by new generations of designers. The established experience was allowed to blend with new ideas and a greater and more interesting range of ideas and innovations seemed to grow from this.

About cities?
That they need to be about people and designed for people. That great architecture can be inspiring but it is the spaces between the architecture, whether bad or good, that make a city what it is. A city is not a place to put your car. It is a place to live your life, and it should be a place where you would be happy to live.

Did you learn anything that significantly changed how you think? Or how you design? Or even, that changed your life?
The main point that now sticks with me whenever I think about any design is that it must always take people into account and it is how people will use or experience an object, space, or system that my mind leaps to now whenever I begin to process a design.

The main thing that always come back to be when I think about this is how much broader and more detailed my frame of reference is when I think, experience, and design. It is one thing to study and practice design and design process here at home. To attempt the same studies in such a completely different context, and to see the inner workings of so much high level design process is quite another. This has given me an awareness of the range of technique, and a range of what is possible that I could never have truly understood through my studies at home.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STUDYING ABROAD AND STUDYING AT HOME

None of your accustomed habits and distractions work abroad. The culture shock of a new place can be its own distraction to be sure, but the level of immersion in the ideas and the history of what is being studied cannot be matched. It is one thing to read a research paper about urban design and space in Italian towns. It is quite another thing entirely to stand in that Italian town and experience and study the space and design first hand.

FAVOURITE MOMENTS

Switzerland and Weil am Rhein. It seems a bit odd sometimes that with all of the incredible experiences, interviews, meals and places in Italy that the time that stands out as my favorite would end up being a weekend pilgrimage to a tiny town in Germany. Despite the fact that it wasn’t an official part of the Italia Field Study though the trip up to Weil am Rhein was an opportunity to experience and study a collection of contemporary architectural spaces that could not be found anywhere else. And as with many great moments, some of the best moments of the trip were the ones we never expected. This was the case with this excursion as a whole, which was planned on the spur of the moment, and a couple of moments within the trip as well. A decision on which road to take led us into a winding trek through the alps that we had never planned on which resulted in us seeing hill villages and mountain passes that were like nothing we had ever encountered. This culminated in an unexpected (and likely ill advised) 4 hour hike up mountain peaks in the Grimsel Pass where the experience of the wind ripping past us and clouds forming as they reached our perch remains one of the greatest experiences I have ever had.

MY TRANSCENDENT MOMENT

"Of my time in the cortile of Florence, sitting in an old wooden chair in the monastery of San Marco and listening to the compositions of Hildegard of Bingen was the most memorable by far, but my time at Santa Croce and San Lorenzo will also stay with me for a long time to come."

Download this and the rest of my Florence moments here

MOST MEMORABLE INTERVIEW MOMENT/QUOTE

I could go on about the people we interviewed for ages but I will try to be brief. My own interview with Franco Dominici from Segis was incredible and will never be forgotten. He is unique. For a person to possess that much knowledge and charisma simply isn’t fair to the rest of us.

The time we spent at Michele Rossi’s architectural firm Park Associati was one of the most memorable times for me because he was one of the few designer’s we were able to interview who is primarily concerned with the design of spaces and buildings. It was an amazing thing to see how his firm’s experience designing interiors and installations in the early portion of their career has informed their work as they have begun to design a range of buildings. I was able to acquire products that were designed by some of the designers that we interviewed that will inspire me as the years go on (and I will get that Danese lamp no matter what it eventually costs) but unless I ever become famous enough to order a building to be constructed I will have to keep my memory of that interview alive by using what I learned in my own design work.

FAVORITE PLACE/SPACE

Although the energy and neighbourhoods of Rome swiftly made it one of my favorite places to be during my time in Italy it was the Museo Marino Marini in Florence that really struck me and became one of my favorite spaces. I have always been curious about the ways that the interior spaces of churches can feel and affect us and with the Museo we encountered a space that had begun as a renaissance church but had since been put to a variety of uses, the most recent of which being as an art museum. (I cannot currently articulate what made this space so amazing… I will return to this question in a while.)

MY FAVORITE MEAL(S)

Obika Mozzarella Bar for the food. Nothing else ever tasted that good. Carbonara in a tiny trattoria in Rome for the company of the entire Italia group eating and chatting together.

MY CAPTURED MOMENTS

ADVICE FOR UPCOMING ITALIA DESIGN STUDENTS

“Be excellent to each other.”

Seriously, this study is a huge, incredible, and life-changing event and you are going to find yourself experiencing it side by side with 11 other incredible colleagues. Live for the learning and the work while you are there and enjoy your team because it will never be the same after you leave.

Also, there is a Sandwich shop next door to your apartment in Rome. (I think it is called Amarcord) The sandwiches are great, don’t cost much, and the family that owns the place is kind.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

I am a 3rd year student currently working towards a Bachelor of Science in Interaction Design with aspirations of carrying on towards a Master’s Degree in the future.

CAREER GOALS AND INTERESTS

My career goals have always been split between my interest in the applied practice of design and the methods and techniques of teaching it. Even as I attempt to carve out a place for myself designing systems and spaces that are focused upon how they are used and experienced by the people that surround them I will likely continue to attempt to balance my work with continued learning and teaching.

PERSONAL BACKGROUND

Vancouver born and raised I have been exploring the city ever since. During the period between high school and my enrollment in the School of Interactive Art and Technology I worked many odd and interesting jobs, the most memorable of which was my 5 years spent as a Florist in Yaletown where I worked to convince everyone in the neighbourhood that they couldn’t live without flowers in their house. Eventually though I decided that I needed to do something that would challenge and inspire my mind and so I chose to return to University and began my design degree.