Blog #4 – Design Expo Learning Lunch
On Tuesday October 4, 2011, Texas Tech University has a luncheon and showroom full of different vendors for designers and student designers. Fortunately, I got to attend the learning luncheon this year and I really enjoyed the speaker. Bryan Graham an interior designer who is now a furniture designer for knoll furniture. I really enjoyed hearing a well known designer talk about their experiences as a designer.
Bryan Graham had lots of valuable information to tell while he was speaking at the learning lunch. He first started off by showing a picture on a slide show of his office in San Francisco, California. It was really neat seeing a picture of the space that the designer has all of their wonderful ideas drawn out. He explained to us that as an Interior Designer hanging things up was very important for the designer to notice any details that have been left out or changed. He had an excellent way of talking about the basics of interior design and furniture design and also life long strategy on how to work with a client, company, or with other designers.
Before the Design Expo Luncheon I did not know who Bryan Graham truly was. I knew that he was a designer but I did not realize he was a designer for knoll furniture. It was really neat to hear a designer of furniture talk about the steps and ideas that actually went into a collection or piece of furniture that he had created as well as something that I have actually been drawing this year in Dr. Don Collier’s Interiors III course. The Graham Collection is the furniture that I am most familiar with of Bryan Graham. He was a very entertaining speaker and liked to interact with the audience. It is amazing to see the change of presentations in the present day. At the design expo luncheon Bryan Graham showed his powerpoint presentation off of his iphone. I thought that was really cool because it was so casual but at the same time, a nice way to present something without staring at a computer screen and getting distracted.
He had wonderful advice for students who are getting together their portfolios and trying to get jobs in the real world. One thing I specifically remember him talking about was how in our portfolios we need to show the employer how we developed and achieved the skills we know, especially in sketching. His point to this was that as a designer, when he is interviewing students, he wants to know how this student processes and thinks through a situation. He wants this because he wants to see if the student and the employer are going to work well together while designing. If he can see the thought process of a drawing or sketch of an interior he can read the designer as a person and know if the work that particular designer produces is something that he can work with in the future of partnership in design.
The design expo luncheon was extremely influential and a lot of fun. I learned things that I do not think I would have had the opportunity to hear anywhere else. Bryan Graham was a very entertaining speaker and I learned a lot.
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