Designing Women

WHO’S HOT, WHO’S NOT: THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN TODAY’S MALE DOMINATED INDUSTRIAL DESIGN FIELD

In an atmosphere where men dictate so many of the terms by which designers are chosen, hired, paid, and their pieces put into production and ultimately distributed, what do women bring to the field of industrial design that is uniquely their own? What female personalities are leading the trend in product design and how have they broken away from their male counterparts to create their own visual language? What have they done individually and as a group to influence designers of both sexes and design history in general? Top designers like Patricia Urquiola (Spain), Hella Jongerius (Netherlands) and the Nordic group Front (Sweden) as well as Defne Koz (Turkey), Monica Forster (Sweden), Nani Marquina (Spain) and Ludovica Serafini (Italy) are more prolific than ever and are setting the trends that are ultimately picked up by others around the world and made into the items we use every day.

This panel discussion will focus on how female industrial designers from the 20th century influenced today’s crop of creatives and how today’s manufacturers are now clamoring to include female product designers into their assortment.

Saturday, March 2, 5-6:30pm, presentation and reception to follow.  Located at the Dome Theatre inside Artisphere.  Part of the month long Washington International Design Festival Featuring the exhibit, The Next Wave: Industrial Design Innovation in the 21st Century.