Tag Archives: Narbeh Dereghishian

Designmatters Presentation at TOMS

Designmatters will host an engaging program at the TOMS Give Shop and Gallery in Los Angeles on Thursday, March 31. The presentation will feature a short lecture and panel of colleagues and star students to discuss the ongoing exploration of art and design as a positive force in society.

Speakers include:

  • Mariana Amatullo, Co-Founder and Vice President, Designmatters
  • Elisa Ruffino, Producer, Designmatters
  • Dan Gottlieb, Environmental Design faculty
  • Penny Herscovitch, Environmental Design faculty
  • Narbeh Dereghishian, Product Design student
  • Jessica Yeh, Environmental Design student

The workshop is free and open to the public. For more information, visit designmattersatartcenter.org.

Designmatters - Where Art and Design meets Social Impact
Thursday, March 31, 7:30-9 p.m.
TOMS Give Shop and Gallery
1520 N. Cahuenga Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028
space15twenty.com

Ducha Halo Up for Open Minds Award

Last month we told you that Ducha Halo, a low-cost, portable shower designed by Art Center students Narbeh Dereghishian and Jessica Yeh in 2009’s Designmatters Safe Agua studio, was in the running for the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA)’s Open Minds video competition.

The top three teams have been chose by a judging panel and the general public—and Ducha Halo has placed in the top three!

They will travel to Washington, D.C., where the winners will be announced March 26 at the Open Minds event, held at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

Congrats, Narbeh and Jessica, and good luck!

Ducha Halo Up for Award: Vote Today!

The National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA)’s Open Minds video competition is now underway—and Art Center students Narbeh Dereghishian and Jessica Yeh need your vote!

The annual Open Minds contest features cutting-edge innovation by students from around the country.

This year, 15 teams have been selected to participate in the high-profile event, which involves an exhibition and video competition held in partnership with Inventors Digest.

Product Design student Dereghishian and Environmental Design student Yeh have been nominated for their Ducha Halo, a low-cost, portable shower designed in 2009’s Designmatters Safe Agua studio.

Check out their video, and vote for it, at the Inventors Digest site. Voting lasts through March 14. Winners will be announced March 26 at the Open Minds event, held at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

Good luck, Narbeh and Jessica!

Design Activists: Narbeh Dereghishian and Jessica Yeh

The following is a posting from Daily BR!NK. Interview by Lauren Rigney, photographs courtesy of Narbeh and Jessica

Narbeh Dereghishian and Jessica Yeh: Design Activists

There are two things in this world that Art Center Product Design student Narbeh Dereghishian and Environmental Design student Jessica Yeh believe everyone should have access to: A warm shower and wonderful design

By Lauren Rigney for Daily BR!NK

The next time you pick up a product and admire it for its sheer beauty, simplicity or functionality, you can thank people like Jessica Yeh and Narbeh Dereghishian. Students at the Art Center College of Design in California, Jessica and Narbeh love nothing more than improving life through innovation and design.

When they were both offered the opportunity last fall to spend two weeks at a campamento (or slum) in Chile, researching how to design basic tools that would improve the Chileans’ lives, neither realized at that point just how big of a difference they were about to make.

The result of their research and efforts is the Ducha Halo, Spanish for “Halo Shower”: a low-cost, portable tool that makes taking a warm shower as easy as 1, 2, 3 – you heat the container on a grill, pump the handle to pressurize the water, and step on pedal to let the comfort of a nice, warm shower wash over you.

What made you want to go to school for design?
Jessica Yeh: I think it was just something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I made up my mind in middle school that I just had to be a designer (laughs).
Narbeh Dereghishian: I knew I wanted to solve problems.

Why did you want to be part of the class that undertook the assignment of visiting, and designing for, a Chilean slum? That’s not typical homework…
JY: Design is wonderful, and it can be really innovative and have the potential to help people who need simple things. Just to help make their lives a little bit easier, a little bit better and more enjoyable.
ND: Exactly. As for me, I’ve done other projects related to social design, and the one prior to this one was one in Guatemala where I did water filtration for a rural community there. This was right up that alley.

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