Tag Archives: The Design Accelerator

Khora leverages 3-D tech to add a personal dimension to home decor

The CNC machine creates 3-D objects from digital files

The CNC machine creates 3-D objects from digital files

In a world where personal branding has become a social and professional imperative, our surroundings and possessions have become vehicles for self-expression. And not just the kind we drive. This is particularly true of a person’s home and the things within it.  But for anyone attempting to work within an Ikea budget, creating a one-of-a-kind living space has always been more challenging than, say, buying a customized ride.

But that may not be the case for long, thanks to the team of Art Center designers behind Khora Image, a soon-to-launch start-up that will use 3-D technology to blaze a trail through the unexplored frontier of customized home décor. “We’re trying to democratize a process to everybody and get it out to as many people as we can and empower them to design their own things,” says Product Design student Jacques Perrault, who teamed up with Art Center alums Jason Pilarski, Steve Joyner Jonathan Kim and Ryan Oenning to create a company that would revolutionize the home furnishing space by providing a digital platform where consumers can use templates to create personalized wall hangings.

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Creativity 101: Harnessing the power of students’ imaginations

Photographs by Chris Hatcher, PHOT '05

Photographs by Chris Hatcher, PHOT ’05

In 30 minutes, visualize your creative process and recreate it using an 8-and-a-half-by-11 sheet of paper.

This is the first assignment in Creative Strategies, a popular undergraduate Product Design course taught by instructor Fridolin “Frido” Beisert PROD 98, INDU 08, faculty director of Art Center’s Product Design Department.

All 14 students accept the challenge. Walking to the front of the classroom, they each select a single sheet of colored construction paper and take a seat along the row of bare metal tables. As a digital timer, projected onto the wall, starts ticking, the students immediately start cutting, tearing, folding and drawing.

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Conscious Commuter mobilizes an e-bike revolution at The Design Accelerator

Gabriel Wartofsky with his electric bike at the Environmental Media Awards

Gabriel Wartofsky with his electric bike at the Environmental Media Awards.

When entrepreneurial inspiration strikes, it’s often described as the convergence of creative and commercial instincts. An innovator perceives a void in the marketplace and conceives a product or experience to fill that space and drive demand for more. But for Gabriel Wartofsky and Bob Vander Woude, that well-worn path into the startup trenches has been less clear-cut.

The partners have spent the past two years developing Conscious Commuter, a company built around an electric bicycle with a sleek design and long-range battery. However the whole enterprise is driven by nothing short of a mission to revolutionize transportation.“We’re solution providers,” declares Vander Woude, an entrepreneur and CEO of a seed-stage investment fund, who was looking to fund an electric bike company when he happened upon a web demo of Wartofsky’s senior thesis project, now the basis for their partnership, which aims to implement e-bike sharing systems in cities around the world. “We’re multi-modal. That’s the secret sauce. Other electric bike companies are not coming from the background of solving a social problem. They’re just motivated to get to a retailer and make money.”

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Art Center in the News, May/June 2013

Environmental Design student Jonathan Wook Kim with his new design “Remix” as seen in the Los Angeles Times coverage of the International Contemporary Furniture Fair and New York Design Week.

From the launch of Art Center’s The Design Accelerator to showcasing new chair designs at the top industry confab in New York, from Grand Theft Auto to anti-gun violence campaigns — here’s where you can catch up on any news you may have missed with our latest media roundup.

Bloomberg Businessweek, “Want to Build the Next Pinterest? Focus on Great Design,” June 26, 2013: Art Center partners with Caltech and teams up with Idealab to develop design-driven startups.

Huffington Post, “Entrepreneurship Driven by Design,” May 29, 2013

Bunch Magazine, June 2013: Interview with Grad Art shop instructor and alumnus Zack Stadel (GART 04).

Brand Republic, June 20, 2013: Student Gevorg Karensky’s short, Grand Theft Auto: RISE, selected for Saatchi & Saatchi’s New Director’s Showcase.

GOOD Magazine, “Reducing Gun Violence, One Middle School Class at a Time,”June 19, 2013

KCRW DnA: Design and Architecture, June 18, 2013: Designmatters’ Mariana Amatullo and Elisa Ruffino are featured in the first segment of the program about the Uncool Anti-Gun Violence initiative.

KCET Artbound, June 11, 2013: Art Center, JPL and Caltech present symposium on the emerging field of data visualization.

Los Angeles Times, “ICFF 2013 and New York Design Week: Top trends in home décor,” May 24, 2013: Environmental Design students Jonathan Wook Kim and Zara Vardayan are featured in this story about furniture companies which premiered their newest designs at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair and New York Design Week. Chairs designed by both students through the Art Center Bernhardt Design partnership are shown in a roundup of designs and trends spotted during the show.

For the latest Art Center news, follow us on Twitter at @art_center.

Say Goodbye to the Old Paradigm. Here Comes the Next Generation of Design-Driven Startups

Accelerator

Art Center  and Caltech today announced the launch of The Design Accelerator, an incubator aimed at helping startups grow by merging great design, cutting-edge technology and business strategy to create innovation. The Accelerator initially will be housed within Idealab, which is well known for creating and operating pioneering companies in its own right.

“In today’s economy, artists and designers play a vital role as creative leaders and catalysts for innovation and change,” said Art Center President Lorne M. Buchman. “Integrating technology, design and business, The Design Accelerator creates an opportunity for Art Center and Caltech alumni to expand on what they learned as students and provides a stimulating space for their concepts to become viable businesses.”

The Accelerator is an integral part of Art Center’s 2011–2016 Strategic Plan. Understanding students’ concerns about employment prospects following graduation, The Accelerator fills a critical gap by giving students and alumni the opportunity to develop their concepts into sustainable and commercial ventures—a bridge between academic and professional life.

Fred Farina, Caltech’s chief innovation officer, adds, “We know that making connections across different areas fuels innovation, and that’s why we’re excited about this collaboration. The combination of our complementary but very different perspectives in a startup team promises powerful results.”

The Design Accelerator benefits from its prime location in Pasadena, Calif., which has become a hotbed of innovation and entrepreneurship with vibrant creative, technology and business communities, enriched by the presence of Art Center, Caltech, angel investors and venture capitalists.

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