Launched in 2021, Product Design Essentials is an education programme by Wallpaper*, Yellowbrick and Parsons School of Design. Built on compelling video lessons, the course forms a guide to the essential things to know and consider when approaching product design, and covers all elements of design production, from conceiving ideas to manufacturing and marketing products, and getting them to customers.
Learning to design: expert advice from the Wallpaper* community
A Wallpaper* asterisk bench, made by Jean Nouvel with Neal Feay and Sapa for Wallpaper* Handmade 2016, photographed in the workshop at Neal Feay Company in Santa Barbara.
Throughout the course, designers from the Wallpaper* creative community pitch in to share insight into their processes and approaches to the profession. Through a series of engaging classes, leading design figures such as Alex Rasmussen of creative aluminium brand Neal Feay, and designer and entrepreneur Lee Broom give us a glimpse into their world and offer advice on turning a creative process into a product.
Wine chillers by Joe Doucet and Neal Feay Studio for Wallpaper* Handmade 2013
‘I would say very emphatically, get off of the screen, get into a shop, touch things with your hands, bend them, break things, take them home,’ says Rasmussen. Based in Santa Barbara, California, he took over his family’s company taking anodised aluminium to incredible creative heights through collaborations with the likes of Marc Newson and Jony Ive, and Louis Vuitton.
In his lecture, Feay discusses the factory space as a place where to test the boundaries of creativity.
Left, ‘Orion’ pendant set. Right, ‘Eclipse’ table lamp.
Working as a designer as well as leading his eponymous brand, Lee Broom is able to express the intricacies of working between creativity and business. In the course, he stresses the importance of creating imagery to present a product, showing designs both in a practical and inspirational way. ‘You need to be thinking about it at the very beginning of products,’ he says. ‘You need to be able to show your product in a different light in different environments.’
Shot on the roof of Nifemi Ogunro’s Brooklyn studio are her ‘Tope’ coffee table, left, inspired by Ogunro’s brother; and a shelving unit/plant stand in wood and concrete, right.
On the course, participants also hear from Nifemi Ogunro, a US-based emerging designer whose work is largely informed by her personal experiences and her family. Ogunro explains the importance of distilling inspirations into one’s products, learning to bridge one’s creativity with clients and the final user. ‘What we can do is be honest to the process,’ she says.
Meet the course contributors here.
To get a feel for the course, download the full brochure complete with FAQs.
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