At the Department of Product Design, students aren’t just students. They’re also inventors, artists, researchers, and entrepreneurs. Donors help transform their ideas into innovative products—and sometimes business startups.
A few of their most recent bright ideas include a biodegradable plastic, a wetsuit for a Paralympian surfer, and hip, handcrafted ceramics. These are just a few examples (of many) that demonstrate how Duck designers are improving how we live and care for the world—while they’re on campus and after they graduate.
Part of the UO’s College of Design’s School of Art + Design and headed by Kiersten Muenchinger, the Tim and Mary Boyle Chair in Material and Product Studies, the department offers a BFA in Product Design and a master’s degree in Sports Product Design.
“We have one of the highest percentages of students at the university who go to pitch competitions,” Muenchinger says. “We get to do things because of donor funding that we otherwise wouldn’t get to do.”
Muenchinger’s endowed chair, funded by the Boyle family, allows her to take risks, investing in student projects that may not find funding elsewhere. Donor contributions support these endeavors in very direct ways—for example, purchasing materials, traveling, or hiring a photographer.
Students gain in-depth knowledge of materials, generate ideas, develop prototype products, and learn about manufacturing processes while investigating consumer needs and the history and theories of design. Often, they launch startups.
One rising star is Algotek, a company developing bioplastic derived from algae that dissolves in water. UO alumni—David Crinnion, Tanner Stickling, 2018 material and product studies graduates, and environmental studies major Justin Lebuhn, BS ’18—attended pitch competitions as students and received $5,000 from the Michael and Stacy Koehn Endowment. The UO’s RainMaker program contributed a $5,000 grant, and the Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship also advanced the startup effort with support and financial
investments. The product is an environmental game-changer, already winning the company accolades in Forbes.
Chic ceramics from Peaches, a studio founded by material and product studies majors Julia Sherman, BA ’18 and Thomas Sprott, BA ’18, are selling like hot cakes. The duo was able to refine their innovative ideas into a business with $5,000 in seed funding from the Koehn Endowment.
In 2016, adaptive surfer and Paralympian Ann Yoshida came to the UO’s Sports Product Design Program looking for a partner to develop better-performing products for adaptive surfers (surfers with disabilities). UO students Natasha Anand, Drew McGrath, and Nick Cantrell developed an award-winning design that is now being manufactured by Reef South Africa.
The ideas are as diverse as the interests of each student, says Muenchinger. But the ultimate goal behind every new product is improving lives.
—Alex Cipolle, MA ’11