Design is influenced by "your experiences in life. Not only your spiritual, mental and physical development, but the way you're nurtured"
tion is "taking known things, known pieces and putting them together in a unique way." Sometimes one of the "known things" is a human being who has requested a customized product from a designer, as is usually the case for Tarik Omari Kenyatta, ID 72, owner of Kenyatta Design Corp. The furniture Kenyatta creates is a reflection of both himself and his client. Alter familiarizing himself with his client, Kenyatta turns inward. "I try to feel what the spirit of the product should be. Functionally and aesthetically. I tiy to tap into that energy and create from there." Whether designing for one individual or millions of individuals, Kenyatta believes that distinction in design comes from "a philosophical approach, and that's influenced by your experiences in life. Not only your spiritual, mental and physical development, but
the way you're nurtured." Ultimately, the industrial designer, after many variations on a theme, after hours of consulting with researchers, engineers, manufacturers, marketers and consumers, arrives at the culmination of the work at hand—a product, or perhaps a package in which to put another product. That sweet rush of success and satisfaction is tempered by the knowledge that "your best design is always your next one," as Lee Payne notes, with a ditto from Gavin McCalla. "There's no perfect product," says McCalla. "There never will be a perfect product. There is always room for everything in this world to be improved." • Susan Hawkins is a producer and director for Georgia Tech TelePhoto. Tech grad Wade Barrineau, director of engineering and manufacturing for Niagra National Corp., states that good industrial design must take into account such factors as the physical limitations of a product's intended sales audience.
GEORGIA TECH • Industrial Design
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