Function first

For DAAP’s Gjoko Muratovski, the goal isn’t to follow industry, but to lead

By John O. Faherty

There is a lemon squeezer on a shelf behind the desk of the director of the School of Design – the “D” in DAAP, the University of Cincinnati’s School of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning. It looks like a rocket landed on Earth to squeeze a single lemon.

The Philippe Starck squeezer was designed on a napkin over lunch on the Amalfi Coast more than 25 years ago. It is 12 inches tall, made of polished aluminum, and one sits rightfully in the Museum of Modern Art. It is that stunning.

It is also not good at the one thing it was designed to do. It makes a terrific mess, the juice goes where it is not supposed to, and there is not much of it.

Asked why it is in his office and not his kitchen, Gjoko Muratovski said nobody in his right mind would ever squeeze a lemon with it. Gjoko is a practical man and keeps the Starck Squeezer with a splash of irony because when he brings it to the classroom it is an example of the push and pull between art and design.

At DAAP, and the Design School in particular, function comes first.

“Design does not exist for itself, for the sake of the design,” Gjoko said. “Design is applied, it is not self-expression. Unless it serves its purpose, it is useless.”

Influences pervade our culture

This practicality may be why the Myron E. Ullman Jr. School of Design is both well known and underappreciated. It is everywhere you look but rarely recognized.

The famous logo on every FedEx truck, the one with the arrow designed between the “E” and the “x,” that’s by a Design School graduate. The Apple Watch that might be sitting on your wrist, that’s the work of a graduate. More Procter & Gamble products than you can count, the NASA logo, the Absolut Vodka bottle, the Nike shoes on your feet, the first Apple mouse. Yep, all of them. And the list does not stop.

The Screaming Eagle, the one on the hood of the Trans Am, that was the work of Stu Schuster, Class For DAAP’s Gjoko Muratovski, the goal isn’t to follow industry, but of 1962. Burt Reynolds loved it.

So four years ago, when the school needed a new director, it was going to be a difficult search. The person had to be good at design, of course. He or she had to love students and philosophy. He or she had to be willing to push the school forward, but there was one thing that mattered as much as all of that. The next director needed to be able to tell the school’s story. To scream it from the mountaintop if necessary.

The legacy of this school is amazing. The alumni of this school have designed America. There is not an industry that remains untouched by this school.

Gjoko came to DAAP as the very definition of “global perspective.” He was working in New Zealand when the school approached him. Before that, Australia. Before that, Asia and Europe. Gjoko (pronounced Joe-Ko) Muratovski (pronounced, oddly, just as it is spelled) is a native Macedonian who has lived, worked, and been educated in 11 countries. One of the first things he noticed upon moving to Clifton, with his wife and daughter, was that people in Cincinnati think DAAP is “nice.” Across the world, it is considered amazing.

“People here take this school for granted sometimes, and part of the reason for that is in our history,” he said. “We are very Midwestern, a quiet achiever. But in truth, the school is a powerhouse. An icon.”

The icon turned 150 years old last year, and that past was celebrated. Gjoko now will look at the school’s past to set up its future. “I am a steward of a legacy. I want to future-proof it. To translate who we are today into who we are next.” And then he paused and smiled. “I am a designer first. As a director, I am trying to design a school of design.”

DAAP’s Gjoko Muratovski

Photo by Tina Gutierrez

‘Unbelievable energy’

Jay Chatterjee is certain Gjoko is the right person for the job, and Chatterjee knows a bit about how to run a school. He was the dean of DAAP for 20 years during a time of remarkable growth and success.

“The first thing that comes to mind about Gjoko is an unbelievable energy,” Chatterjee said. “Also, he thinks globally. He is so networked in. He knows the world.” Chatterjee specifically mentioned Gjoko’s confidence, his fearlessness, and his vision. “He is very focused, very innovative. It is always about the school, and not him.”

Gjoko has an intense gaze, a shaved head and a perfectly fitted suit. He walks the halls of the

Design School noticing everything, pointing out most of it, and asking questions of students and teachers that seem to surprise them with how informed he is with their projects.

He has brought this style through much of his career, which includes highlights like consulting for NASA on the design for spacecraft habita- tion and extraterrestrial environ- ments, working with countless Fortune 500 companies, and being the original art director for the Greenpeace Design Award.

Gjoko will take that experience, plus his school’s history, as he determines how to move forward.

The School of Design, he said, was established to create designers who were able to work in the real world, but remain visionaries.

“The legacy of this school is amazing. The alumni of this school have designed America. There is not an industry that remains untouched by this school,” Gjoko said. “The school was founded with a mandate to make products better, prettier and more useful.”

As Gjoko moves the school forward, he will lean on one predeces- sor in particular. Herman Schneider was an engineering professor in the early 1900s when he created the idea of a Cooperative Education model that would deepen ties between universities and industry. The plan to place students in the workplace, so each could learn from the other, seems practical now, but at the time, it was radical. Schneider later be- came dean of what would eventually become DAAP.

Gjoko knows Schnieder’s instincts remain correct. The Design School is at its best when its ties to industry are strongest.

“We need to help industry understand how to be competitive moving forward. Not to follow industry, but to lead industry. To help set new standards,” Gjoko said. This is why much of the time he spends on the road is to work with industry. To listen to their current needs and to help anticipate their future needs. Gjoko puts it simply. “I am remind- ing them why DAAP matters. I need them to need us.”

Many paths for preparation

And Gjoko needs to make sure his students are ready to meet the new standards. A walk across the school shows how students are being prepared through ways both old and new. In Room 6461 there is a traditional loom and a 3D Knitting Machine called the “knitterator.” Coming soon is an ultrasonic textile welding machine designed for spacesuits.

Room 6455 is the “Wearable Futures Lab” which includes a $1.7 million computer, a gift from an industrial partner in France. And Room 5401 is the Future Mobility Center, which reveals the Design School’s commitment to the automotive sector. J. Antonio Islas-Muñoz is a former DAAP

“Gjoko has supported and protected us,” Islas-Muñoz said from his lab, which looks like a particularly clean garage. “Each student needs to have five internships. We need to know what we are doing so we can remain one step ahead.” Then he looked around at the students and the technology around him. “We do not respond to industry, we anticipate industry. That is a significant change.”

Gjoko has been working on making sure the curriculum puts the student in the center. “We did a proper systematic with a full oversight of the landscape,” he said. The goal was to provide students with the right instruction, the right equipment. Gjoko also wanted to make sure students could take more classes outside of their concentration. “How

The other goal is to make sure industry continues to appreciate DAAP and the Design School. Gjoko wants to make sure people can hear the roar of the engine.

“This school is not a Ferrari. I love the Ferrari, but this school is an American muscle car that you take apart and rebuild in the garage with your dad. It is a work of passion and I approach it with respect. The power is there.”