My design work varies from the poetic to the pragmatic. With self-initiated projects, I tend to design for the domestic sphere, at the scale of the individual, and often without a lot of technology. My academic projects involve greater ethnographic research and participatory methods and tend toward systems-, service-, and strategic-design. The images below represents the "making" aspect of my design practice, often in collaboration with Stephanie M. Tharp and our studio, materious.
Born
1967
Honolulu, Hawaii
(same hospital as Barack Obama)
Mainland move
1971
Lompoc, California
Family move
1973
Pueblo, Colorado
Family move
1976
Exton, Pennsylvania
1987
US Army
Airborne School
Ft. Benning, Georgia
1989
US Army Commission
2nd Lieutenant
Ordnance Corps
Lewisburg, Pennsylvania
BS Mechanical Engineering
Bucknell University
1989
Lewisburg, Pennsylvania
US Army
Ordnance School
Redstone Arsenal
1989
Huntsville, Alabama
1990
Platoon Leader
619th Ordnance Co.
Kriegsfeld, Germany
Executive Officer
Headquarters Co.
59th Ordnance Corps
1991
Pirmasens, Germany
Post-Bacc. Fine Arts
Penn State
1993
State College, Pennsylvania
1996
Distinguished Graduate
MDes Industrial Design
Pratt Institute
Brooklyn, New York
ICFF solo exhibition of
Pratt Thesis products
1996
New York, New York
2000
Chicago, Illinois
Doctoral fieldwork
with Old Order Amish
2001
Topeka, Indiana
1992
Active Duty Discharge
Captain, Individual
Ready Reserves
1998
Start Doctoral Program
Sociocultural Anthropology
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
Furniture & furnishings
Independent studio
1996
New York, New York
1998
PhD
Sociocultural Anthropology
University of Chicago
2006
Chicago, Illinois
Sociocultural Anthropologist
and Design Researcher
Ideation Group
Haworth, Inc.
2003
Holland, Michigan
2005
2005
Visiting Designer
School of the Art
Institue of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
Associate Professor
Industrial Design
University of Illinois at Chicago
2010
Chicago, Illinois
2014
2014
Associate Professor
Stamps School
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
20xx
High School Graduation
1985
Downingtonwn, Pennsylvania
2006
Associate Professor
School of the Art
Institute of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
2010
MA
Sociocultural Anthropology University of Chicago
2001
Attended IDSA National
Conference and met
Stephanie Munson
2002
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Co-founded Materious
with Stephanie Tharp
2005
Chicago, Illinois
BRIEF BIO
Believed to be the first industrial designer to receive a PhD in anthropology (University of Chicago), in 1998 Bruce began researching the material culture of Indiana's Old Order Amish, focusing on the production & consumption of value. He first earned a BS in mechanical engineering from Bucknell University and a master’s degree in industrial design from Pratt Institute. In between his schooling, he served as a US Army nuclear weapons officer (Captain) in Germany.
After researching the future of work and the workplace for Haworth Inc.'s design research think-tank, the Ideation Group, he began his teaching career. Over the last fifteen-plus years he has been a tenured professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and currently at the University of Michigan’s Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design. He and his wife, Stephanie's run an award-winning design studio that has exhibited internationally, licensed designs for local and global companies, and self-produced commercial, experimental, and discursive products.
I am a designer, educator, author, and researcher with particular interests in material
culture, product design methodology, discursive design, design pedagogy, and consumer behavior. My education spans mechanical engineering, industrial design, and sociocultural anthropology. For over 16 years I've been teaching full-time, while also operating a small design studio, materious, with fellow faculty member and spouse, Stephanie Munson Tharp.