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.
Piggy offers a re-imaginative shift in the form, function, and meaning of the archetypal piggy bank. Saving money is commonly an act centered upon the self, especially for children—they anticipate eventual indulgence born out of prolonged, fiscal discipline. Piggy however, with stark and potent simplicity, introduces the notion of charitable giving and directs attention toward others less fortunate. Piggy comprises two ceramic vessels—a large “momma” bank for personal savings, and a smaller “baby” one that is designated for charitable giving. The goal is to inspire new generations of caring, sharing, philanthropic citizens.
PIGGY
Philanthropic savings bank set for kids
Glazed ceramic: pale pink and bright white
2009–2011
The “piglet’s” position and posture relative to the “mother’s,” invites reflection upon issues of little versus big, weak versus strong, dependence versus freedom, and lack versus abundance. While different, both vessels have the same inherent flaw—rounded bottoms. It is by leaning against each other that they stand upright and gain stability. The interdependency of humanity, whether rich or poor, young or old, or large or small is brought to the fore. Piggy offers children (and even adults) not only this message, but also a mechanism with which to contribute deliberately to our social ecology.
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.
The Dalai Lama
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what
we give.
Winston Churchill
I would rather feel compassion than know the meaning of it.
Thomas Aquinas
I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.
Maya Angelou
Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being.
Mahatma Gandhi
It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it.
Albert Einstein
And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfection.
Colossians 3:14
The life of a man consists not in seeing visions and in dreaming dreams, but in active charity and in willing service.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
In separateness lies the world’s great misery, in compassion lies the world’s true strength.
Buddha