Three Baskets of Knowledge, 2009

Lecture: Wider Horizons
Thursday, September 26, 2013
6:00 to 7:30 pm
The Glass Corner
Room 206, 25 East 13th Street

Talk will be followed by a conversation between David Trubridge and Rama Chorpash, Director of the Product Design Program

Workshop: Telling Stories
Friday – Sunday, September 27-29, 2013
2nd Floor West Wall, Room 200, 25 East 13th Street

On Design and Inspiration
“My ideas come from wild places,
edges of turbulence and renewal,
where seas break on beaches and headlands,
where land and air meet on mountain ridges.

I make forms of elemental simplicity,
as the erosion of air and water on wood and stone,
forms that speak of humanity’s survival on earth,
of life’s fragility and dependence,
of comfort in the ways of the past that have succoured us,
and optimism for a sustainable and enriching future.

I work within the limits of what I have and know,
simplicity and low impact,
natural materials and processes,
leaving a delicate footprint.”
– David Trubridge

On Telling Stories
I do not design to fulfill a practical function. I design to communicate, to tell a story, to relate what I find in the mountains and wilderness and what it is to be human. As an artist I develop forms and a vocabulary from what I see and feel around me. This is my personal language that I use to tell my story. As a designer I can then use these forms and vocabulary to build with. If I didn’t do that first development part of the process, my work would be derivative, and I would only be able to reshuffle existing forms that others have developed – what is the point in that?! Finally I use my craft knowledge to find a way to make the design. Art, craft and design: all are equally important parts of the whole creative process. All the way though this process we try to be as caring and sensitive to the environment as possible, and to pass on that sense of care within the object.