Prose Bench

George Simon's work is developed through a rigorous process of insight and experimentation that integrates materiality, artisanal craft, and manufacturing processes. His goal is to create spaces and products that inspire users to have lasting emotional connections to the artifacts that surround them - products that are altogether more joyous, timeless, and relevant.

George's career spans Interior Design, Industrial Design, Architecture, Innovation Strategy and Design Research. He has held positions in Ellerbe, William Stumpf, and Associates, Steelcase, IDEO and NBBJ. He currently heads the George Simons Office for DESIGN in Seattle - a design consultancy bridging innovation strategy, brand development, and design. George’s work has been widely published, exhibited in museums including the Cooper Hewitt and MOMA, and received numerous awards including a Red Dot Design Award and the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award.

Harri Koskinen's design work has gained him international recognition since the early days of his career. He believes in good dialog and true companionship with his clients and for this reason his company is named Friends of Industry. Koskinen shares his design knowledge as an advisor and consultant. He also worked as the Design Director of the Iittala brand for five years. Harri’s office and home is located in Helsinki, Finland. His work uniquely embodies the cultural character of his native Finland and at the same time, participates in defining the contemporary identity of Finnish Design.

Harri Koskinen has been awarded major design prizes and his clients include Alessi, Artek, Finlandia Vodka, Iittala, Issey Miyake, Marimekko, MUJI, Nikari, and Woodnotes among many others.

Kensaku Oshiro possesses a reverence for nature, born from his upbringing in the Japanese Island of Okinawa, as well as a refined sense for the human condition, honed through his urban experiences in Osaka, London, and presently, Milan. Oshiro’s work history is adorned with the likes of Piero Lissoni and Barber/Osgerby - and a sampling of his past collaborators includes Boffi, De Padova, Kristalia, Ligne Roset, Poltrona Frau, Viccarbe, Zanotta, and Muji. Most notable however is Oshiro’s approach to design, which he describes as “a way of thinking” rather than traditional problem-solving. This perspective has lead Oshiro to pursuits such as capturing the idea of sharpness, inspired by the quality of light he observed during a visit to Seattle, or the notion of discovery, embodied in the underside detailing of Kino and visible only from a low seated angle.

Laura has long understood that color speaks volumes and can be felt on an emotional level. Her ability to translate color’s conscious and unconscious influences has helped companies such as Herman Miller, Google, Samsung, and Toyota.

Laura’s consultancy Laura Guido-Clark Design is based in Berkeley, California. They believe in the power of color and texture to transform experiences. Through deep exploration of the emotional, demographic and environmental factors at play in the markets they serve, they help create products that resonate with customers and succeed in competitive markets. In 2011, Laura founded Project Color Corps™, a nonprofit organization dedicated to revitalizing urban neighborhoods with paint and pattern and in 2017 Laura founded Love Good Color®, her revolutionary new color tool, and methodology that fuses science with the senses.

Shibuleru is influenced by a passion to transform design challenges into engaging products and lasting experiences. Spanning San Francisco and Zurich, Shibuleru offers a compelling cross-cultural perspective that blends Swiss precision with a Californian spirit of optimism and entrepreneurship. Shibuleru’s founder and principal, Lukas Scherrer, believes that in order to move from a vision to a compelling and tangible reality, the designer needs to look for what people are saying even when they lack the words. This form of intelligence gathering is essential to the work at Shibuleru and allows them to help their clients find the most important problems and focus their energies for meaningful impact.

Standard Issue is a New York-based design consultancy working in a broad range of design disciplines, ranging from graphic design to brand marketing to architecture. They conceive, design and produce design experiences and systems for their clients. Founded by Michael McGinn and Sharon Gresh in 2005, Standard Issue’s office is composed of a group of diversely talented and detail-oriented individuals. Their furniture designs are directed by Michael McGinn and Henry Julier, who along with Standard Issue’s discerning team of multi-disciplinary designers, believe that the visible and honest expression of materials and details are the essence of a product’s character and the means through which people personally connect to an object.

Studio Gorm creates simple, practical and thoughtful products, furniture, lighting, and exhibitions. Their designs are informed by speculative academic research which explores culture, history and technology, and how objects and ideas evolve to fit the needs of contemporary life. As designers, they draw from their background in sculpture and craft to create works that balance function and aesthetics. Their methods are deeply rooted in the act of physical making where an object’s form evolves out of an experimental constructive approach to design.

John and Wonhee are founding members of the design collective Furnishing Utopia, where they have worked to better understand, promote and preserve cultural heritage through workshops and exhibitions. Furnishing Utopia provides an international platform for critical dialog and creation of new knowledge by investigating how design can engage with the pursuit of a more perfect way of life.

Studio Tolvanen is the product design office of Mika & Julie Tolvanen. Mika is a Finnish designer who started his own practice after graduating from Royal College of Art in 2001. Julie is an American designer who worked 10 years as a woodworker before moving to Finland in 2009 to get a masters in furniture design. Mika and Julie founded Studio Tolvanen in 2015. They design products for residential and contract use from their studio and workshop on Lauttasaari island in Helsinki.

“We do not have a dogma or ism. We believe good design starts from function (because products are for use), but at the same time any new product we design should have its own individual character. An object might be complex in its variety of functions, but it shouldn't be complicated looking. We aim to make our designs fresh and beautiful, but also self-explanatory, understandable, and quiet (never shouting). That's the challenge we give ourselves.”

- Studio Tolvanen