inside the designer's studio : august 4

August 4 : 7 pm

Donald Strumand Eric Bogner Senior Director of Product Design and Design Director of Michael Graves Design Group will speak about their career path, the nature of the firm and show a digital presentation of their work. RSVP required. Due to building security regulations, all attendees are required to present photo I.D. upon entry.

at Knoll Furniture Showroom : 76 Ninth Avenue, 11th Floor, New York 10011
free to IDSA members $15 non-members $5 students : rsvp here.

About Donald Strum, Eric Bogner, and Michael Graves Design Group:

Strum biography :
For the past 22 years, Donald Strum has played a key role in the development and the success of the renowned product design practice known as Michael Graves Design Group. Upon graduation from Parsons School of Design, Strum joined Michael Graves' firm as a model maker and product designer. His first project for the firm was the now ubiquitous "Whistling Bird Teakettle" for the Italian manufacturer, Alessi. Under his supervision, and working closely with Michael Graves, the product design group has grown from two designers in the mid-eighties, to 23 designers at present, who collectively handle a wide variety of design commissions for various clients such as Dansk, Glen Eden Carpets, Target Stores, Black & Decker, Salton, Steuben Glass, Delta Faucet, and Progress Lighting among many others as well as a large and ever-expanding relationship with Alessi.

As the principal practitioner of the Michael Graves aesthetic in product design, Donald Strum, Senior Director of Product Design has mentored design teams whose collective output is responsible for more than 150 million dollars in retail sales annually. He supervises consumer product design, contract furniture design, and graphic design. In addition, he works closely with Michael Graves & Associates, the sister firm to MGDG devoted to architecture and interior design on product designs for projects ranging from hotels and resorts to libraries and private residences.


Bogner biography :
Eric joined Michael Graves Design Group (MGDC) in 2000 as a design director, and over the last five years, he has worked to develop a total turn-key approach to the Graves design process, developing products from conception through product development. Since joining the company, he has focused predominantly on the Graves-Target partnership, as well as developing a substantial collection of home products for Dansk.

Prior to joining Michael Graves Design Group, Eric worked for a number of industrial design consultancies and OEM manufactures, including Eleven, Taylor & Chu, and Sundara Industries, before receiving his Master's Degree from the Cranbrook Academy of Art.


Michael Graves Design Group :
Putting into practice the belief of the Renaissance humanists that everything human is worthy of one's attention, Michael Graves has advocated a holistic approach to architecture and design ever since establishing his now globally famous firm in 1964. Breaking with the American tradition of that time, the firm has often designed the interiors, furnishings and lighting for its buildings. Today with over 1,700 products to his credit and over $150 million in retail sales of designed products for the fiscal year 2004, Michael Graves has become one of the most powerful brand names in the entire home furnishings arena. The firm’s many product awards include prestigious IDEA Awards from the Industrial Designers Society of America, I.D. Magazine Awards and GOOD DESIGN™ Awards from the Chicago Athenaeum.

In the 1990s, as the firm’s number of product commissions grew, the product design group emerged from the architectural practice and, in 2003, formally became the Michael Graves Design Group (MGDG). MGDG is organized into three product design studios and a graphic design studio, whose leaders are responsible for design and implementation, with Graves as their mentor. The overall practice remains highly integrated: MGDG and its sister architectural design firm Michael Graves & Associates (MGA) maintain parallel and cooperative practices in the forefront of design internationally.