David Klein uses his small office as a mural for his work. Not only does he have shelves overflowing with models of chairs and fancy lemon-juicers, but he is able to control the warmth of the track lighting on his ceiling and the flow of the marble water fountain with the click of a button on his remote control.
The assistant professor of industrial design spent several years as a practitioner, designing various things from conceptual computer monitors to children’s pedal cars. “Industrial designers are kind of more generalists than focusing on a particular area,” he says.
Klein’s professional career was varied: He helped design an electronic reading device. He spent time in Seoul, South Korea while working for Samsung electronics on their “future concepts team.” One of the mirrors that he designed can be spotted on re-runs of The Fresh Price of Bel-Air.
Klein enjoys studying cultures from different areas of the world and three months ago visited the Beijing Academy of Science and Technology, where he attended lectures and visited many manufacturing sites. “Objects are becoming more culturally neutral and internationally acceptable,” he says. “The buying public is pretty similar around the world. People want things that work and look good.”
Klein says the most interesting part of his trip was experiencing daily life in Beijing and that he’s now “more of an informed designer. I can also advise students about their projects better because I’m more experienced about different cultures.”
Klein teaches the importance of product safety and durability while designing. “You’ve got to imagine any possible, potential use that a product could be abused by. It has to be extra safe and extra strong,” he says. “People use things for a lot more than they are intended for.” For example, he says, someone will use a chair to stand on.”
Klein stresses the importance of working within design constraints. “Constraints should be your friend and you should embrace your constraints and that’s what makes it interesting,” he says.
Between teaching, consulting and working on personal inventions, Klein says he does not have the time to continue designing for a company.
“You have more fresh inspirations (while teaching) because of new people and new projects. In industry, a project can go on a really long time and get bogged down by a lot of things, but in school you move a little bit quicker through projects and you have fresh people come in,” he says.
In Klein’s studio classes, students are constantly working on new projects ranging from designing decomposable and disposable flatware to door knob grips to help people with arthritis open doors easier.
“I feel it’s more valuable to teach a class full people how to create good fitness equipment designs than to create a piece of fitness equipment myself,” Klein says. “It feels more productive.”
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