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The Student Life an ongoing journal by Donald Lehman |
....who is Donald Lehman? |
August 31, 2002  by Donald Lehman So my summer is winding to a close here in New York and seeing as I’m feeling a bit reflective I guess you will all have to bear with me. First, I have met design students from big name schools, no-name schools, bad-name schools, and people that haven’t gone to school at all. The only thing that I thought separated them was how motivated they were. Sure you could tell some people are more naturally gifted then others. And yes, some are going to better schools then others. But, take a motivated person who has the aptitude for being a designer from a lesser known school and they will wipe the floor with someone from the top name design schools who is coasting on brand name alone. I guess the Afterschool Special Moral of the Story here is regardless of what school you go to or how talented you are, keep trying to make yourself better and get out there. Second? I am looking forward to going back to school. Man, when I first got into my internship I thought to myself: “Self, you are working in a design studio, doing what designers do who have already graduated from college. Congratulations.” Then I started learning about manufacturing, publicity, dealing with vendors… things I only had vague notions of before, are now a lot clearer. I am getting anxious to see how I can apply everything I learned to my own projects at school. I’m also finding that classes that didn’t really sound exciting to me before, such as Materials and Processes, are ones that I can’t wait to start. What else… I have decided I do not like Moss, the design store in SoHo. I had read stories about it in various magazines touting it’s fantastic array of products and how it was bringing design more into the public’s eye. So I went down there and checked it out a few times. I even applied for a job. (Which they never called me back about. Jerks.) If I had to compare it to anything it would be the MoMA design store. MoMA has what you’d expect for a museum store: popular designs of the past 100 years. Moss on the other hand has popular designs mixed in with some off the beaten path stuff that is really cool like ceramic birds, crazy glass chandeliers and a whole collection of Gaetano Pesce resin furniture. But, everywhere you turn there are signs reminding you, “Please do not touch” Do not touch?! Most of the products are behind glass! I don’t know about any of you but I have a primal need to touch everything. Design is meant to be touched. I have gone back there a bunch of times but each time I leave with the same feeling of “Man, that stuff was cool. Too bad I couldn’t have gotten a better look.” I was lucky enough to be able to stay this summer with my aunt and uncle at their apartment in Manhattan. I don’t know how on earth I would have been able to afford to take the internship any other way so I have to thank them every chance I get. Thanks guys. One of the perks of staying with them was that I got to spend enormous amounts of time with my baby cousin who was just born last December. He has a vast array of toys but it’s interesting to see what turns out to be his favorite things to play with. For example, he has this one toy that is this white plastic tube that is attached to a base. It comes with these transparent, colored stars that have a hole in the center of them so they can be put on the plastic tube. When you put the stars on the tube, it lights up and plays a noise that sounds like a wizard waving his wand. It’s really very cool.  But he couldn’t care less about that. What he absolutely loves the yellow head that is placed on the top of the tube. He picks it up and smashes it on the ground and is generally always amused by it. You have to feel sorry for those poor designers at Fisher Price that went ahead and made a really cool toy and all the kid wants to play with it is the yellow head. Other favorites of his include: produce, his fingers, and the dog. Anyway, it’s back to Rochester with me. This fall brings my junior year, classes such as Consumer Product Design 1 and Furniture Design, and my first foray in helping to run a non-profit group: my school’s IDSA chapter. "My New Favorite Company Is..." Design of the Month Club: Eva Solo Garlic Press  There are a couple design firms and companies that routinely put out work that makes me go "Sweet". Eva Solo is the newest on my list. Favorites include the garlic press shown above, the ice cube cooler, and the nutcracker (although I'm not sure how well that one actually functions). |
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