Since its opening in 1993, MIAD’s Brooks Stevens Gallery of Industrial Design continues to exemplify the mission of its namesake, Brooks Stevens – to increase public awareness and understanding of design.
Opening October 8, The Brooks@20 continued the gallery’s rich educational tradition, celebrating past exhibitions, with a focus on Milwaukee’s influential design genius, Brooks Stevens.
There was a panel discussion, The Evolution of Revolution: A Century of Product Design, Thursday, October 10, at 4 p.m. with panelists Mark Dziersk (Lunar Design), Doug Carpiaux (Brooks Stevens, Inc.), John Caruso (MIAD) and Ryan Ramos (GE Healthcare Global Design), followed by an Opening Reception, 6 – 8 p.m.
Stevens was a major contributor to the visual culture of the 20th century – designing products that helped shape and define the American post World War II consumer culture, including the wide-mouth peanut butter jar, multiple logos and hundreds of automotive designs.
Three cars designed by Stevens were moved through a labyrinth of hidden doors in MIAD for this exhibit: the 1949 Jeepster, Briggs & Stratton gasoline/electric hybrid car and 1967 first edition Excalibur.
He also was a leading educator in MIAD’s Industrial Design program, having joined the faculty in the 1970s, and serving as one of the college’s donors and trustees until his death in 1995.
The Brooks@20 also featured contemporary components, highlighting current work and design processes of prominent design firms Brooks Stevens, Inc.; Fiskars; GE Healthcare Global Design; Lunar Design; and Master Lock.
Director of Galleries Mark Lawson said, “The exhibitions staged here have focused on many diverse social, aesthetic and historic issues surrounding the field of design, playing an important role in educating the public about the nature and importance of design in our culture, and in our everyday lives.”
The Brooks@20 was on view October 8, 2013 – February 8, 2014, with a panel discussion October 10, 4 p.m., followed by an Opening Reception, 6 – 8 p.m.
Learn about the companies in Brooks@20.
Brooks Stevens, Inc. believes design innovation goes beyond creating visual appeal to address the desires and needs of consumers, and those brands that serve them. This philosophy builds upon a legacy extending back nearly 80 years, and includes partnerships ranging from entrepreneurial startups to Fortune 100 companies. We are uniquely equipped with experience in many diverse industries and specialized skills including ethnographic research, industrial design, mechanical engineering, FEA testing, rapid prototyping and user interface development.
Innovation only matters when new economic and customer value is created and brought to market, and BSI benchmarks our own success on the value brought to our clients.
From Brooks Stevens, Inc.
Fiskars Corporation is a leading global supplier of consumer products for the home, garden and outdoors. The world famous organge-handled scissors are a registered trademark of Fiskars Corporation. The group has a strong portfolio of trusted international brands including: Fiskars, the World’s #1 Scissors Brand, Iittala and Gerber. Founded in 1649, Fiskars has over 360 years of product quality excellence and is Finland’s oldest company.
From Fiskars
GE Healthcare Global Design is a comprehensive, cross-functional design organization within GE Healthcare spread across 6 world class studios in 5 countries. Our core mission is our responsibility to create breakthrough innovations for GE across all phases of patient care while driving design & design culture across the corporation. We believe in gaining insights and empathy through cross-industry fertilization and experiences, and as such we actively seek to engage non-healthcare GE businesses to incubate new ideas and connections.
From GE Healthcare Global Design
Since 1984, the LUNAR team has been creating beautiful, ingenious and charismatic products and services. At the core of this creativity is LUNAR’s global, diverse and inspired team of designers, engineers and thinkers. Our aim is to make a difference for our clients and their customers, stakeholders and brands. LUNAR’s broad array of skills serve our clients all the way through the development process: from identifying the right opportunity to putting it in a customer’s hands. Above all, we are a team of inspired creatives located around the world. We draw on our California spirit of risk-taking an innovation, a European heritage of design sophistication, the resourcefulness of Asia and the heart of the American consumer in Chicago to create standout products, services and strategies.
From Lunar
Master Lock is recognized around the world as the authentic, enduring name in padlocks and security products. Since our founding in 1921, we have worked hard to earn and maintain the trust of our customers by delivering on our promise of strength and quality and by continually setting new standards for lock design, application and performance. As the largest global manufacturer and marketer of padlocks, we continue to build our founder’s passion for innovation, quality and compelling value into our expanding lines of security solutions.
From Master Lock
Car image: Scimitar, Town Car – Phaeton, car designed by Brooks Stevens
Brooks Stevens, Inc., Fiskars, GE Healthcare Global Design, Lunar and Master Lock product images provided by each company.
Brooks@20 logo designed by Jackie Altfillisch ’14
