Learning Lunch

Learning Lunch

This year the keynote speaker at the IIDA Design Expo Learning Lunch was Brian Graham. This was not Brian Graham’s first year visiting Texas Tech. Last year, he came and gave a very interesting presentation. This year was another excellent presentation about his design process and how the details can affect the larger picture. But before we get into his design process, let me give you some background information on Brian Graham.

Brian Graham was born and raised in Southern California. He received a BFA in Interior Architectural Design from California State University, Long Beach. He currently resides and works in San Francisco. Some of his most famous work is with the company Knoll. Mr. Graham has created an amazing collection that can be used in many different spaces, but the most popular product and what he is known for are his case goods.

                As Mr. Graham was speaking about his design ideas, a lot of it really resonated with me. He went through his process which included drawing out his many ideas in a sketch. One thing that Prof. Collier always seems to harp on is consistency, which Mr. Graham restated that idea by saying that if you were to mess up and make a straight line wavy you might as well keep the other lines wavy to keep the idea consistent and make it flow better.

                One thing that I was truly amazed by was Brian Graham’s design process. It was truly magical to see, in his eyes, how he started with just a simple idea or statement and come up with a well thought out, innovative design. He even brought samples of his chairs with him, and as he was talking about them, you could see his eye for detail and making the simple idea of a chair more sustainable, and ready for use in this fast moving, design changing world.