Residency Artist - Design

Patrick Walker

809 Collins Avenue
Marysville, OH  43040
Phone: (937) 645-2358
Fax: (614) 337-9499
Email: patrick.walker@rdoh.nestle.com

As an Industrial Designer, I work in the vast middle ground between fine arts and engineering, combining the whimsy of the dreamer, with the passion of the inventor and the pragmatism of the engineer. In a residency, my goal is to help students better understand the objects and environments they are surrounded by everyday. I want to help them grow as an informed consumer and understand the process products on store shelves go through to get there. I challenge the students to objectively and holistically view the consumer experience and ask the question "How would I make it better?" In a recent residency, I worked with 4th and 5th grade students to redesign their school desk to aid the learning experience. The students researched and identified problems, not only among their classmates, but with faculty and administrators. Through the integration of technology, materials and ergonomics, students imagined what the future of learning could become to improve everyone's experience at the school. My roll was to facilitate the students' research and imagination in developing creative solutions to the problems they identified. From hover-chairs that took them around the school building to interactive multi-touch computer screens on every desktop, wall and surface, students took it upon themselves to identify the most important problems to solve.

From my professional experience, every object we interact with is a piece of art. Like a sculptor creates a new work of art for an individual, an Industrial Designer uses art, science and creative problem solving to develop new product concepts for mass production and sale to the general consumer. Every day in my work I strive to design products that blend esthetic value and functional reason into every product we buy, enriching and making our lives easier. Can the products we purchase be inexpensive, simple to use and fun to have? Absolutely!

After receiving my Bachelor of Science of Industrial Design from the University of Cincinnati, I worked for 10 years at a Columbus-based design consultancy firm developing consumer electronics, sports equipment, and home décor products. At the start of 2009, I moved to a position with Nestle, designing product and packaging solutions for Nutrition, Heath and Wellness.