Many may be unaware, but most of today’s gadgets and equipment became a reality, thanks to the exhaustive work of industrial designers. Smartphones, desktops and laptop computers, furniture and home appliances, automobiles, and aircraft, all these involved the painstaking effort of conceptualizing and creating not only the most efficient products, but also ones that are sustainable and user friendly.
The students and faculty of the Industrial Design (ID) program of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) recently held Extraordinary, a showcase of the material output by the creative minds, at partner establishment SM Aura Premier Atrium, led by Mall Manager Margie de Leon.
Spearheaded by internationally acclaimed Filipino designer Kenneth Cobonpue, who serves as a DLS-CSB Senior Industry Fellow, the exhibit featured items ranging from rendering and tabletop models, to lighting and furniture designs. Actual outputs shown included modern packaging, 3D printed crafts and objects, handmade stools, and luxe furniture.
A robotics display was likewise achieved through the endeavor of members of the faculty, which highlighted the ID department’s capabilities.
Artworks from the Center for Campus Art’s exhibit Design, Art, Autism, which dwells on this specific mental condition, added color to the show.
Benilde School of Design and Arts (SDA) Environmental Studies Cluster Associate Dean, architect Cynthia Funk, pointed out that the ID program not only requires reserves of imagination, inspiration, and innovation, but also “practicality and sustainability, a social responsibility, and creativity in action”.
Meanwhile, Cobonpue explained that Extraordinary was an opportunity for the public to see the diversity of the ideas and skills Benilde’s ID students possesses. He said, “In school, new ideas are always nurtured.”
“What I like about this exhibit is that what it shows are on-going developments, and there are things that can be improved,” he said.
“We are trying to infuse a science of form-making of aesthetics that’s applicable to everything,” he added.