A wide shot of a ceramics studio, featuring students working with pottery wheels and other tools.

Tim Parsons

Professor

Bio

BA, 1996, University of Teesside, Middlesbrough, UK; MA, 2000, Royal College of Art, London. Exhibitions: Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Istanbul Design Biennial, MAAT Lisbon, Design Museum, London; Aram Gallery, London, Science Gallery Dublin, Publications: Thinking:Objects - Contemporary Approaches to Product Design, AVA Academia; Phaidon Design Classics; Blueprint; Icon; Crafts Magazine; Core77; SightUnseen. Awards: Pewter Product of the Year, The Worshipful Company of Pewterers, UK.

Personal Statement

Tim Parsons is Associate Professor and Chair of the Designed Objects programs in the Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture and Designed Objects at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is co-founder, with his wife Jessica, of the design studio Parsons & Charlesworth. He studied Industrial design before earning a Master of the Arts Degree in Design Products at London’s Royal College of Art in 2000. He has gone on to teach product design at universities in Britain and America. Tim previously taught at University of the Arts London and Manchester Metropolitan University. As a designer, he has worked with manufacturers in Britain and Europe and exhibited widely, including at The Design Museum, London and MCA, Chicago. As a writer Tim has contributed articles and essays to publications including Blueprint, ICON, Crafts and Phaidon’s Design Classics and his book Thinking: Objects: Contemporary Approaches to Product Design was published in 2009 by AVA Academia.

YouTubeMaking Meaning: An Introduction to Designing Objects | SAIC

Courses

Title Department Catalog Term

Description

From the grand scale of global policy to the individual scale of how we greet each other, the Covid19 pandemic changed us in myriad ways. Design also rose to meet this challenge. Designers, scientists, engineers, policymakers and others collaborated to address the unprecedented and largely unforeseen situations Covid19 presented. This course goes beyond design’s conventional end-user focused problem-solving approach, focusing instead on how to use design to develop impactful stories. Systemic change requires influencing decision makers - be they members of the public, CEOs or politicians. By engaging in the creative act of world-building, and embodying the results through made artifacts, spaces, or digital media, designers are able to make work that acts as platforms for fostering debate and, ultimately, change. Along with regular readings and discussions, students will develop a major design project that articulates their vision of a “post-pandemic future',

Class Number

1391

Credits

3