Jury Alumni

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  Bruce and Stephanie Tharp

  Founders, Materious

  2016 Speculative Concept Jury Captain

  Bruce and Stephanie Tharp lead a husband-and-wife design studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan where they also are professors at the University of Michigan's Stamps School of Art & Design. Their studio has licensed and commissioned products and projects for companies like Ligne Roset, Moet-Hennessy, The Art Institute of Chicago, Crate&Barrel, Kikkerland, and Design Ideas. Educated in mechanical engineering, sociocultural anthropology, and industrial design, their practice and teaching crosses disciplinary boundaries of design, business, engineering, and healthcare, as well as the four fields of design: commercial, responsible, experimental, and discursive design. They are currently finishing a book project on discursive design.

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  Thomas Thwaites

  Founder, Thomas Thwaites Studio

  2016 Speculative Concept Jury Member

  Thomas Thwaites is a designer whose work examines the interaction of science, technology and culture in shaping our present society, and possible futures.
  
  His work has been acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum for their permanent collection, and is exhibited frequently and internationally, including at the National Museum of China, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, the Science Museum (London), and the Zero 1 Biennial (California).
  
  Press includes features in national newspapers including the New York Times, Sued Detsche and The Financial Times. He has presented a four part television series, aired on Discovery Channel.
  
  His first book, The Toaster Project, published by Princeton Architectural Press, has now been translated in to Japanese and Korean editions. His second book, written about his Wellcome Trust funded project to take a holiday from being human by becoming a goat, will be published in May 2016.

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  Pradyumna Vyas

  Director, National Institute of Design

  2016 Design Education Initiative Jury Captain

  Pradyumna Vyas acquired a Masters in Industrial Design from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. In June 2010, Vyas was conferred with an honorary Master of Arts degree from the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, United Kingdom in recognition of his contributions to design education and design promotion. Vyas has more than 30 years of professional and teaching experience in different spheres of design. Since the last 25 years, he has been associated with the National Institute of Design (NID) as a faculty in the Industrial Design discipline. In April 2009, he was appointed as the Director of the National Institute of Design.
  Prior to joining NID, Vyas acquired three years overseas experience at the Kilkenny Design Centre, Republic of Ireland.
  In July 2011, Vyas was given the award for his outstanding contribution to design education at the second edition of Asia’s Best B School Award that was held at Singapore. Vyas was invited as the jury member for the special awards screening panel at Good Design Award (G-Mark) by the Japan Institute of Design Promotion, Japan consequently in 2012, 2013 and 2014.He has been at the helm of design promotion events in India and has represented NID in various international and national events. He was elected as an ICSID (International Council of Societies of Industrial Design) Executive Board Member for 2009–11.
  In pursuance of the National Design Policy approved by the Cabinet in February 2007, an India Design Council was constituted in March 2009 and Mr Vyas has been nominated as its Member Secretary by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India. In July 2015, World Education Congress, 2015 conferred the award for Outstanding Contribution to Education to Mr. Vyas.

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  Shu Wei

  Founder, ZaoZuo

  2016 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

  Shuwei was born in 1981 in China. She studied MBA at Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 2007-2009. As a serial entrepreneur, she has 12 years intensive experience of marketing, design, product, technology and investment. In 2014, she founded Zaozuo, a lifestyle brand that combines global design and domestic manufacturing to present the decent urban lifestyle for new Chinese middle-class.

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  Denis Weil

  Interim Chief Innovation Officer, Sanergy

  2016 Strategy & Research Jury Member

  Denis Weil is an Innovation Executive, Change Leader and “Social Creative” focused on propelling the impact of design and innovation in the social sector. As one of the private sector pioneers and thought-leaders in the field of service design, Denis is now applying his innovation leadership to social and civic innovation advising social and public organizations on how to reach impact at scale. He is currently a Senior Advisor for Innovation and New Services for Year Up, the leading workforce development social enterprise, and an Advisor for the Government Innovation team at Bloomberg Philanthropies.
  
  Denis’ passion is to advance the practice and impact of Design. In 2015 Denis was an Advanced Leadership Fellow at Harvard University where he researched new ways to cross-pollinate the practices of Social Science and Design. A long-time adjunct professor at the Institute of Design at IIT in Chicago, Denis teaches classes in Service Design and Social Innovation. He is also a frequent speaker at innovation and design conferences and his viewpoints about the value of design for innovation have been published in ID magazine and Business Week.

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  Dominic Wilcox

  Founder, Dominic Wilcox Studio

  2016 Open Design Jury Member

  Dominic Wilcox works between the worlds of art, design, craft and technology to create innovative and thought provoking objects. The British artist and designer studied on Ron Arad's Design Products course at The Royal College of Art . He has since shown his work internationally and been commissioned by brands such as BMW MINI, Kelloggs and Paul Smith. In 2015 he exhibited at museums such as London's Design Museum and the V&A. After the making of the documentary 'The Reinvention of Normal', which follows Wilcox and his work, he was invited to be a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert where he showed his 'Variations on Normal' ideas.
  Notable projects include the design of a pair of shoes with inbuilt GPS to guide the wearer home, a Stained Glass Driverless Sleeper car of the future and a INVENTORS! project turning children's ideas into real things.