In celebration of World Industrial Design Week (WIDW), the Benilde Industrial Designers (BIND) hosted workshops and talks on July 7 to 11, gathering creatives from various industries to explore the role of ethics in design in line with the World Design Organization’s theme for this year.
The event officially launched on the 5th floor of Benilde’s Design + Arts Campus (D+AC) with a shoe-making workshop led by Ms. Glice Batulan of Zapateria, a footwear designhub. Beyond the conventional notions of product design, the event brought together professionals from different industries, not just those who labeled themselves as product or industrial designers.
Understanding the process
In her interview with The Benildean, Ms. Batulan expressed the importance of fully understanding the design process, something that the event emphasizes on. “I think a lot of people think that design is just the aesthetic of it, not entirely understanding that design is supposed to be user-centric, supposed to be solving different problems that we face as a society,” she shared.
“Not just through physical aspects but even with the supply chain, within the process of how things are made. Highlighting design in that perspective enables people to kind of appreciate intellectual property, art, aesthetic, and also functionality and practicability of what we can make. And aside from that, it's a good way to enable people with critical problem-solving skills through design,” she ended.
Mr. Romeo Catap Jr., Program Chair of the Industrial Design program, headed the opening remarks for the talks. In line with the title “Made for Hue,” he cited that at the heart of the Industrial Design program is the idea of “teaching students to not only imagine but empathize.” He also expressed the faculty’s goal to make Benildean industrial designers internationally competitive by being holistic, inclusive, and responsive to environmental needs.
Ms. Willie Garcia, representing Junk Not her interior design company that focuses on sustainable design, and Ms. Anna Anastacio, representing Messy Bessy–a social enterprise focused on empowering the youth and providing safe and effective products– sat down with moderator Ms. Rose Costuna to give students a background on sustainable businesses. During the panel talk, Anastacio highlighted the importance of education, while Ms. Garcia, on the other hand, encouraged the intention of “designing for good, for people, and the world,” ending the talk on a light note.
In their interview with The Benildean, project managers and ID123 Industrial Design students Shyra Sinay and Kat Quiogue discussed some of the behind the scenes of planning and bringing the event to life. When asked what students from other courses could take from the event, Sinay shared how aside from garning a deeper appreciation for the design process, new perspectives can also be discovered, “One of the things I picked up was that being intentional [in your design] will not always give you the easiest path, but the most fulfilling one.”
Similarly, Quiogue shared how she hopes that students take the time to appreciate the big impact of little things, “there is so much more to creating, to see not just the bigger picture of things, but the little aspects that influence a system or design greatly.”
More than the talks and workshops, at the heart of the event are designers who hope to make a change. From the organizing team to the speakers and workshop heads, these creatives all came together to explore the big impact of the little things.
Ms. Batulan summarized the key takeaway from the event simply, “See industrial design, not just as a part of commercial creation but also a soulful side of it, the sustainable side of it that humanizes craft from its roots because craft is human and craft should be accessible.”
