Founder, Viemeister Industries
Tucker Viemeister is known for his groundbreaking work in the field of industrial design, including the creation of OXO Good Grips, a pioneering example of Universal Design products. With a diverse portfolio, Tucker has contributed to projects ranging from voting machines for Microsoft to curating exhibitions for the Shanghai Planetarium. He co-founded Smart Design, established frog design's New York office, and led the LAB at Rockwell Group, leaving a profound impact on the design industry. Tucker's extensive achievements, 32 US utility patents, and inclusion in prestigious collections like MoMA and the Smithsonian, exemplify his outstanding contributions to the field.
According to one of his nominators, “Tucker Viemeister is the soul of IDSA NYC Chapter, and he has contributed so much to the NYC design community and IDSA in his lifetime. His dedication, generosity, and commitment to the discipline of Industrial Design make him an outstanding candidate for the Individual Achievement Award.”
Interconnected Sustainability
For many years environmentalists have explained how ecology works. The pandemic is a tougher teacher. It is showing the weakness of our civic organizations, business systems and healthcare infrastructures. Industrial design’s mass production super power needs to focus on the interconnected sustainability of options like decycling and technology opportunities like micro energy harvesting to steer us towards our Future Life.
What The Food?
We came to Parsons hungry for design. Last fall, Tucker Viemeister, FIDSA, and Steph Mantis co-taught a product design class based on the foods they love. The studio began with the designer’s favorite dishes.
They replaced arbitrary project briefs with menus of guiding principles derived from the culinary delights. Analysis of a dish’s physical attributes, history and personal meaning became the foundations for each project. They avoided literal transposition and the projects emerged in many physical forms—from furniture, housewares and interiors to culinary arts—or even material explorations.
What was once chewed on, is now visualized; essence captured. Taste the designers’ commitment that this process brought to each project. After all, we are what we eat.
He was chair of IDSA’s 1995 International Design Conference in Santa Fe, NM
