Product Designer, Axe Bat/Baden Sports
Kate Shreffler is a Seattle-based industrial designer, currently working at Axe Bat/ Baden sports on a team of engineers. Her work focuses on athletes, sports products, and technical gear developed through extensive player testing. Outside of work, Kate explores this enjoyment of making gear for a variety of outdoor sports. She has been involved with IDSA since attending The University of Washington and recently founded the Seattle Women in Design chapter. Kate is one of the co-founders of the podcast Beyond Ray-Women Led Conversations on Industrial Design.
Beyond Ray Podcast
Beyond Ray Podcast welcomes Jillian Tackaberry of MNML to a special live episode for this year’s Women in Design Deep Dive. Beyond Ray will interview Jillian about her design career that began with student work and awards, and discuss how it has grown into a leadership role. Early on, she was driven to dig deeper than asked on projects, accelerating her capabilities and career. Jillian credits her capacity to stay engaged with every stage of the design process for her success and her approach to leading a team. Don’t miss this live candid conversation that gets to the core of the design career path and explores how women can thrive in the industrial design field.
The audiance will learn. . .
Women in Design Seattle
Kate Shreffler, IDSA is a product designer at Axe Bat / Baden Sports and Chair of IDSA’s Women in Design Seattle chapter. Working with Ginger Woo, IDSA, as Vice Chair to host virtual events and connect women in industrial design in the Seattle area and beyond, Kate has found inspiration and encouragement all around her.
“This year, I was motivated by people’s instinct to be creative,” Kate says. “It’s when we’re the most out of sorts and upside down that playfulness and curiosity come out to problem solve. I loved seeing the new projects that emerged and the deeper connections people made with their explorative side.”
She also acknowledges a shift toward entrepreneurial pursuits among the creatives around her, and herself, that have proved to be a silver lining in the midst of chaos. “In my life, personally,” she says, “this meant getting a sewing machine and starting to make some gear, so we’ll see where that takes me!”
Kate is excited for 2022 and seeing the IDSA Women in Design community continue to grow. “Three more incredible women have just joined me on the Seattle Women in Design board, and we are cooking up a lot of new ways to create a community here and host fun, hands-on events,” she says. “All of us have the goal to really establish an active chapter, and our skill sets complement each other in a way that gives me confidence we’ll achieve that.”
