Rising Stars: Meet Scott Klinker

Today we’d like to introduce you to Scott Klinker. 

Hi Scott, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I grew up north of Philadelphia and studied Industrial Design at University of the Arts in the city. My first job after undergrad was working freelance for Knoll International in nearby East Greenville PA, making technical assembly drawings for their furniture classics by famous designers like Mies van der Rohe, Eero Saarinen, and many others. At the time, I thought this was fairly boring technical work. I literally took apart the classics, put them back together, and made drawings to describe the process to others. What an education! I was too young to appreciate all that I was learning. A typical ‘kid.’ After some corporate experience with Sony Ericsson designing cell phones for a few years, I decided to continue my studies at Cranbrook Academy of Art – the birthplace of Mid-Century Modern Design where Florence Knoll, Charles and Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen and other designers I admire had started. I loved the sculptural qualities of modern furniture and needed to learn more. I decided to go to ‘the source’. I studied with Mike McCoy who was also consulting with Knoll at the time, designing a mass-produced office chair. 

After earning my MFA at Cranbrook, I worked for IDEO in Palo Alto for 3 years (working mostly on projects with Michigan-based Steelcase) and then taught design in Japan for 2 years. In 2001, I returned to Cranbrook to head the graduate 3D Design program and started my independent studio Scott Klinker Design. My practice has allowed me work with a range of industry partners, mostly in the categories of furniture and lighting. I’ve been lucky enough to work with some of the companies that I admire most, including most recently Landscape Forms and Herman Miller, both great Michigan companies. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Teaching at Cranbrook has given me a platform for building my practice and I’m grateful for that. My role there as ‘designer-in-residence’ has given me a place to live, learn, and practice alongside my students. My practice allows me to partner with industry on furniture projects to share some of the risk and rewards of mass production. Not all of these risks paid off. But the products that have reached production have been very satisfying experiences. 

Perhaps the biggest challenge has been building relationships with great companies. All designers want to work with those companies that are design-driven and fully understand the value of working with designers. Unfortunately, those companies are few and far between. My most recent industry projects have been with Landscape Forms, based in Kalamazoo, MI. They’ve been like a dream client for me because they are so driven by design and craft, and they put their designers ‘out front’ in promoting the product and treat their designers like family. 

I’m glad now to be working with industry partners who fully understand the value of design. 

Another challenge has been around intellectual property. One of my award-winning lighting designs is now be knocked off by a handful of factories in China because the client I worked with did not protect the design. This experience can be heartbreaking for designers. 

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Let’s zoom out to describe my field: industrial design. Most of our built environment, including our everyday products and objects, are designed by teams of experts – business experts, engineers, designers, and other specialists. Industrial designers are trained to understand manufacturing processes to ‘give form’ to mass-produced things with the help of these other experts. Designers must balance this technical knowledge with a cultural awareness – to navigate and negotiate what is meaningful for a target audience including utility, ease-of-use, aesthetics, cost, etc. Of course, design process can apply to many contexts outside of mass production, like fine art and craft contexts, experience design, web design, service design or even designing whole organizations.

My teaching role at Cranbrook has provided a context to really stretch the limits of my practice to make work that asks questions rather than just providing solutions like most designers. Many designers describe themselves as ‘human-centered problem solvers’, but I want to do more than that. I want to make things that inspire the imagination – in addition to solving problems. For example, my new Theory line for Landscape Forms looks at the category of outdoor furniture through the lens of public art. By using abstract forms, I am inviting people into a space of playful interpretation.

This balance of rational and abstract is something of a signature for me. I’m also known for a more architectural way of thinking – a sensitivity to spatial context.

In addition to industry projects, I’ve done many self-initiated projects, including lighting studies. I’ve been especially interested in testing the form possibilities of new LED technologies.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you.
I’ve lived a privileged life. I’m a white male in an industry dominated by white men. My identity, no doubt, has made things easier for me than for others. I guess this is ‘good luck’, but points to systemic issues that I’ve benefitted from.

Recognizing this inspires me to help others who might not have my luck. Over the years I’ve mentored young designers from all over the world from different racial and gender identities.

My point is not to ‘virtue signal’ here but to see our responsibility – to make ‘lucky’ conditions for all and value different voices.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.scottklinker.com
• Instagram: @scottklinkerdesign
• Other: https://cranbrookart.edu/departments/3d-design/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAtICdBhCLARIsALUBFcE2seGtoVW-FFeNZ1eoRhUkzU5VJdhGRLReLtsVF6FcnyXXbjXlDIwaAnGIEALw_wcB

Image Credits
Landscape Forms
Scott Klinker