A maker-researcher and designer, Ian has worked in both practice and academia for more than 30 years.聽He started his career as a designer and maker of furniture, and developed an interest in sustainable design in the late 1990s. He has published numerous papers on sustainability, creativity, and design education, and while in Detroit has been involved in the curation of several exhibitions on the role of creative practice in addressing climate change.聽Ian has undertaken numerous commissions and exhibited work across the UK (including at London Design Week and the Lighthouse in Glasgow), China and the US. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and holds a PhD from the University of Edinburgh: his thesis explored making as knowledge.聽聽Having lived and worked in Edinburgh, Scotland, for almost 20 years, he relocated to Detroit in 2019.
Ian is the Dean of Graduate Studies and Research, and also the chair for the聽MA/MFA in Design for Sustainability,听MA/MFA Interdisciplinary Design Studies, and聽MA/MFA User Experience Design.
His research interests lie in climate action, material practice and making-as-thinking. His award winning collaborative work with ocean plastic on the west coast of Scotland has been widely published, and, bringing this work upstream, he is a member of the聽. Since 2020 he has collaborated with the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History on the聽, an atelier exploring urban lumber and climate justice.
He is active in Detroit鈥檚 sustainability sector and currently a member of the City of Detroit Waste Diversion Advisory Committee. Ian has been in involved in the organization of several research conferences, and was聽co-chair and submissions chair for聽, an international design education conference focusing on the role of design in the climate crisis.
Professional Experience
A maker-researcher and designer, Ian has worked in both practice and academia for more than 30 years. He started his career as a designer and maker of furniture, and developed an interest in sustainable design in the late 1990s. He has published numerous papers on sustainability, creativity, and design education, and while in Detroit has been involved in the curation of several exhibitions on the role of creative practice in addressing climate change.
Ian has undertaken numerous commissions and exhibited work across the UK (including at London Design Week and the Lighthouse in Glasgow), China and the US. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and holds a PhD from the University of Edinburgh: his thesis explored making as knowledge.
Having lived and worked in Edinburgh, Scotland, for almost 20 years, he relocated to Detroit in 2019.
Significant Publications, Presentations and Exhibitions
AWARDS
2023 International Society of Service Innovation Professionals (ISSIP) Service Design Award 鈥� Impact to Society: d.Tree Studio
2018 Materials Today: Elsevier 3D Printing Grand Challenge Innovation Prize: $10,000 (with Vettese, S., Vones, K., Allan, D. 3D-printing
鈥極cean Plastic鈥� 鈥� fostering children鈥檚 engagement with sustainability
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
2023 Making with Ocean Plastic: Towards New Experimental Making and Material Outcomes聽(pp.83-96), in Collective for Design (eds. Miaskowska, M., Aston, J.H., and Varzim, M.), PiCoDe. (isbn 978-989-53907-3-1)
2022听Two Institutions, Three Trees, Twelve Makers: Curriculum Co-Design for Sustainability, Climate Justice and African American Material Culture聽(with Tom, L.). Cumulus Conference, Detroit (2-4 Nov)
2019听Material Reality to Materiality: Ocean Plastic and Design Research聽(with Vones, K.). AHRC Design for Change symposium, London, (9 Dec)
2019听Improvisation: Autonomy, Heteronomy and Wilful Na茂vet茅.聽EKSIG (DRS) 2019 Conference, Estonia, (22 Sept)
2019听Designing New Ways to Make use of Ocean Plastic, The Conversation, July 2019
2018听3D-printing 鈥極cean Plastic鈥� 鈥� fostering children鈥檚 engagement with sustainability聽(with Vettese, S., Vones, K., Allan, D), Materials Today (winner $10K Elsevier Innovation prize)
2017听The Isle of Harris Fish Slice: Industrial Crafting with Ocean Plastic,听Making Futures Conference, Plymouth (21-22 Sept)
2017听Making as Growth: Narratives in Materials and Process聽(with Speed, C.), Design Issues, Volume 33, Number 3 Summer 2017
2015听Design Practice into Design Research,聽Making Futures Conference, Plymouth (24-25 Sept)
2015听Diverting Textile Waste from Landfill with Design-Craft Objects聽(with Iliopoulou, T.),聽Making Futures Conference, Plymouth (24-25 Sept)
2015听Critical Making with Aluminium Sandcasting,聽Creative Practice Conference (Making Research, Researching Making) 鈥� Aarhus, Denmark (10-12 Sept)
2015听Convergence in Industrial and Craft Processes in UK Undergraduate Product Design Courses, Cumulus Conference, Milan (3-7 June)
PRESENTATIONS / RESEARCH WORKSHOPS
2023 Panel Discussion: Sustainability is in a Design Crisis, Sustainable Urban Design Summit, Detroit (9 Nov)
2020听Resources on the Shore聽(with Vones, K.). Presentation (remote) at 30th International Orkney Science Festival (3 Sept)
2019听Narratives of Waste: An exploration of material transformation through 3D printing聽(with Vones, K.). Research workshop at RTD 2019, Delft, (19 March)
2019听Transforming Plastic Pollution into a Lesson on Sustainability聽(with Vones, K.). Presentation (remote) at Global Citizens Week, Vancouver Island University (5 Feb)
2017听Anthropometry Revisited: A Homage to Yves Klein聽(with Galama, F.). Poster presentation at Drawing Conversations 2: Body, Space, Object, Coventry (8 Dec)
2017听Aluminium Sandcasting: Waste Moulds from Waste.聽Research workshop at RTD 2017, Edinburgh (21 March)
CURATED EXHIBITIONS
2023聽 聽 d.Tree Studio #2 at Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit, US. 20 July 鈥� 10 Dec. (project co-lead and contributing curator)
2023聽 聽 World Ocean Day Exhibition at Belle Isle Aquarium, Detroit, US. 9 鈥� 18 June (co-curator)
2022听 聽 d.Tree Studio at Center Galleries, 黑料专区 Detroit, US. 18 Mar 鈥� 1 Apr. (project co-lead and co-curator with the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History)