Articles from the current issue
| So you studied Industrial Design |
| Issue 1 Oct 2007 - Interviews | |
| Written by Stacey Mahar | |
|
  Work from Jett Virangkabutra. Jett is an Industrial designer, currently working in education. With Jett Virangkabutra. Jett is an Industrial designer, currently in education, who would like to some day own a company that involves bicycle design.When Jett first finished his degree at RMIT, he had no idea what he wanted to do. So he thought he would work at a design consultancy. “I thought working at a design consultant would open up more opportunities for me to explore what I really want to do.” However after trying various fields such as furniture, lingerie, electrical products and bicycles Jett became bothered by the environmental issues and consumerism. When a job came up at the International Design School he thought with his degree, language and multi cultural skills it was the perfect position for him. By teaching he can avoid all those design issues but still be involved in design. For three years now, Jett has been teaching in Thailand. Although he is not practicing pure industrial design, he is in the industrial design education field and practices design knowledge management at the same time. He does this both at the University and also part time for TCDC (Thailand creative and design centre) which is a design/knowledge centre for Thailand based in Bangkok. Jett is quite happy with his income at the moment.” For Thailand it is very good.” For the moment he enjoys this teaching job. “I like the fact that I have to deal with people and their way of thinking.” He explains that education in Thailand is a sacred thing. The status of the lecturer is very high and the relationship between the student and lecturer is very unique. “I feel that I have to educate as well as dealing with their direction in life.” What does worry him though, is the fact that if he works as a lecturer for too long his value as a designer depreciates. Therefore, he has to do ID work while he is teaching to keep his skills and knowledge up to date in case he wants to go back to industrial design again. Jett is also studying his masters in Human Centred Design, which he finds is good for his knowledge development in teaching and also design. He finds this fascinating as he enjoys observing people and what they do. Jett finds that the problem solving skills he learnt while studying have helped him the most to tackle the various products he has dealt with. “It also helps me to be versatile and flexible.” His advice to young designers is to get the first job offered to you. Even if it is something in industrial design, which you do not like or are not comfortable doing, because it is still a foot in the door. “It is the first taste of what the real world is like. Sometimes being in a job you really don’t like or enjoy makes you a better designer because it is more challenging for you.” He also explains that industrial design has many disciplines and not to be discouraged if you are not skilled in certain areas. “Find your strength. There’s room for different skills in ID.” |
|
Print issue, Oct '07 (A3 PDF) Download
©2008 Sidelong Magazine. This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence. If you are interested in licensing it or getting hold of any of these designers or their work let us know, I'm sure we can come to an arrangement. sidelong@sidelong.com.au This is a Joomla! site. Original Joomla theme design, Haiku by rockettheme.com. Quite a few changes made by Sidelong Magazine.