Image via Complex Original
Whitney Houston once famously warbled that the children are the future. And it seems as if that future has arrived, at least in the design world (be it graphic, industrial, product, architecture, or otherwise). In every corner of the planet, more and more fresh-faced designers seem to be rising up the ranks of the world's top design firms and changing the way we see the world around us in the process.
From crowdsourced product design to innovative public housing projects, here are 10 Design Firms Lead By Young People That Are Changing the Way We Look at the World.
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Location: New York, Philadelphia, and Austin
Because our view of the world is often toggled to technology, it only makes sense to include a web design firm in this list. However, Happy Cog isn't your typical "pick a WordPress design, and we'll implement it for you" kinda firm. As a matter of fact, when WordPress itself was in need of a little tweaking, they went to Happy Cog.
Though Jeffrey Zeldman, the company's founder (and the first inductee to the SXSW Interactive Festival Hall of Fame), was born in the 1950s, the 30-plus staff that helps keep the company running on a daily basis is chock full of whipper snappers. Again, Happy Cog isn't just throwing up a Website and calling it a day. The company's specialty is in creating digital "experiences" like MTV's O Music Awards, an interactive awards show where the users are the judges. These sorts of groundbreaking collaborations are changing the way we interact with the world around us.
Location: Seattle
Seattle's Carbon Design Group offers its clients a full menu of product development services that match cutting-edge design with state-of-the-art technology. They have a client base that extends from consumer (GE, Intel, Microsoft, Xbox) to industrial (General Dynamics, Fluke) to medical (Clear Catheter Systems, Spacelabs Healthcare). Lead product designer Peter Bristol, who likes to reimagine familiar objects in new and innovative ways (like the Domino Clock pictured above), is their secret weapon.
Location: New York
Industrial design firm Quirky isn't just changing the way we look at the world, it's revolutionizing the part that each of us plays in the products we purchase by taking a crowdsourced approach to the products it manufactures. Here's how it works: would-be inventors/designers submit their ideas to the Quirky powers-that-be for review. If Quirky likes what it sees, they'll bring the concept to the public, allowing the end-user to actually play a part in its design and final functionality. It's an innovative idea, and one launched by CEO Ben Kaufman in 2009 (when he was just 23 years old).
Location: London
FIELD partners Marcus Wendt and Vera-Maria Glahn are applying new-fangled technologies to a classic art approach in order to create some truly striking digital imagery for their clients. One of these clients is Nike, with whom they collaborated on Hyperfeel, a series of four works of video art launched in conjunction with the Just Do It brand's shoe of the same name, with the goal of creating a visceral piece of cinema that re-created the exhilaration of an early morning run. Spoiler alert: it worked!
Location: Paris
Brothers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec are redefining just how striking industrial design can be, and the rest of the world has taken notice. After designing the interior of Issey Miyake's APOC shop in Paris, it didn't take long for other purveyors of couture design to come calling. The Brittany-born brothers have designed a line of furniture and home accessories for Cappellini, an installation for BMWi and, perhaps most impressively, a Swarovksi crystal chandelier for the Chateau Versailles, the iconic location's first permanent contemporary art piece, which hangs above the Gabriel Staircase at the main entrance.
Location: Tokyo
Under the leadership of chief designer Oki Sato, creative design firm Nendo has made a reputation based on their ability to turn everyday items into works of art. Case in point: the lime pocket the team created earlier this year for Bombay-Sapphire (and yes, a lime pocket is exactly what it sounds like—a handy little holder to keep your lime fresh and clean when you're on a cocktail binge). But product design isn't all they do here; graphic, lighting, furniture, installation, window, interior, and architecture are among their in-demand services for such high-end clients as Villeroy & Boch, Tod's, Swarovski, Veuve Cliquot, Starbucks, Lexus, and Louis Vuitton (the Surface Lamp shown above is a Nendo creation, and yes, we want one).
Worstofall Design
Location: Brooklyn, NY
It takes moxie to use the word "worst" in your company name, which makes this Brooklyn-based design firm's slogan—"Badass Brands for Bold Entrepreneurs"—seem all the more apropos. With creative director Steve Wasterval at the helm, the company focuses its admittedly irreverent eye on helping companies stand out from the crowd. Utilizing their experience and knowledge of design, art history, and the New York City art scene, Worstofall develops comprehensive branding packages—research, messaging, logos, collateral, copywriting, illustration and web design included—that are bold and attention-grabbing. What more does a client need?
Location: Santiago, Chile
"Sustainability" has been a buzzword in the architectural field for quite a while now, but ELEMENTAL executive director/partner architect Alejandro Aravena has taken this concept to new heights with his dedication to applying activist instincts to the field of public housing. ELEMENTAL's belief is that every structure—be it a private home, commercial building, or public space—has the potential to improve the overall quality of life for an entire community. So since 2000, the group has tackled a number of low-income housing projects that champion innovation and smart design over cost-cutting. It's a revolutionary and admirable endeavor.
Location: New York
Sagmeister & Walsh is about as close to one-stop-shopping as it gets in the design world. Headed up by Stefan Sagmeister, who has worked with the Rolling Stones and Lou Reed, and award-winning designer/art director Jessica Walsh, the company offers a menu of nearly two dozen creative services, from art direction and branding to event and website design. Their aesthetic is best described as "rock 'n' roll," which is appropriate considering that Jay-Z, David Byrne, and Brian Eno are among their clients.
Location: Copenhagen and New York
The accolades just keep coming for BIG a.k.a. the Bjarke Ingels Group, and with good reason. Ingels' innovative architecture and design firm takes a three-pronged approach to each of its projects, considering the social, ecological, and economic impacts they will have. They want their projects to look good, too, citing their preference for "a pragmatic utopian architecture that steers clear of the petrifying pragmatism of boring boxes and the naive utopian ideas of digital formalism."
In the last four years alone, Ingels has been named an "Innovator of the Year" by the Wall Street Journal, praised for the zero-emission resort and entertainment facility he built off the coast of Baku, Azerbaijan, which has been called "one of the world's largest eco-developments."
