9.13.06 | New York Times | I [Allison Arieff] was saddened to learn of the passing of industrial designer Bill Stumpf over the weekend. He’s best known for the ergonomic Aeron chair (which he designed with Don Chadwick) . . . . Equally significant was Stumpf’s thoughtfully articulated philosophy on the purpose and importance of design in our culture, exemplified by his collection of essays on how design shapes our lives in his book, “The Ice Palace That Melted Away.”

When lecturing or writing about design, I’ve often referred back to a particular quote from Stumpf: “If your shoes are comfortable you’re not aware they’re on. If the water is pure you can’t taste it. Similarly when a chair is a perfect fit for your body, it becomes ‘invisible’ and you’re not aware of it at all.”  . . .

Stumpf opted to demystify design. In both his words and the objects he made, he highlighted design’s potential — to do good, to be socially responsible, to be comfortable, to have a sense of play, to be useful — while avoiding its perils. . . . Take, for example, Stumpf’s notion of sustainable furniture: not something crafted from sunflower seeds or wood reclaimed from a high-school gym floor, but simply something beautifully designed and well-constructed that you’d enjoy for years before passing it down to your children and they to theirs. . . .

3.22.05 | Metropolis | When it was announced in the beginning of this year that Ed Feiner, the chief architect of the General Service Administration (GSA) and founder of its Design Excellence and the Arts Program, would be retiring as of January 31, the design community knew that it would be losing one of its leaders. No more than two weeks after the announcement word came that Feiner would be joining the Washington, D.C. office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) as director of office operations.

3.15.05 | The Architects' Newspaper | The Architectural League of New York has named its newest crop of Emerging Voices. Since its inception in 1982, the program has served as a coming out for architects and designers, giving promising new talents a platform to share their ideas and work. 2005’s featured firms talk about beauty, vent pipes, blue trees, and asking whether or not a client actually needs a building.

3.3.05 | Frances Anderton speaks with Niels Diffrient about being the champion of ergonomics and the recent Freedom Chair.  Prior, she discusses the eagerly anticipated Smart Car with LA Times Auto Critic Dan Niel.

3.2.05 | Stanford | The d.school’s new website offers an overview of Stanford’s efforts to place itself at the “epicenter of the design world” through a look at its philosophy, projects, team and resources.