Scratching the Surface

Sam Grawe is the Chief Brand & Marketing Officer at The Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity. He previously was the Global Brand and Editorial Director at Herman Miller and the editor-in-chief at Dwell. In this conversation, Jarrett and Sam talk about the intersection of branding and editorial, the early years at Dwell, and the enduring influence of the Eames's philosophies. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm/221-sam-grawe. — If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon and get bonus content, transcripts, and our monthly newsletter! www.patreon.com/surfacepodcast

Elvia Wilk is the author of the novel, Oval, and the essay collection, Death by Landscape. She's contributed to publications like Frieze, Artforum, 4Columns, Rhizome, and e-flux and was a founding editor of the design and architecture publication uncube. In this wide-ranging conversation, Jarrett and Elvia talk about the intersection of criticism and fiction, how writing essays is a type of design, and the tensions between complicity and critique. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm/220-elvia-wilk. — If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon and get bonus content, transcripts, and our monthly newsletter! www.patreon.com/surfacepodcast

Matthew Wizinsky is a designer, researcher, educator, and author of the new book Design After Capitalism. He is an Associate Professor & Graduate Program Director in the Ullman School of Design at the University of Cincinnati, PhD researcher in Transition Design at Carnegie Mellon University, and Associate Editor for Visible Language. In this conversation, Jarrett and Matthew talk about the relationship between design and capitalism, what post-capitalist design might look like, and why design is a hyperobject. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm/219-matthew-wizinsky. — If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon and get bonus content, transcripts, and our monthly newsletter! www.patreon.com/surfacepodcast

Tripp Mickle is a tech reporter for The New York Times and the author of After Steve: How Apple Became a Trillion-Dollar Company and Lost Its Soul, a book about the tension between design and commerce in a post-Steve Jobs Apple. In this conversation, Jarrett and Tripp talk about how design is viewed inside Apple, what happens when design gets a seat at the table, and learning to write about design for a general audience. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm/219-tripp-mickle. — If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon and get bonus content, transcripts, and our monthly newsletter! www.patreon.com/surfacepodcast

Eva Hagberg is an author, architecture writer, and editorial and publication strategist. Her new book, When Eero Met His Match, is a hybrid biography of Aline Louchheim Saarinen and an account of her time working as an architectural publicist. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Dwell, The Architect’s Newspaper, Wallpaper, and more. In this conversation, Jarrett and Eva talk about writing memoirs, the role of publications in design media, and how we’re all living in the world Aline Saarinen created. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm/217-eva-hagberg. — If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon and get bonus content, transcripts, and our monthly newsletter! www.patreon.com/surfacepodcast

Maria Nicanor is the director of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. She previously was the executive director of the Rice Design Alliance at Rice University’s School of Architecture and a curator at the design, architecture, and digital department of the Victoria and Albert Museum. In this conversation, Jarrett and Maria talk about the mandate of the Cooper Hewitt, the role of museums, and why design can be the great equalizer. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm/216-maria-nicanor. — If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon and get bonus content, transcripts, and our monthly newsletter! www.patreon.com/surfacepodcast

This episode originally aired April 11, 2018. — Bryan Boyer is a partner at Dash Marshall, an architecture and strategic design studio based in New York and Detroit, where he leads their Civic Futures practice. Bryan studied architecture and interior renovation before heading to Finland to help start the Helsinki Design Lab, where he worked on a team that helped improve public institutions through design. In this episode, Bryan and I talk about the value of an architecture degree, the ideas behind strategic design, and the limits of design thinking. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm/71-bryan-boyer-rerun. — If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon and get bonus content, transcripts, and our monthly newsletter! www.patreon.com/surfacepodcast

This episode originally aired June 24, 2020. — Deanna Van Buren is an architect, activist, and the design director and co-founder of Designing Justice + Designing Spaces, an architecture and real estate development non-profit working to end mass incarceration by building infrastructure that attacks its root causes: poverty, racism, unequal access to resources, and the criminal justice system itself. In this conversation, Deanna and Jarrett talk about design as ideology, the relationships between architecture and criminal justice, and how a building can cause real change. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm/156-deanna-van-buren-rerun. — If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon and get bonus content, transcripts, and our monthly newsletter! www.patreon.com/surfacepodcast

This episode originally aired May 16, 2018. — Rudy VanderLans is a graphic designer, type designer, and co-founder of Emigre, the type foundry and magazine he created with his wife Zuzana Licko. In the 1990s, Emigre Magazine became the place to read and discuss issues of graphic design, design criticism, and theory and gave a platform for some of the best design writers like Randy Nakamura, Mr. Keedy, Anne Burdick, and Kenneth FitzGerald. In this episode, Rudy and Jarrett talk about Emigre and his own relationship to graphic design and design theory, his interest in photography, and why the 1990s were such a golden era for design writing. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm/76-rudy-vanderlans-rerun. — If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon and get bonus content, transcripts, and our monthly newsletter! www.patreon.com/surfacepodcast

This episode originally aired April 19, 2017 — Sara Hendren is a designer, artist, writer, and professor whose work centers around adaptive and assistive technologies, prosthetics, inclusive design, accessible architecture, and related ideas. She teaches inclusive design practices at Olin College in Massachusetts and writes and edits Abler, her site to collect and comment on art, adaptive technologies and prosthetics, and the future of human bodies in the built environment. In this episode, Sara and Jarrett talk about her own background and using design to manifest ideas in the world, the role of writing in her own design practice, and how teaches these ideas with her students. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm/24-sara-hendren-rerun. — If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon and get bonus content, transcripts, and our monthly newsletter! www.patreon.com/surfacepodcast