Hotseat 1 Winner - Tim Murphy with the Symphony Bench

Award winning designer Tim Murphy currently holds the position of Amana Design Studio Manager with the worlds leading manufacturer of major home appliances, Whirlpool Corporation. Whirlpool Corporation has annual sales of more than $19 billion, more than 73,000 employees, and more than 72 manufacturing and technology research centers around the world. He leads a team of Industrial Designers and is consistently working with engineering, marketing and most importantly the consumer to deliver world class design.

As Studio Manager for Amana, Tim travels globally working with design and engineering teams in the United States, Asia, Europe and South America. He values user centric design along with robust project team collaborations on a global level.

Prior to pursuing a career in design, Tim was an awarded distinguished military graduate serving with the United States Navy. Post military, Tim pursued and obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Industrial Design from Kendall College of Art and Design. While attending college, Tim was the recipient of the IDSA Student Merit Award and winner of the KCAD Milan Furniture Fair Competition. These honors allowed Tim to showcase hisdesign on a global scale at the 2002 International Milan Furniture Fair, Salone Satellite, a section of the fair devoted to young, progressive designers.

Tim began his design career in West Michigan holding positions with several design and contract furniture companies. Along with Tim’s passion for furniture design he holds multiple design and utility patents across a number of industries including consumer products and electronics. In 2005 Tim was the winner of the OFS and Metropolis chair design competition with a design now known as the Symphony, presently manufactured by OFS.

Today’s manufacturing environment demands smart, responsible product and furniture design. Tim believes design can inherently be sustainable through the use of aesthetics, materials and function. Every project, large or small, is treated to challenge status quo of today’s manufacturing capabilities and practices to insure no stone is left unturned when seeking the “right way” to deliver design.


Hotseat 2 Winner - Joey Ruiter with the Swank Lounge Chair

Joey Ruiter designs products inspired by the world around him, the people he meets, the needs he sees. His work draws on everything from global events to the natural world, ideas from the rhythm and flow of daily life. That's why his designs range from furniture and tools to vehicles, housewares, and other products that speak to how people work and play and live.

A particular focus is crossing disciplines to push his designs to new places. Combining sculpture, new materials and digital technology, for example. Or purposely blurring the lines between art, function and the user's expectations. Why settle for what's offered when you can enjoy something unexpected, something intriguing?

The founder and principal designer of JRuiter + Studio, his products range far and wide. Dorm room furniture that not only works for students, but creates a space they're delighted to live in. A chair that's elegant in appearance and manufactured to save material and energy. A bird feeder as appealing to homeowners as the birds, with a bird silhouette that's both practical and fun. Or the stainless steel bowl formed first by lasers and then by hand because, well, there's a story behind that design, just like all the others.

Dental tools. Boats. Vacuum cleaners. Office furniture. Even a franchise church (buildable anywhere there's a need and a bit of space). Meeting everyday needs in surprising ways is a hallmark of Ruiter's design. Using the process of design and pushing the limits of manufacturing to give people products they can enjoy personally.

Ruiter's full service design firm offers research, design and development, concept visualization, modeling, prototyping, custom fabrication, and manufacturing consultation.

A Kendall College of Art & Design graduate, Ruiter sold his first chair design to an office furniture leader while still a student. Two years later he won his first Best of NeoCon(r) Gold Award. Owner of more than two dozen design patents and winner of awards for design in a variety of industries. Featured in media ranging from Popular Science and Metropolis to "Geek-Week" on the Discovery Channel. Dedicated to design that's responsible in manufacture, sustains the environment, and delights the user.

More on the story at www.jruiter.com