LISA SMITH

"Observation and research contribute importantly to developing a product, but equally important, and I believe recently neglected, is employing the sensory intelligence in our eyes and hands. My design process naturally begins with a pencil sketch. Then I am quick to move to three-dimensional study models. I build an idea three-dimensionally so that I can analyze the form as I'm designing and developing it. In this way, I relate to the tradition of handicrafts, only I'm creating products for mass production."

In 1988, Lisa Smith established a New York based consultancy offering design services in the areas of furniture and housewares working with many national and international manufacturers, including Steelcase, Haworth, Gunlocke, Davis Furniture, Brayton Healthcare, Vittorio Bonacina, Nambe Mills, Rosenthal, and others.

She has been awarded the NEOCON "Gold Award for Best of Show", several "ROSCOES", NEOCON Awards and The Chicago Athenaeum's Good Design Award. Her products have been in numerous design publications, sold in shops worldwide and exhibited in The Smithsonian's National Building Museum, The Cooper-Hewitt National Museum of Design, The Museum of Modern Art Store, and more.

Lisa taught Product Design at Pratt Institute in New York City. She served as Chair of The New York Chapter of The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) and the Furniture Committee Chair for the IDSA. She is currently a member of IDSA's Committee for Environmental Concerns and O2NYC, a network of architects and designers who share information about technologies that give us the tools to create products, buildings and services in harmony with the earth's environment. She presently serves as Vice-Chair on the board of The Rowena Reed Kostellow Educational Fund at Pratt Institute.