Stephen Burks is one of the most recognized American industrial designers of his generation.
He and his New York studio, Readymade Projects, have been responsible for creative direction and industrial design on projects ranging from retail interiors and events to packaging, consumer products, lighting, furniture and home accessories.
He has developed innovative concepts for renowned international brands as well as continuing his commitment to sustainable design in the developing world.
Stephen studied architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology and Product Design at IIT’S Institute of Design, as well as attending Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture.
He has served on the trend board of the Cologne Furniture Fair and is a recipient of the Illinois Institute of Technology's Professional Achievement Award, the A&W, Architektur & Wohnen Audi Mentor Prize and the Target Fellowship United States Artist Grant.
Stephen believes design is the appropriate relationship of things. It can be as visible as the needs allow or as invisible as the constraints require. It is not simply the relegation of formal values, but the integration of strategic thinking with formal and material logic, as well as social and cultural authenticity. Under the best circumstances design communicates with immediacy. That communication can take the form of intelligence, wit, humor or sobriety depending upon what the user requires and what is appropriate for the activity.
At Readymade Projects, we are interested in the space between the activity and the object, as well as the activity around an object in space. We believe this is where the most potential lies for innovation. In most cases our design process doesn’t begin with a formal or a material exploration, but a simple observation. “How do you use this?", “When do you need that?” or "Why are you making that?" are the types of questions we like to ask regarding the design of new communications, objects and environments.
This is the challenge that designers face in this era of pervasive design consciousness and excessive production.
”What are the new experiences that people would like to have or have naturally as part of everyday life and how can design support these?” is what interests us most.
Of course, most of what designers do is the reformulation of existing models. However, we feel it is still necessary to try to imagine how our contemporary interpretations of past experiences can find new life either through manufacturing or interaction. At Readymade Projects design is an exercise of creative analysis, experimentation, synthesis, direction and cultural transformation. Every decision made along the way to a completed project, whether strategically implemented by the client, collaboratively stumbled upon in the field or aesthetically arrived at in the studio,
contributes to the result as a whole and we believe that result should be a necessary and enjoyable one.
Stephen Burks
Readymade Projects, Inc.
New York City, 2009
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