Award Named after Design Visionary and IDEO Founder
CLINTON, Tenn., March 13, 2014 – Techmer PM, a leading producer of value-added colors and additives for the plastics and fiber industries, has announced its sponsorship of the first annual Bill Moggridge Award for Interdisciplinary Design. The award is part of the Royal Society of Arts U.S. (RSA) Student Design Awards (SDAs) and is one of four given out by SDAs founding sponsor Techmer PM.
The Bill Moggridge Award for Interdisciplinary Design, which was named after the late Bill Moggridge, IDEO founder and design visionary, will be awarded annually to a project that draws from two or more design disciplines and demonstrates vision, ingenuity, beauty, sustainability, and development potential.
Bill Moggridge was well known for many things. He designed the first laptop, founded IDEO, and was director of the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt Design Museum. In his lifetime, he received many awards including Royal Designer for Industry, the Prince Philip Designers Prize, and Cooper-Hewitt’s National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Less well known is the fact that Bill Moggridge won an RSA Student Design Award in London a half-century ago. He was glad to see the SDAs launched in the United States last year, and he stood ready to support the program as a past winner and a life Fellow of the RSA. Karin Moggridge, his wife of 48 years, said, “Bill would be honored to have his name put on this award for students. He was always passionate about design education.”
Techmer PM, which focuses on materials design for a better world, is committed to the ongoing support of the SDAs including the Bill Moggridge Award. John Manuck, CEO of Techmer PM, said, “Bill Moggridge’s body of work and ideas made him a pioneer whose influence will be recognized for decades in the fields of industrial design and technology. We are pleased to honor his work through the Bill Moggridge Award for Interdisciplinary Design, recognizing design excellence and innovation in American universities.”
Final judging and the awards ceremony will take place on April 25 and 26 in New York. The deadline to enter is March 19, 2014.
About Techmer PM
Techmer PM, LLC, is a major producer of value-added color and additive masterbatch for the plastics and fiber industries. The company has worldwide manufacturing capabilities focusing on high-performance applications where quality, technical support, and problem solving are critical. Learn more by visiting techmerpm.com.
About the Royal Society of Arts and Student Design Awards
The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) was founded in 1754 to embolden enterprise, enlarge science, refine art, improve manufactures, and extend commerce. Four of the signatories of the American Declaration of Independence were RSA members, and Benjamin Franklin actively supported the work of the RSA.
The RSA in the United States is one of over one hundred RSA networks around the world collectively supported by more than 27,000 Fellows. This diverse network of designers, inventors, educators, business leaders, and social entrepreneurs makes for a powerful and creative force for change. For the past 88 years, the RSA, through the Student Design Awards (SDAs), has sought to promote design leadership and identify young design innovators who will shape our future.
In 2013 the SDAs was launched in the United States. In addition to Techmer PM, the founding sponsors are Billings Jackson Design, The Cooper Union, Target Corporation, Grimshaw Architects, Pointcarre, and SC Collective. For more information, please visit sda.rsa-us.org.