Departmental Philosophy
Art. Fashion. Industrial Design. Today many products defy these easy categories. We participate in a global exchange of images so vast that its impossible to locate the point where art stops and design begins. The forces of consumer capitalism have caused the previously well-defined categories of commerce, culture, technology and media to collide, blurring the lines between marketing and cultural production. Today, advertised products can be seen as one part story, one part physical experience, one part image and one part material. Clearly, the scope of design has broadened to include not only physical products, but the stories, lifestyles and experiences they embody. Ultimately, its you - the designer or artist - who must position your work in this changing landscape of ideas, audiences, and industries. It makes sense then, that you should come to understand your cultural context, your method, and the intentions
of your work.
Jackson Hong, Embedded Computer
2002, Photoshop layouts
The 3D Design Department is committed to narrative research in design. This approach recognizes that today’s products should express an attitude and tell a meaningful story. Products are not ‘neutral’. Products are always ‘about’ an idea or subject. A product should communicate the cultural values of the maker. A product should present a point-of-view and an identity. Our studio looks critically at products as enablers of cultural values. For example, a car design may enable a car culture with various political, economic, ecological and aesthetic values. Designers may choose to tamper with society’s codes; mixing, mutating, and intervening in the objects, stories, and systems of material culture. We can support existing myths or offer new ones. We can align with the social order or disrupt it. We can disguise the unpleasant truth with a seductive mask. We can legitimize almost any idea with an authoritative appearance. Cranbrook designers search for product forms and stories which instigate new behaviors, perceptions, lifestyles, and cultural values.
Theories and strategies from related disciplines including literary theory, psychology, social science and philosophy become essential tools for expandingthe parameters of design thinking. Through the process of questioning, making and discussing, our graduates develop a broad critical framework for evaluating design as they move toward the cultural maturity and creative vision required to lead the emerging design professions.
Warit (Top) Tulyathorn, Library light
2006, plastic, light
30 x 24 x 20 inches
Program
The program is free of the formal course structure typical of most art schools and universities. Instead the studio environment is the core of the curriculum with emphasis on developing an individual body of work. The highly motivated group of students that comprise each year’s class provides a vital network of resources with which to engage in dialogue and critique. Because of this open course structure, students are strongly motivated to enter the department with a purposefulness that fuels the pursuit of independent growth. A highly charged studio environment allows individuals to work in the spirit of an ongoing experiment, with the focus on rigorous interaction among fellow designers and other Academy students.
Weekly critiques and discussion groups form the core of the department’s activities with periodic all-faculty, Academy-wide reviews. The department head consults with students to build individual programs based on their specialized goals and interests. In response to student needs, faculty coordinate projects that vary in duration and conduct reading and discussion groups with students. Additionally, designers and critics of national and international stature visit the department to conduct critiques and occasionally assign short-term projects.
Steven Kim, Untitled chandelier
2003, plastic, light,
12 x 15 x 2 inches
The work undertaken by design students over the course of their two years of study is a combination of self-initiated research, grant-funded, team and collaborative projects, faculty assignments and commissions from clients. In addition students develop an independent reading and writing program that requires the critical analysis and creative synthesis of ideas.
As part of the only school devoted exclusively to graduate art education in the U.S., the department places great emphasis on the work undertaken by graduate students with the objective of adding significant contributions to the creative and intellectual bodies of design knowledge. Ending a two year period of study, outgoing students mount a museum installation of their thesis work for faculty review, and subsequently enter all areas of design with the critical skills necessary for generating meaningful contributions to our complex social and material culture.
Will Ayers/Shannon Rivera, XS Couture furcozie
2004, faux fur, leather stripping, suede lining
5.75 x 3.5 x 3.5 inches
Facilities
All students are assigned studio spaces with 24-hour access in a community atmosphere with a central presentation and critique room. Studio spaces are hardwired with network ports to the Academy’s T3 data line and wireless access is available.
The department’s computer facilities include several Dell workstations with an array of peripheral devices including several laser writers, a slide scanner, and a flatbed scanner. Rhino 3D modeling and rendering software is supported on our machines. The department’s computer resources are augmented by the Academy’s Central Media Lab with its large format plotters, color output devices, a stereo-lithography 3D printer, and a flatbed laser cutter. Major technological resources in the Detroit metropolitan area provide other rapid prototyping services and opportunities for outsourcing.
The shop facilities include an industrial-size spray booth for finishing large-scale work and a model shop. Students also have access to equipment in other departments at the Academy, with a wide range of woodworking, metalworking, ceramics, printmaking and photography facilities.
Cas Holman, Modular Ecosystem
2005, powder coated steel, vinyl
15 x 19 x 27 feet
Applicants to the 3D Department must adhere to specific portfolio requirements. Please click here for specific information.