Meet the Alumni: Class of 2018
Andrew Schlesinger
Andrew is a Global Supply Manager at Apple Inc, based in the Bay Area. Before returning to Apple in this new strategy role, Andrew was employed as a Design Researcher at TrialSpark in New York City. Andrew studied Industrial Engineering at the University of Michigan before moving to San Francisco for his first stint working at Apple as an engineer in the manufacturing design team. After earning his MFA from Products of Design, Andrew was a design research fellow at the Omidyar Network. His thesis, entitled GENTLEmen: Challenging Adults to Raise Feminine Boys, explores gender identity, masculinity, stereotyping, parenting, education, and male culture.
Louis Elwood Leach
Louis is a Designer at LEGO Group in Billund, Denmark. English-born and raised in New Zealand, Louis studied Industrial Design at Victoria University of Wellington and Carnegie Mellon University. Directly after graduation from MFA Products of Design, Louis was hired as a Product and Service Designer at Questtono in New York City. During the summer after his first year of graduate studies, he worked as a UX Design Intern at Microsoft in Seattle. His thesis, entitled Invisible Possessions: Reclaiming Our Relationship With Products in an Augmented Age, explores contemporary material culture and our relationship with products in an age that prioritizes access over ownership.
Website: elwoodleach.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/elwoodleach
Smruti Adya
Smruti is a Product and Interaction Designer at TEAGUE in Seattle, Washington. After MFA Products of Design, Smruti was hired by Deloitte Digital as a Product Designer. Since graduating from the National Institute of Design in India, she has designed and developed products—ranging from healthcare to home appliances—at frog design and Future Factory in Mumbai. She also has previous experience designing for Frontier Design and ATLASON and she was a Fellow at the SVA GroundFloor Incubator. Her thesis, entitled UPGRADE: Designing for Access and Acceptability around Limb Loss and Limb Difference, aims to create more open conversations about and with people with LL/D and their acceptance in society, as well as easier access to products and services that improve their quality of life.
Website: smrutiadya.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/smrutiadya
Bernice Wong
Bernice is a Senior Product Designer at Albertsons in San Francisco. Previously, she was a Senior Designer at Luminary Labs in New York City. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Bernice graduated with a B.Comm from the University of British Columbia, specializing in Marketing and Sustainability. She has experience in a variety of spheres, ranging from professional services to service design to non-profits. Bernice has also travelled, studied, and worked in over twenty-five cities across nine countries. Her thesis, In Equality: Migration, Labor, and Our Modern Global Economy, is an investigation of our modern labor system and how it allows individuals to be vulnerable to exploitation or enslavement.
Website: bernicejywong.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bernicejywong
Manako Tamura
Manako is a User Experience Designer at Ponce Bank in New York City. After earning her BA in anthropology from Reed College in Portland, Oregon, Manako worked in supply chain management for a major Japanese chemical company Toray Industries, and in marketing for the Italian furniture manufacturer Kartell. After graduating from MFA Products of Design, she worked as a Customer Experience Designer at CallisonRTKL. Manako's thesis, Hacking the Racial Binary: Design Provocations for Identity and Shame, includes a suite of design explorations that give immigrants of color the agency to choose how they express their cultures in everyday life.
Website: manakotamura.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/manakotamura
Antriksh Nangia
Antriksh is a Product Designer at Speechify, a text-to-speech app, and is based in New York City. Previously, he was a Product Designer at Marcelle Group. Born and raised in New Delhi, Antriksh completed his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering at ITM University, specializing in automobiles. Antriksh was part of India’s first maker space, Maker’s Asylum, where he partnered with organizations including Red Bull, Fujifilm, St+Art and The Lost Party. After graduating from MFA Products of Design, he joined Siemens Healthineers as a Product Designer. Antriksh’s thesis, Contemporary Soundscapes: Design to Prioritize Untapped Aural Potential in the Visual World, was presented in May 2018.
Website: antrikshnangia.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/antrikshnangia
Alexia Cohen
Alexia is a Venezuelan-Belgian-American designer, currently employed at Dalberg where she serves as Senior Designer. Previously, she was a Designer at argodesign in New York City. After graduating from MFA Products of Design, Alexia worked as a freelance design consultant, co-leading the design and production of The Human Account project exhibition for Dalberg Design and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. During her graduate studies, she was a TEK-TILE Fellow at the Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator where she collaborated with 14 designers and engineers to develop textiles with embedded electronics. Alexia’s thesis DARE + DEFY: A Woman’s Place in the Great Outdoors explores a women’s role in the outdoors, yielding a suite of design offerings that are meant to honor, amplify and celebrate women’s position within this space, ultimately arguing for a more inclusive and diverse outdoors sphere.
Website: alexiacohendesign.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexia-cohen-07540315
Juho Lee
Juho is a User Experience Designer at Goldman Sachs in New York City. Previously, he was employed as an Interaction Designer at frog design in Austin, Texas. Originally from South Korea, Juho moved to the US by himself when he was fifteen years old. He joined the military after his freshman year in college, and worked as a military police at the Korean Embassies of Japan, China, Israel, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. After retiring as a sergeant, he returned to school, graduating with a BA in Psychology and a Minor in Business Studies from New York University. As part of MFA Products of Design’s partnership with Veterans Affairs and IDEO, Juho’s team designed a number of solutions to improve women veterans’ experience in areas specific to visiting the VA Hospital. Juho's thesis, entitled Cast Away: Designs for Socially Isolated Korean Men Contemplating Suicide, was presented in May 2018.
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/juho-lee
Will Crum
Will is an Experience Designer at Pienso in New York City. After graduating from MFA Products of Design, Will collaborated with the Omidyar Network, where he developed design proposals that reveal, amplify and create healthy patterns of social interdependence as part of a one-month design research and concept development fellowship. Prior to attending graduate school, he was an Account Executive for the advertising agency BBDO where he managed clients at HP and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Will’s thesis, entitled Me, Myself and A.I.: How I Learned to Love the Machine That Took my Job, imagines near and distant futures where AI is used to increase individual agency—not diminish it.
Website: willcrumdesign.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/will-crum-41009545
Sowmya Iyer
Sowmya is the Design Lead at Opendoor and was previously a Senior Product Designer in the Operational Technology team at Lyft Transit, Bikes & Scooters in New York City, where she built Citi Bike share products. Prior to joining MFA Products of Design, Sowmya worked as a Senior UX Designer at Samsung Mobile R&D. She graduated with a degree in Industrial Design from the National Institute of Design in India. She has also worked at Cardiac Design Labs and Honeywell in Bangalore and at Tomorrow Lab, Legends Solar, and Function of Beauty in New York City. Sowmya's thesis, entitled Prosumerism: Crafting Alternate Consumption Experiences, explores whether products and services can ease the consumer’s guilt of excessive spending and materialism by providing them with options that best fit their values of sustainability.
Website: sowmyaiyer.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/sowmya-iyer-design
Sebastian Harmsen
Sebastian is a Business Development Manager at Seek Perú in Lima. Born and raised in Peru, Sebastian has always been involved in the world of extreme sports. A former member of the Peruvian National water skiing team, as well as an avid surfer, mixed martial artist, tennis player, and cyclist, Sebastian studied Architecture at the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas in Lima, Peru—focusing on Industrial and Personal Projects. After graduation, he spent three years in the industry working on residences, museums, hospitals, schools, theaters, office buildings, and HPC. Passionate about his craft, Sebastian moved to New York to learn new tools and techniques to expand his creative potential.
Website: sebastianharmsen.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sebastian-harmsen-6b891a96
Jingting He
Jingting is a Product Designer and User Researcher at ByteDance in New York City. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing, while working as an aromatherapist and a drummer in a rock band. After graduating from MFA Products of Design, Jingting was employed as a Senior Product Designer at Outbrain. She has also worked with numerous clients, including ProjectArt, Girlthrive Inc., Math without Limits, Park Slope Chiropractic. Besides being a designer, she is also a nationally-acknowledged poet in China.
Website: jingtinghe.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jingtinghe
Christopher Rand
Christopher is a designer and metalsmith based in New York City. He studied at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, where he was trained in visual language foundations—composition, observation, eye-hand coordination, 2D and 3D skills. After receiving a BFA in Furniture Design, Chris operated his own business for 15 years, creating custom furniture, lighting, and ornamental ironwork for private clients. As a highly skilled metalsmith, Chris managed many roles, from initial presentations, samples, site verification, fabrication, patination, and final installation. Chris’s philosophy is to engage both the analytical and the creative to generate meaningful and beautiful solutions.
Website: christopherand.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chris-rand-a2891a4
Jiani Lin
Jiani is a User Experience Designer at Bridger in New York City. Before joining MFA Products of Design, Jiani earned her BFA in industrial design at Zhejiang A&F University in Hangzhou, China where she also gained experience working at Tao Design. As a graduate student, she worked as a UI designer at Sircle Media in New York City. Jiani's thesis, YES, MAYBE NOT: A Design Investigation into Young Adulthood, focuses on exploring the shared emotions, behaviors, and experiences young adults have as they graduate from college and enter the working world, all while leaving behind their comfort zone.
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jiani-lin-a82a21138
Kuan Xu
Kuan is a designer based in New York City. Born and raised in the Zhejiang province, China, Kuan completed his Bachelor's Degree in Interior Design at Zhejiang International University. During college, he pursued becoming a designer and took every opportunity to learn the discipline, joining the International Industrial Designing Contest and the Countryside Reconstruction Design Program. Kuan's thesis, Symbiosis, Ecological Services for the Urban Environment, advocates for ecological service design to instigate environmental consciousness and awareness-driven action in the urban environment.
Website: kuanworld.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/kuan-xu-0a2b96164
Lassor Feasley
Lassor is the CEO of Renewables.org, a digital platform that allows members to buy and sell fractions of solar panels in solar power facilities. Lassor is also a Designer and Creative Strategist at OneOneCreative an innovative branding, strategy, and design agency. Before launching his design career, Lassor worked at ModernMD Urgent Care, a chain of medical clinics in underserved neighborhoods in Brooklyn, which he helped grow from zero to seven locations in a year. He graduated from Brandeis University with degrees in American Studies, Interactive Media, Legal Studies, and Business. As a designer, Lassor has worked with Gehl Studio, IDEO, and Prehype. His thesis, You Are on the Fastest Route: Intentional Community and Responsible Autonomy, examines how self-driving cars might impact American culture and everyday life habits.
Website: Renewables.org
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/lassorfeasley
Teng Yu
Teng is a Product Designer at Sencity Corp in New York City. Originally from China, Teng graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering in Industrial Design at the Wuhan University of Science and Technology. Before joining MFA Products of Design, he completed an internship with the China FAW Co. Ltd Qingdao Automotive Research Institute, where he designed concept SUVs. Teng developed Respawn: Activating the Bedroom Generation By Gamifying Public Spaces—a thesis that imagines near futures where games help people by building character, learning skills, and conquering challenges. His ideologies subvert the unhealthy lifestyles associated with gamers by providing new and wholesome ways to game in real-world contexts.
Website: tengdesignworld.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/tengyudesinger