A few weeks back, I was invited by my friend, and fellow product designer, Inna Alesina to give a talk about Humblefacture to the design community at MICA in Baltimore. It was nice to have an opportunity to thoroughly explain the principles of Humblefacture -- this was the most in-depth talk I've had the opportunity to give. More importantly, some of the questions that came up were very interesting (thanks to my friend David Troy, there were an interesting collection of VCs in the audience). In case you'd like to skip ahead, this link will take you straight to the Q&A.

Inna is also very interested in the materiality of design (Her book Exploring Materials: Creative Design for Everyday Objects is excellent), and she and I are collaborating on a student project -- The 100 Mile Design Challenge. The rules are simple - All materials and energy have to be sourcable from within 100 miles of your downtown. My students work from Seattle, Her's work from Baltimore. The MICA Trip was also a chance to meet with Inna's design class and talk about techniques and opportunities for the project. Stay tuned - we have been awarded space to exhibit this year at ICFF 2011!