Clever with Amy Devers

Latest Episodes:

Ep. 144: Civic and Service Designer Sarah Brooks Apr 20, 2021

Show notes

Civic and service designer Sarah Brooks grew up in Manhattan, the daughter of an actress and doctor. With a voracious imagination, she spent her days running around with the neighborhood kids or watching her mom on stage. As a teenager, she found her tribe in the punk rock scene, inspired by the DIY attitude and creative expression. After getting started professionally in TV production, sudden and profound tragedy struck, sending Sarah’s life on a radical detour through grief, healing, and rebuilding herself. The journey led her to a greater appreciation for emotional honesty, human connection and presence - qualities she also brings to her creative work as design executive at IBM, and as an advocate for social impact and regenerative design.

Images, links and more from Sarah Brooks!

Clever is created, hosted and produced by Amy Devers and with music from El Ten Eleven and editing by Rich Stroffolino.

If you enjoy Clever we could use your support! Please consider leaving a review, making a donation, becoming a sponsor, or introducing us to your friends! We love and appreciate you!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 143: Industrial Designer Edward Barber Apr 06, 2021

Show notes

Designer Edward Barber grew up in a small UK village running around with his brothers, making tree houses, bows and arrows, and drawing. As a teenager, he fell in love with sailing, fixing boats, and photography. He eventually landed in the architecture program at Royal College of Art where in the first week he met Jay Osgerby. The two became fast friends, collaborators and founding partners of Barber Osgerby. In the early years, with some “engineered luck” in the form of Giulio Cappellini, Edward and Jay were fast-tracked in the world of international furniture design. Since then, they’ve gone on to found Universal, an architecture and interior design studio, and Map, focused on tech and industrial design. Having designed everything from stacking chairs with a dynamic tilt aimed at improved learning in schools, to experiential sound installations... carving out his own path has worked out just fine!

Images, links and more from Edward Barber!

Clever is created, hosted and produced by Amy Devers and with music from El Ten Eleven and editing by Rich Stroffolino.

If you enjoy Clever we could use your support! Please consider leaving a review, making a donation, becoming a sponsor, or introducing us to your friends! We love and appreciate you!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 142: Pioneer of Wearable Technology Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman Mar 23, 2021

Show notes

Product designer Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman, grew up in rural New Hampshire in a family with a rich tradition of craft. By the second grade, she was making all her own clothes and knew how to use all the power tools in her grandfather’s woodshop. Her high school track coach worked for Nike, which meant the team got to test out the goods and she had a front row seat to the R&D of performance wearables. She’s racked up over 25 years of experience designing products for athletes at companies like Nike, Champion and Fila. Now, as founder of Interwoven Design Group, she combines her expertise in wearable technology and functional apparel for clients ranging from startups to NASA, and runs circles around mere earthlings designing award-winning human-centered environments for outer space with SEArch+ (Space Exploration Architects.) And yep, she burns fiercely and brightly, just like the superstar she is.

Images, links and more from Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman!

If you enjoy Clever we could use your support! Please consider leaving a review.

Clever is created, hosted and produced by Amy Devers and with music from El Ten Eleven and editing by Rich Stroffolino.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 141: Hip Hop Architect Michael Ford Mar 09, 2021

Show notes

Michael Ford is the designer and activist known as The Hip Hop Architect. Born in Highland Park, Michigan the son of a minister, Michael was raised to be inquisitive and question the world around him to find deeper truth. Early on, he found his passion for design and music, expanding it into a practice of architecture and design through the lens of Hip Hop culture. This led to his founding of The Hip Hop Architecture Camp®, a camp that positions Hip Hop Culture as a catalyst to introduce architecture and design to underrepresented youth. He’s also working with some of Hip Hop's greatest names as he leads the design of The Universal Hip Hop Museum in The Bronx.

Images, links and more from Michael Ford!

Clever is created, hosted and produced by Amy Devers and with music from El Ten Eleven and editing by Rich Stroffolino.

If you enjoy Clever we could use your support! Please consider leaving a review, making a donation, becoming a sponsor, or introducing us to your friends! We love and appreciate you!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 140: Creative Reaction Lab CEO Antionette Carroll Feb 23, 2021

Show notes

Designer Antionette Carroll, born, raised, and based in St. Louis, Missouri, is a natural born leader who has been on a mission since day one. She’s the founder of Creative Reaction Lab, a nonprofit educating and deploying youth to challenge racial and health inequities impacting Black and Latinx populations. Antionette co-pioneered an award-winning form of creative problem solving called Equity-Centered Community Design and in doing so has received several recognitions and awards including being named an ADL and Aspen Institute Civil Society Fellow, TED Fellow, SXSW Community Service Honoree, and Essence Magazine Woke 100, among many others. She’s also a classic Taurus, the mother of twins, a fan of Mexican food, and a proud granddaughter!

Images and more from our guest!

If you enjoy Clever we could use your support! Please consider leaving a review, making a donation, becoming a sponsor, or introducing us to your friends! We love and appreciate you!

Clever is hosted and produced by Amy Devers, with editing by Rich Stroffolino, production assistance from Laura Jaramillo and Anouchka Stephan, and music by El Ten Eleven.

Clever's promotional partner is Design Milk.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 139 Clever Extra - Light. Space. Emotion. Feb 16, 2021

Show notes

Lighting design plays an enormous role in supporting mood, feelings, perceptions and even human connection and romance. In this time when we’re suffering the side effects caused by extreme deprivation of social interaction and human connection we thought it would be a beautiful thing to talk about how lighting can be designed to soothe our minds, uplift our spirits and help us find clarity, depth and meaning in our day, in our surroundings, in ourselves. To help us visualize and understand both the science and the poetry of lighting design we talked to two experts at the top of the lighting game: Drew Stuart, Field Director and Partner at multi-disciplinary architecture and design studio, INC, and Cecilia Ramos, Senior Director - Architectural Market for Lutron Electronics. This conversation is brought to you by Lutron, and was recorded in October of 2020 as part of CLOSEUP, a live & virtual two-day design showcase event presented by WantedDesign Manhattan and ICFF.

Images, transcript, links and more on our website!

For more information on Lutron, visit Lutron.com

The second edition of CLOSEUP is May 16-18, 2021 - to learn more head to wanteddesignnyc.com

Clever is created, hosted and produced by Amy Devers and with music from El Ten Eleven and editing by Rich Stroffolino.

If you enjoy Clever we could use your support! Please consider leaving a review, making a donation, becoming a sponsor, or introducing us to your friends! We love and appreciate you!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep.138: Creative Strategist Natalie Nixon Feb 02, 2021

Show notes

Dr. Natalie Nixon grew up in Philadelphia playing double dutch and hopscotch on the street. Listening to jazz with her dad and exploring art with her mother taught her the value of improvisation and emotional resonance. Flexing her academic excellence while also being subjected to racial bigotry and red lining helped to hone her ability to see systems and span boundaries. Her experiences are vast and varied, from running a hat business in New York city to earning her PhD in Design Management in London. Today she's the president of Figure 8 Thinking, a Creative Strategy & Design Research consultancy that helps leaders apply creativity & foresight to achieve transformative business results, and the author of The Creativity Leap: Unleash Curiosity, Improvisation, and Intuition at Work.

Clever is created, hosted and produced by Amy Devers and with music from El Ten Eleven and editing by Rich Stroffolino.

If you enjoy Clever we could use your support! Please consider leaving a review, making a donation, becoming a sponsor, or introducing us to your friends! We love and appreciate you!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 137 Biden/Harris Campaign Creative Director Robyn Kanner Jan 19, 2021

Show notes

Robyn Kanner’s personal story is twisty and beautifully American. Largely self-taught, she fought hard to find her voice, and has battled bullies, addiction and self-doubt on her path to purpose. She, alongside Carahna Magwood, led a design team that effectively imbued the Biden Harris ticket with an uplifting, hopefulness that stressed reliability, inclusive values and unification. From the hot pink Biden & Lady Gaga promos, to unifying red-blue gradients. Robyn’s is a story of acceptance, healing, hard work, creativity and community - and feels as bright and hopeful as a victory gradient.

Images, links and more from Robyn Kanner!

If you enjoy Clever we could use your support! Please consider leaving a review, making a donation, becoming a sponsor, or introducing us to your friends! We love and appreciate you!

Clever is hosted and produced by Amy Devers with editing by Rich Stroffolino, production assistance from Laura Jaramillo and music by El Ten Eleven.

Clever's promotional partner is Design Milk.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Clever Confidential Ep. 2: The Supernatural Beginnings of The Bradbury Building Jan 05, 2021

Show notes

In the heart of downtown Los Angeles sits Hollywood’s undisputed architectural superstar — the Bradbury Building. The imposing structure’s character is definitive. Its origin story, however, is much murkier…

How did a young draftsman design one of the most remarkable buildings in the world? Why did he never again do anything of note? Or did he? Was all his creativity spent on this one masterpiece? Was this a case of stolen intellectual property? Or could this have even been a brush with the supernatural?

See images and read the show notes!

Clever Confidential is Clever's offshoot series where we dig into the lesser told stories of the darker side of design; the shadowy, sometimes sordid, tales hiding under a glossy top coat of respectable legacy.

Many thanks to this episode’s guest experts Esotouric's Kim Cooper and Richard Schave!

Please let us know what you think on social: Instagram , Facebook , LinkedIn

Credits:

Hosts: Amy Devers & Andrew Wagner

Writing and research: Amy Devers & Andrew Wagner

Guests: Kim Cooper & Richard Schave of Esotouric

Production: Amy Devers

Editing and Sound Design: Camille Stennis

Theme Music: “Astronomy” by Thin White Rope courtesy of Frontier Records

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 6: Jonathan Adler [Rebroadcast] Dec 29, 2020

Show notes

Potter and home decor mogul, Jonathan Adler reveals to Jaime and Amy how he found refuge from a tortured adolescence in clay and the potter’s wheel, and then how getting out from behind the wheel engendered a personal creative explosion. He also shares the origin of his very first store in Soho, and the story behind the design of the Parker Palm Springs.

Images and more from our guest!

If you enjoy Clever we could use your support! Please consider leaving a review, making a donation, becoming a sponsor, or introducing us to your friends! We love and appreciate you!

Clever is created, hosted and produced by Amy Devers and Jaime Derringer with music from El Ten Eleven and editing by Chris Modl.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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