Guest Speaker Chris Barrs + a Design Contest!
October 14, 2014
Ms. Walker invited Chris Barrs, an industrial designer from O8O Studio in Ybor City, to speak to Upper School students about creativity, innovation, problem solving and design in the business world. Mr. Barrs gave real world examples of the design process in product development to show students how they can develop their own creative skills in our school makerspace. He walked students through the design stages of ideation, iteration, prototyping, testing and manufacturing.
The students were intrigued with Mr. Barrs' examples of designing a tool pack for NASA while in college and designing extreme sports equipment for the Naish corporation in Hawaii, and many said they had seen his Disasterville exhibit at MOSI. Ask your student to tell you about how Mr. Barrs got to ride in zero gravity in a refueling aircraft with astronauts! He taught himself everything, from how to use a sewing machine to how to work with fiberglass to bring his ideas to life.
“Imagine a solution. Push through boundaries. Remove your self limiting beliefs. You just have to get out there and do it. Each one of you is capable of unique original thought that can turn into a product if you stay focused on it. ”
The students were intrigued with Mr. Barrs' examples of designing a tool pack for NASA while in college and designing extreme sports equipment for the Naish corporation in Hawaii, and many said they had seen his Disasterville exhibit at MOSI. Ask your student to tell you about how Mr. Barrs got to ride in zero gravity in a refueling aircraft with astronauts! He taught himself everything, from how to use a sewing machine to how to work with fiberglass to bring his ideas to life.
“Imagine a solution. Push through boundaries. Remove your self limiting beliefs. You just have to get out there and do it. Each one of you is capable of unique original thought that can turn into a product if you stay focused on it. ”
This speech served as a great springboard for the current NASA 3D Printing in Space challenge that our makerspace is promoting to students. See more about this real world design at http://www.futureengineers.org/. We hope to see our students design for space and the real world.
