How do designers design products that are relevant now and have the potential to remain relevant in the future? How do designers adapt to rapidly evolving technological, cultural, and economic conditions? And how do designers maintain a commitment to their own design philosophy while managing client expectations and constraints?

Join us forSeeing Around Corners: Observations, Research, and Designing for the Future with Todd Bracher.

Strategic designer Todd Bracher will open the evening with case studies from his new Phaidon monograph, Observations, Research, and Design. Drawing on 25+ years of multidisciplinary work, which includes collaborations with global brands such as 3M, Herman Miller, and Humanscale, Bracher reveals how a science-based approach can translate research and observations into products and solutions with high-stakes enterprise value and social impact.

A panel discussion will follow featuring Inna Lobel (frog), a leader pioneering physical AI and intelligent hardware, alongside Rama Chorpash (Parsons). Together, they will explore how to turn deep observation and research into real-world impact.

Bios:

Todd Bracher is an industrial designer with more than 25 years of practice and over 200 products in production. His clients include Herman Miller, Knoll, Fritz Hansen, Cappellini, 3M, and Humanscale. He holds two dozen patents and is a three-time International Designer of the Year. His work rests on a principle he calls Design in Context: form follows function, function follows context. Phaidon published his monograph, Observations, Research, and Design, in 2026. A Pratt graduate and Fulbright Scholar, he earned his master’s at the Royal Danish Academy and spent a decade working in Copenhagen, Milan, Paris, and London before returning to New York.

Inna Lobel is a design and innovation leader focused on shaping next-generation products and experiences. She leads frog's Physical practice across North America, spanning physical experience design, industrial design, and engineering. Her work focuses on translating emerging technologies into products people want and value, from early opportunity definition through development and launch. She has partnered with organizations ranging from early-stage startups to Fortune 50 companies. Before joining frog, Inna was a senior member of Apple's Product Design team, where she worked on early-stage product concepts and brought products to market. She is an inventor on multiple patents, a graduate of the MIT Media Lab, a recipient of the 2022 Women in Innovation Rising Star Award, and teaches entrepreneurship and human-centered design at NYU.

Rama Chorpash is a generalist industrial designer and tenured associate professor who founded the MFA Industrial Design program at Parsons School of Design. His work, known for challenging frameworks of practice, has been exhibited coast to coast from the New York Museum of Modern Art to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. A Fulbright Specialist Alumnus, Chorpash’s projects have appeared in Scientific American, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. Elle Décor recognized him as one of the ten most influential people in design. Upcoming work includes participating as a jury member for the Spark Design Awards and acting as the external assessor for Lasalle College of the Arts / University of the Arts, Singapore. During his Spring 2027 Sabbatical, he aims to enhance his practical research on “manufacturing-in-place” by designing products that explore the tensions and interactions between local product development and global pressures.