Product Designers

A graduate of the University of Colorado and the Corcoran School of Art in Washington D.C., Andrew started his career at the architectural firm DMSAS. He went on to open and run a production furniture company in Baltimore, Maryland before venturing out on his own as an industrial designer.

Chris Carter graduated from the school of industrial design at Pratt Institute-Brooklyn, NY in 1991. He worked with various design firms in the metropolitan New York area, designing and working on products for clients including Steelcase, Century baby products, Tyco toys, Colgate Palmolive and Ford Motor Company.

Some twenty years later, and principal of Chris Carter Design LLC, he has a world wide client base consisting of North American, European and Asian companies of which he is successfully designing for today. Designs of Chris’ are currently being specified and used within corporate, healthcare, higher education, government, hospitality and retail planning environments. His strong relationships with some of the industries top performing and high profile manufacturers, coupled with the ability to create beautiful, utilitarian products at competitive pricing, has proven a winning formula with which his clients can successfully compete among today’s high standards and demands.

A top graduate of the School of Industrial Design at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Chris began his early career designing sets for broadcasting studios, yet always had a passion for furniture and spent most of his down time working on furniture designs and other related moonlit projects.

In 2006, he turned that passion into a full-time business by forming Achella Design Studio, and has since produced successful designs for a broad range of markets including industrial, retail, contract and outdoor furniture.

Chris and Jon Panichella head up the product design portion of Achella Design – a multidisciplinary studio operating out of Southern California. While the studio’s primary focus is furniture and graphic design, they have also helped clients find solutions in diverse industries from medical devices to retail and exhibit design.

In lieu of an overarching design philosophy, Achella Design prefers to focus on authentic collaborations between the client, the intent of the project, and the end user. Their goal is to tailor market solutions that perfectly blend their design sensibilities with the brands they create them for. With this honest approach Achella Design creates honest solutions.

A graduate of the industrial design program at the University of Cincinnati, Dahl has been making one-of-a-kind furniture pieces for residential clients for over 25 years, and seating for the contract market for over two decades. His hands-on approach – David builds his own scale models and prototypes to ensure seating comfort – has made him a sought-after partner by many nationally recognized manufacturers.

Whether turning raw lumber into a custom table for a West Hollywood dining room or designing a chair that is tailored to a hospital waiting room, the hallmarks of David’s designs are the same – clean lines, attention to detail and, above all, an obvious passion for his trade.

With an appreciation for the complexity and beauty in everyday life, Gemma Bernal’s design philosophy is founded in the underlying concepts of shape, structure and ultimately, craftsmanship.  Holding dual Master’s Degrees in ephemeral architecture from the University of Barcelona and furniture design from the University of San Pablo, Valencia, Gemma continues to live and work in her home city of Barcelona where she has won numerous awards and collaborated with brands worldwide while simultaneously enjoying a long and fulfilling teaching career in product design and other related disciplines.

GOWER + WOOLF is an American integrative design firm founded in 2021 by Andrew Gower and Paul Woolf Boettiger. With offices in New York and Montana, our designs are the culmination of experience, process and reflection. Our work is built on a shared commitment to simplicity of form, research-driven design and collaborative process. With decades of collective experience from industrial design, architecture, to branding, we approach each project with a sense of wonder coupled with a thorough understanding and appreciation of our craft. We have had the privilege of partnering with companies throughout North America, Europe and Asia, helping to develop successful product lines for their brands. Our one goal is to create thoughtful, beautiful, and relevant designs that are reflective of our time.

IDA is a unique, agile design studio based in Zeeland, Michigan, that prides itself on designing thoughtful, accessible, and beautiful products. The IDA team curates a highly collaborative process, valuing rich relationships alongside excellent design, believing the two are intertwined and integral to success.

Championing this collaborative approach throughout the entire design workflow – from observational research to reporting, product development and launch, this small but mighty team has been the recipient of numerous awards, including 20 Best of NeoCon awards, four Good Design awards, a Red Dot award, and recognition in numerous HiP and Metropolis Likes competitions.

With a passion for forward-thinking, innovative design, IDA publishes Lumen, a monthly blog synthesizing trends in design, the workplace, materials, sustainability, technology, and more. Lumen provides an outlet to share creativity and inspiration with the design community while furthering IDA’s own journey to stay curious, relevant, and engaged.

A design consultancy with a primary focus on work furnishings for the contract market, PLD is comprised of two partners that have worked in industry sectors that provide the means with which products and interiors come together.

Recent recipient of the IIDA Circle of Excellence Award, Pam Light currently serves as Senior Vice President at HOK’s Los Angeles office where she has been a guiding force for their interiors practice for over twenty years. Her involvement ensures their product designs remain pertinent and meets the needs of today’s clients and their ever-evolving work place.

John Duffy has over 30 years of experience in product design and commercial interiors. During this time he has worked for interior design firms that specialize in hospitality, healthcare, and corporate design, with the last 15 years committed solely to product design and development.

The partners’ varied backgrounds are the foundation for products that reflect not only a thoughtful design that addresses opportunities in the market, but they have tried to think critically, intelligently, and humanely about the products proposed to clients as well as their effects on others.

A full-service design and consulting firm based in Chicago, qdesign seeks to engage not only the talents of individuals, but to tap the greater potential achieved through group collaboration. Their creative efforts have resulted in award-winning designs ranging from conference tables to casegoods, lounge seating and guest chairs.

Over the past 2 decades, Rainlight has focused on corporate, healthcare, educational and residential furniture. Collaborations with a broad range of furniture clients, from large multifaceted corporations to small family-owned businesses, their experience spans highly developmental ergonomic task seating to more fashion driven soft seating products. They take pride in solving problems, understanding their clients and providing the best possible solution for their needs.

An innovative and pragmatic designer with a degree in industrial design, Ramsey Madsen has enjoyed a long and celebrated career in the contract furniture industry.  In addition to Arcadia and Encore, his clients include Knoll, Indiana Furniture, SurfaceWorks, Allsteel and the HON Company, with designs ranging from workstations to modular systems and meeting tables.  His designs have also won several industry awards, including several Calibre Awards, a Best of Neocon Gold Award and an I.D Magazine’s Honorable Mention. As a father and an avid outdoorsman, Ramsey enjoys balancing his work with his family and being in the wilderness of Park City, Utah.

A graduate of Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, Contois began his career designing architectural building products. Soon after, his focus turned to contract furniture and since 2008, has managed his own studio and developed products for a wide range of markets. In his work, he emphasizes simplicity, scale, and proportion while elevating the end users’ experience and has a firm belief that the role of design is to balance the interests of the manufacturer, designer and end user in ways that create desirable products in the marketplace.

Madsen brings a unique synthesis to furniture design through a holistic approach that reaches from the earliest stages of needs assessment through final product engineering. With a strong design background and a deep understanding of processes, he assists his clients in creating pragmatic solutions of value.