Leadership
Charles M. Huck IDSA
Having been raised on a farm in Central New Jersey, I quickly learned that when a piece of equipment failed to operate it was usually up to us as a family to repair it. Before duct tape there was bailing wire. I also was able to spend time hanging around with a remarkable machinist in our small village while we undertook some rebuilding programs of various pieces of farm machinery. I mention this because of my fascination with mechanisms.
In terms of education, I attended and was graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy. Subsequently I entered the College of Mechanical Engineering at Cornell University. As my studies progressed, I became more interested in the human interface between systems and their users. This led me to transfer to the University of Illinois where I studied Industrial Design and received my degree. Following a period of active duty as an officer in the United States Navy, I attended the Graduate School of Industrial Design at Pratt Institute.
Following my single semester at Pratt, I worked with a large industrial design firm in New York City. In a relatively short period of time, the experience there led me to separate myself and establish what was then known as “Charles M. Huck – Design.” During the following years the practice moved from Manhattan to New Brunswick, New Jersey and finally to Gladstone, New Jersey. In 2003, I left what was then HS Design and organized the practice presently known as HUCKDESIGN, LLC, in Bedminster, New Jersey. Our focus has continued to be in the areas of medical products and packaging, as well as scientific equipment. A number of years ago one of our clients was also being served by MPR Associates, Inc. It was this first collaboration that led to the present Alliance.
As of matter of reference, I am a professional member of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) and the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IOPP).
Personal Perspective - "A Mentor Found"
Reflecting on events that have shaped my outlook as an industrial designer, I inevitably focus on a small dinner party I attended soon after graduation. Friends, knowing of my interest in design, arranged a memorable evening. My host turned out to be Henry Dreyfuss FIDSA, recognized internationally as one of the principal founders of our profession. His widely read book, Designing for People, had been required reading in college and I still keep a copy within reach. It was a rare privilege for a young, idealistic graduate to meet and spend time with Mr. Dreyfuss in a home that was welcoming and by no means overwhelming. My lasting impressions of that evening were those of a dignified gentleman who was devoid of any pretense. I learned that he also was a fine communicator, with a hint of humor and humility.
In subsequent years I learned that his design offices were never large in head count. However, they were populated with fine staff members whose work earned the respect and continuing patronage of many industrial giants. I have endeavored to do the same within our practice.
The timeless image of this remarkable man as a pioneer, an innovator, and a gentleman has been an inspiration to me. I consider myself most fortunate to have had those hours in his home. They left an indelible mark on my outlook as a practitioner of our art.
Charles R. Ashley
Born and raised in Bristol, Connecticut in the early 40s, I was surrounded by family and friends that worked in a diverse cross section of manufacturing technologies. I was always fascinated with anything mechanical or on wheels. These interests ultimately led me though high school to the University of Cincinnati. The College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning offered a five-year program resulting in a BS in Industrial Design. This was a co-op program with alternating periods of three months in school and three months on the job, apprenticeships, year round, non-stop. It involved working with an architect / city planner, a cosmetic dispenser manufacturer, a major mid-west trade show display producer and two different consulting industrial design firms. The first was IDC, Industrial Design Consultants, in Farmington, Connecticut; the second was Craftsman Industrial Design in Cincinnati, Ohio. The I.D. work included two sections as a model maker, then as a designer doing products for Rubber Maid, Nimrod campers, Revlon, Armor Food packaging, Stanley Tool Company, Cooper Paint and Arvin / Sears Roebuck consumer electronics.
After college, the U.S. Navy was my employer for four years. There were six months spent on the Klondike, a destroyer repair ship in San Diego, then three years at LeMoore Naval Air Station in LeMoore, California. While there, I was an illustrator and supervisor for a five man shop in the nuclear weapons training facility preparing carrier pilots for deployment to the Orient. Our duties were to design and execute training aids for the classroom instructors. With appropriate security clearances, we created elaborate cross section displays of aircraft mounted nuclear and conventional weapons.
In 1970, with an honorable discharge from the Navy, I had to choose between medical product design with Charley Huck or a position with Black and Decker tools. My decision to go with HUCKDESIGN has led to my position as Director of Industrial Design and a thirty-eight year career involved with every facet of product design from freehand concept ideation to all aspects of prototyping and production implementation. Our work has spanned many disciplines, including packaging systems and graphics, all manner of electronic instrumentation, medical procedure tools and kits, and consumer / industrial products. Each project has been unique; never the same thing twice.
Personal Perspective - “Technology and Aesthetics”
The transition from the analog to the digital age has been exciting and now affords the designer a vastly expanded array of tools. That being said, the root of the Industrial Design profession is to take a loose assemblage of thoughts and create an organized cohesive concept image that people from all disciplines can see or touch. In the future, we will have holograms instead of sketches, and stereolithography will be a commonplace desktop technology. Industrial Design must be allowed to “free wheel” to generate new fresh products while maintaining a solid footing in human factors and the realities of manufacturing. Where we once were considered mere “stylists,” I.D. has become much more than that. Working in close concert with engineers, scientists and marketing, we can create new products that people can relate to; technology configured with aesthetics for the human race to use and enjoy.
Finn Tornquist
I was born on June 16, 1949 in Grimstad, a small port-town on the southern coast of Norway. At the age of 5, I immigrated with my parents into the United States. I have lived in New Jersey ever since.
I have always loved to draw and that skill led me to the field of Industrial Design. In 1972, I was graduated from Pratt Institute in NY with a degree in that profession. Student projects included: a bathroom, an infant incubator and researching work being conducted at the firm Raymond Loewy International on the SkyLab space station.
Following graduation, I took a position with Walter Dorwin Teague & Associates. A wide range of projects broadened my experience, including packaging design for Proctor and Gamble, aircraft interiors for Boeing, as well as Shorts Bros. Harland and Wolff.
I joined Raymond Loewy International in 1974. Work covered the development of a car in the Soviet Union (the Moskvitch) as well as designing several types of hydrofoils. It was a fascinating challenge working with, at that time, out-dated Russian technology and design philosophy.
In 1976, I became Design Director at Buddy L Toys and two years later joined the staff at Matchbox Toys. In April of 1980, I established my own freelance Industrial Design practice. For several years now I have enjoyed my working relationship with HUCKDESIGN, LLC.
Personal Perspective – “On Industrial Design”
Industrial design is that part of the process that brings the engineered machine into contact with the human user. This means that the object must work well with the user, as well as convey an image of reliability and innovation. The esthetics of a product can actually help foster confidence in that product. If I have a philosophy of design, it would be that: each new project presents new opportunities and new directions to be explored. We do not have to settle for mundane and repetitive solutions. We start every project with, as marine architect Jon Bannenberg declared, “a clean white sheet of paper.” And we have to know who the client is; his needs, his market, his production capabilities and the image he seeks to present.