World Traveler, Designer Stephen Burks to Present 'Man Made' Lecture on Sept. 26

Photo by Stephen Burks

A young Senegalese woman hides behind her finished basket in a small village outside of Thies.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Stephen Burks will present a lecture at 1 p.m. Monday, Sept. 26, in Ken and Linda Sue Shollmier Hall, Room 250 of Vol Walker Hall, on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville, as part of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design lecture series.

Burks, a traveler and designer, is the founder of Stephen Burks Man Made, based in New York City. Burks believes in a pluralistic vision of design that is inclusive of all cultural perspectives. His Man Made project bridges the gap between authentic developing world production, industrial manufacturing and contemporary design.

His lecture, "Stephen Burks Man Made," will focus on his travels and designs from around the world.

Burks studied architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology and product design at IIT's Institute of Design, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Design in 1992. He then moved to New York City and attended Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture from 1992 to 1995. He spent the remainder of the decade traveling between New York and Europe, and living abroad in Tokyo and Milan. In 2000, Burks became an independent designer, when Giulio Cappellini put his first pieces into production for Cappellini.

Today, Burks is one of the most recognized American industrial designers of his generation. Working independently and through association with the non-profit organizations Aid To Artisans, Artesanias de Colombia, the Clinton Global Initiative, Design Network Africa and the Nature Conservancy, Burks has been a product development consultant in Australia, Colombia, Ghana, Haiti, India, Kenya, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, Rwanda, South Africa and Senegal.

He has been commissioned by many of the world's leading design-driven brands to develop collections that engage hand production as a strategy for innovation for manufacturers worldwide. These include B&B Italia, Boffi, Calvin Klein, Cappellini (Cappellini Love, 2008), Calligaris (Variations, 2013), Dedar (Roping, 2011), Dedon (Dala, 2012, Dala Accessories, 2013, Ahnda, 2014), Estee Lauder, Harry Winston (Hidden Gem, 2013), Missoni (Patchwork, 2004), Moroso (M'Afrique, 2009), Roche Bobois (The Traveler, 2014) and Swarovski.

In 2011, Burks had two museum exhibitions in New York City. Stephen Burks | Man Made, his first solo New York museum show, opened at the Studio Museum of Harlem in March 2011, and Stephen Burks | Are You a Hybrid, his first curatorial project, opened at the Museum of Arts and Design in May 2011. Stephen Burks | Man Made traveled to Toronto to open at the Design Exchange in January 2012.

His is a recipient of the Illinois Institute of Technology Alumni Professional Achievement Award, the Brooklyn Museum Young Modernist Award and the Architektur & Wohnen Audi Mentor Prize. He also received the 2008 United States Artists Architecture and Design Target Fellowship Grant for his outstanding work in product design, as well as the 2015 National Design Award in Product Design from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.

The school is pursuing continuing education credits for this lecture through the American Institute of Architects and the American Society of Landscape Architects.

The public is invited to attend. Admission is free, with limited seating.

For more information, contact 479-575-4704 or visit fayjones.uark.edu.