This past Spring, Stylex hired a talented young designer, Aodh O Donnell, to join its in-house development team.  He made an early splash in the design industry as winner of the 2009 Wilsonart Challenge based on the creation of the iconic Armadillo Chair. O Donnell will be working with the Stylex stable of designers as well as designing chairs of his own.  In addition, he has assembled a group of young design students to intern in a kind of design incubator at the Stylex HQ.  We talked with Aodh to learn about the road traveled from Ireland to Delanco, NJ.

Why did you choose industrial design as your career?

I gained a great deal of knowledge about craft and construction from my father.  He was a deep-sea fisherman by trade back in Ireland, and later became a millwright after emigrating to the U.S. in the late 80’s. A risk taker by nature, he never hesitated to tackle big, challenging projects like constructing his own wooden boat from scratch.  As his helping hand, I was exposed to the building and fixing of things from a young age. This was something I found deeply satisfying.

In my late teens, I was introduced to contemporary art by way of the skateboarding and indie music communities in Philadelphia. The Space 1026 artist collective had recently been established, and it had a gallery that shared half its floor space with a skate ramp. On opening nights, local bands would help draw a crowd. The music and skateboarding were what originally attracted me to this place, but it was the displays of early work by Shepard Fairey, Jim Houser, and Ed Templeton that ultimately sparked my interest in art and design.

Over time, the combined influences of my father and the world of contemporary art and design led me to discover industrial design.

I understand you recently completed your degree at Philadelphia University, and Stylex sponsored your capstone project about Engaged Learning. Can you tell us a bit more about this?

I have a prior degree in Education. In a way, this project represented the outcome of my combining two different fields. I already knew the dynamics of classroom management as well as a lot of the theory behind teaching and learning. With this background, I wanted to design furniture that positively impacted the student’s ability to learn. I was grateful to have Stylex support the project – both financially and as consultants for research and manufacturability purposes.  They also helped broaden my understanding of the furniture market in general and acted as helpful critics along the way.

What are you currently working on?  Do you have any first projects that you’re particularly excited about?

I am working a lot right now with Stylex’s established designers and am really excited about having the opportunity to be part of a development team that is turning raw designs into finished products.  At the same time, I look forward to realizing my own seating solutions – so stay tuned for that!