[HTML1] More About Paula Rees
Paula Rees, founder of ForeSeer (formerly Maestri). Since 1979, she has the reputation for master planning and building powerful environments. She had the incredible opportunity to be mentored by Sara Little Turnbull, an American product designer, design innovator and educator. Paula corresponded and visited with Sara while she was at Stanford in California. For 25 years, Paula has soaked in the wisdom of Sara.
A major force in the design world, Sara Little Turnbull traveled around the world four times a year starting in the late 1950s as a consultant to major Fortune 100 corporations and governments. Details in the diversity of the people she met inspired the design of new products — always keeping the user top-of-mind. Her advice was to create long-lasting, quality products that fit the needs of people rather than put people into the box of ‘consumers.’ A consumer economy often creates new products, which are marketed to convince people they want what they do not need, or obsessive spending.
During her travels, Sara collected various cultural artifacts and also looked to nature. She was keenly observant of how people were living and working. This always informed her design solutions and inspired new product ideas for her clients. Her 5,000 artifacts are now located in Seattle, WA and plans are underway to restore her Center for Design Research back into a scholarly design study collection. Sara always discussed the need for designers to ‘open up the lens’ to the people and cultures of the world.
In her own work, Paula Rees sees with similar eyes as her mentor. While traveling in Hong Kong, parts of China and Japan, she noticed how fabric awnings and canopies were used in small, urban infill spaces, from alleys and courtyards to public plazas.
“I was inspired by this use of fabric and the flexibility this approach offered while softening a space,” Rees says. “As a designer, I can imagine how this kind of approach will become even more prevalent and desirable as our spaces around the world become even more dense. Instead of hard construction and its related expense, we are able to infill and create places that are more flexible and welcoming with fabric.”
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Picture of Sara credit to © MAUREEN HOFFMANN, KUNSTDAME
Credit for introductory music, One World, Karie Hillery.
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