Dr. Austin Houldsworth

Today we had a guest speaker called Dr. Austin Houldsworth, Spoke about our future and how 60 years ago general motors ensilaged our future. Austin spoke about the conflict between priests and profits within design and how one needs the other. Austins illustrated that his work was very broad. Austins first self employment design was to create a chamber that had the ability to fossilise human bodies. the chamber uses prettification to preserve the bodies.

Along side this project he was also designing a thermite kettle. In 2008 the financial crash hit Britain and the people saw the end of the world creeping closer, Austin designed a nuclear apocalypse kit that brood your tea within 60 seconds so you could enjoy your last minutes on earth. Austin showed us the lighter side to his design when he worked for umbrella creating thousands of intractable helium balloons with LEDs fitted inside. As they floated through the city people could change the colour of individual balloons.

Although Austins work was on the darker side of design he was still thinking about how he could help people and bring them comfort, and you can see this through his designs. I had never thought about the concepts of the further future but only trying solve the problems of today. As a designer we strive to accomplish better days for our future but Austin has resinated with in myself as he thinks about the questions no one asks and is a truly inspirational designer.