Andrew Beissmann

Industrial Design

My name is Andrew Beissmann and I’m an Industrial Designer focusing on converting energy and emotions into the products and systems. Moreover, simplicity is another goal of mine as I hope to take the complexity around us and arrive at a more manageable solution. Finally, I advocate for compassionate capitalism where we can incentivise and achieve great technological advancements within a social-ecological worldview.

The design process is messy and is very critical thinking heavy, the planning and research stage of any project is always the most time-consuming. By utilising my subconscious mind in tandem with researching techniques I am able to create a design brief or reframe the design challenge to outline the underlying problem/opportunity in focus. Writing and sketching take place during and after as to record and document ideas as they come into existence. Furthermore, prototyping follows and builds upon where pen and paper cannot, to explore and develop an idea three-dimensionally. CAD follows this in parallel as it too has its own strengths and weaknesses. By combining these the design can take form in a time-efficient manner.

Preservation & Presentation Case For Artworks

Column Dining Set

High-End Faucet Sketches

Space Shuttle Inspired Coffee Table

SHELF Entertainment Unit

Acknowledgement of Country

The School of Design and Architecture respectfully acknowledges the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners and knowledge-keepers of the lands, waters and sky that surround us, where we work, learn, create, communicate and make place. We recognise that sovereignty has never been ceded and this always was and will always be Wurundjeri Country. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who continue to make a better world through design.

We extend our acknowledgement to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, students, alumni, real-life clients, and knowledge keepers, who have contributed to our own education diversity and growth. We will continue to ensure that staff and students respectfully honour ancestral connection to Country and Place in everything that they do.

We are dedicated to the notion of design to make a better world and we acknowledge that making tools, shaping place, sharing stories, making meaning, wayfinding and collaborating have long been and continue to be both central and integral to First Peoples' cultures. We recognize that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ cultural contributions have continued relevance to design practice and commit to: reconciling ancestries of design and contemporary practice as well as pursuing culturally and professionally appropriate ways to engage with a diverse population of colleagues, industries and clients. In a time of treaty-making and voice we understand that there are overlaps between caring for Country and the sustainable production of goods, services, experiences, products and buildings.

Guided by the principles of respect, reconciliation, and reciprocity we undertake to indigenising and decolonising design practice by dismantling colonial structures and challenging biases that have marginalised Indigenous voices and design.

As students of SoDA you will be given opportunities to both engage with and educate yourself in Indigenous creative practices and cultural protocols through a lens of inclusivity, diversity, respect, mutual understanding, inter-cultural dialogue in all aspects of design practice. Indigenous people have been telling stories, making tools, and connecting to Country through visual media, placemaking and place marking for more than 60,000 years and these practices are part of an ongoing, evolving and live tradition.