Ti Chang is utilising social networks and a fearless, feminist approach to her craft to help women infiltrate the ‘boys’ club’ of industrial design
When Ti Chang started studying industrial design at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, she never imagined she’d be back in the city 10 years later, teaching women to build vibrators.
Nevertheless, that’s exactly what she was doing at Atlanta’s Museum of Design last summer, having already taken her ‘Build-A-Vibe’ workshop to South by Southwest in Austin, and San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences, with great success. “The last workshop we did at the Academy of Sciences, we had to turn away about 400 people,” Chang says. “It was insane.”
Though small in stature, Chang wears a determined air of don’t-mess-with-me fearlessness. There’s the large, intricate tattoo on her arm, sure; but, more potent, a palpable sense of courage and conviction. That she would even dream up the Build-A-Vibe workshop, never mind make it a hit, says a lot about the kind of designer she is.
Her products are not just objects, but impart a world view. Crave, the company she co-founded, produces chic, discreet vibrators, the antithesis of typically ridiculous-looking, maledesigned contraptions. And, by opting to show her customers how to make them, her world view is clear: more women should be designing and building the products they use.
“It’s my mantra: if you don’t see what you want, build it yourself,” Chang tells me as we arrive at her studio in SOMA, San Francisco’s abandoned warehouse district turned start-up hub (Twitter, Uber and Airbnb are neighbours). Crave is clearly doing well – the company has the whole building, spread over two floors. And it’s thanks to Chang’s mantra that she’s not just busy with Crave these days – she also co-chairs the San Francisco chapter of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA).
This story is from the April - May 2018 edition of Property Report.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April - May 2018 edition of Property Report.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Singapore Starts To Swings
Generous stimulus has saved the Lion City’s economy from disaster, and a percolating post-pandemic boom looks set to send the residential sector into overdrive
Natural Highs
With people seeking safe ways of re-engaging with the outside world, the pandemic has steered investment in key ski markets back on-piste
It's In Hua Hin
A long-time favorite of Thai royalty and weekenders travelling from Bangkok, the famous beach town is adding some alluring new strings to its bow
Blues In The Blood
As China’s cities explode, its built heritage is often neglected. Hangzhou-based Bluetown Architects aims to redress that balance through its striking but functional work
Little Joy Soldiers
Real estate sales offices are reopening in Yangon, but banking problems, low confidence and oversupply mean a bleak outlook as the army seeks to entrench rule
Youth Movement
Young members of a storied family shift property development in Cebu forward with a smart, green commercial tower, rising tall above an heirloom estate
Gift From Above
Source Global is tapping into a renewable source— the sky—to supply drinking water to residential communities and commercial properties in Asia
Proptech Is Enhancing Efficiency And Human Experience
The pandemic has forced the real estate industry into a more meaningful embrace with technology after years of flirting with innovation
Legacy Of Handy, Individualistic Inventions
The global crisis has caused unprecedented pain, but its extraordinary nature has seen it spawn a legacy of handy, individualistic inventions
Wave Of Mutilation
Lockdown disruption, evolving working conditions and an exodus by offshore gaming operators have sent the vital office space sector in the Philippines into freefall