Manako received her BA in anthropology from Reed College in Portland, OR. Prior to joining Products of Design, she worked in supply chain management for a major Japanese chemical company Toray, and in marketing for an Italian furniture manufacturer Kartell. Here at PoD, she has formed a new design manifesto for herself: "make it fit." Manako pledges to leverage her diverse background and use the sneaky power of design wherever possible to manipulate what others think and help those who share the pain of not fitting in.

Website: manakotamura.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/manakotamura
Instagram: @mania.kot

Kuan Xu was born and raised in Zhejiang province, China, and completed his Bachelors Degree in Interior Design at Zhejiang International University. During college, he pursued his dream of becoming a designer and took every opportunity to learn the discipline, joining the International Industrial Designing Contest and the Countryside Reconstruction Design Program. He is proficient in pitching ideas, 3D modeling, and giving presentations. Kuan is eager to help people with all kinds of design-related challenges, believing that curiosity and boldness in the face of failure are key to becoming a good designer. Kuan has never been to the U.S. before, and is excited to learn a new culture.

Website: kuanworld.com

Will is an experience designer and strategist driven by curiosity and an innate urge to make the obscure clear. Born in Pasadena, California, he lived there until the age of ten, when he traded coasts for the D.C. area. He studied Journalism, Advertising and English at UNC Chapel Hill before moving to New York to work in advertising at BBDO. But after three years of helping clients like Hewlett Packard Enterprise find their voice, he realized it was time to find his own. A self-proclaimed Wikipedia addict who has been drawing since before he could walk, Will is passionate about finding solutions that make our world safer, saner, happier, and more efficient. Most recently, he has been helping a software start-up develop the design principles, user flow and interface for a product aimed at putting the power of machine learning in the hands of non-programmers.

Website: willcrumdesign.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/will-crum-41009545
Instagram: @crumblebrag

Jingting is a designer and a nationally-acknowledged Chinese poet. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing, while working as an aromatherapist and a drummer in a rock band. With her diverse academic and working background, Jingting is looking to explore design across a diverse number of fields, including technology, science, strategy, and art. When she’s not working on her projects, you can find her cooking, reading, drawing, playing music, and trying something new!

Website: jingtinghe.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jingtinghe
Instagram: @jingting1994 

Kevin’s origins are in Montreal, Canada, but he has never been able to stay in one place. He received a Business Management, Entrepreneurship and Innovation degree from Dalhousie University, and continued as a marketing strategist before transitioning to branding—and most recently, to product design. It is his experience traveling though Asia, Europe, and the Americas, however, that has shaped him the most as a designer. Kevin has worked on a wide range of projects, including fully-recyclable footwear, 3-D printed hydroponic systems, and mobile apps. He is increasingly optimistic about the convergence of physical and digital products and the potential they have toward collective human prosperity. Kevin plans to use his background in business and his entrepreneurial spirit as tools to propel his design ideas. When Kevin isn’t plotting his next project, he enjoys playing music, writing, and cycling around the city.

Website: kev-cook.com

Born and raised in Peru, Sebastian has always been involved in the world of extreme sports. A former member of the Peruvian National water skiing team, as well as an avid surfer, mixed martial artist, tennis player, and cyclist, Sebastian studied Architecture at the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas in Lima, Peru—focusing on Industrial and Personal Projects. After graduation, he spent three years in the industry working on residences, museums, hospitals, schools, theaters, office buildings, and HPC. Passionate about his craft, Sebastian moved to New York to learn new tools and techniques to expand his creative potential.

Website: sebastianharmsen.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sebastian-harmsen-6b891a96
Instagram: @sharmsendesign

Hailing from China, Jiani Lin’s interests in handcrafting inspired her to pursue an education in products of design. Through her undergraduate major and various internships, she has gotten experience in different kinds of design—including product design, package design, graphic design, and website design. She decided to come to the United States to get a graduate degree after she read Design Revolution: 100 Products That Empower People, inspiring her to reevaluate the kind of things she actually wants to design, and challenging her to imagine how she could be a designer that makes people’s lives better. Jiani looks forward to exploring different design disciplines to find the area in which she can best combine her interests and skills.

Website: jianilin.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jiani-lin-a82a21138
Instagram: @emilylove0000

Christopher studied at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, where he was trained in the foundations of visual language—composition, observation, eye-hand coordination, 2D and 3D skills. After receiving a BFA in Furniture Design, Chris operated his own business for 15 years, creating custom furniture, lighting, and ornamental ironwork for churches and private clients. As a highly skilled metalsmith, Chris managed many roles, from initial presentations, samples, and site verification, to fabrication, patination, and final installation. Chris’s philosophy is to engage both the analytical and the creative to generate meaningful and beautiful solutions. He sees the PoD program as an opportunity to broaden his methodologies, affect a wider range of people and contexts, as well as expand the definition of products and value beyond aesthetics and utility.

Website: christopherand.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chris-rand-a2891a4
Instagram: @nycrand