It’s probably a good thing I didn’t get into product design at university. All I wanted to do was design things like kitchen appliances. Vacuum cleaners, toasters, kettles, and irons. Stuff like that. I thought that would be a cool job. Unfortunately, or fortunately rather, I didn’t get in. My marks weren’t high enough. As I say, it was probably for the better. Not only was I a terrible communicator, I wasn’t assertive enough, and while I was critical, I was too agreeable. Besides, young designers tend not to be that good at what they do. Design experience comes with age.
My second or third option was a little known field called “materials science”. I found this intriguing. Why is titanium so strong and light for example? Little did I realise this at the time, but you actually have to be cleverer to be a scientist than a designer.
And so I embarked on a career as a materials scientist. I didn’t know this at the time, but that choice of tertiary education would open my eyes to consumerism and its impact on this world…
