update:
I currently work as a Product Development Engineer at Easton Bell Sports working on bike components. Like most people, I'm complex - some days I'm an engineer, some days I'm a designer, some days I'm a framebuilder. But given my druthers, I'll be working on something bike related, going for a mid-day ride and then working in the studio at night on the next frame.
I also teach in the Industrial Design Department at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. I am also one of the founders of the Urban Mobility Lab that continues to investigate traditional craft and emerging technology as we can apply it bikes and other sensible means of transport.
Nicholas Riddle, (Summer 2012)
I'm a designer & educator living in and enjoying San Francisco, California. I'm currently a Senior Lecturer at California College of the Arts in the Industrial Design and Grad Design Programs. During my spare moments, I'm also developing the Urban Mobility Initiative for the school in which the bicycle is used as a means of investigating contemporary mobility issues.
I have 11 years of experience in research and development, largely spent working in the bicycle industry. Having an engineering background taught me the importance of a systematic approach, patience, and meticulous craftsmanship. Being a designer has taught me how to work around problems, how to recognize archetypes and when to employ them, and how to really dive deep into my work.
I am most interested in how cultures are reflected through the objects they desire, particularly in regard to mass manufactured objects. I love objects that create a commentary about their own culture but using the world of manufacturing as the medium. I am especially interested in how people change these mass produced objects to meet their own needs - how they modify, apply duct tape, cut down, pad it and use it as a chair. I continue to be a student in form language in order to understand how easily influenced we are by lines and curves. In short, what motivates me is to find the unspoken reasons we are the way we are, how we got there and where we're going.
I love manufacturing and making things, but I also want sustainability and efficiency. I expect a high degree of craftsmanship and skill in my objects, but am also conscious about cost and materials. In doing so, I want to suggest new ways of doing things that are less damaging to our environment, use less resources and help us to enjoy the experience of being in our ever changing culture.
Nicholas Riddle, 2009
San Francisco, California
415.609.4443 cell
MyCV for academic interests.
My resume for commercial interests.