FUTURE OF XYZ

S8 E14: For XYZ’s second ever live recording release, we spoke live from the SURROUND Podcast Network studio at NeoCon with award-winner industrial designer, Brad Ascalon, about the ‘Future of (Not) Fast Furniture’. In this fun and fascinating conversation, Brad talked about how his appreciation for materials traces back a creative childhood, dished on “big vs little d” design, weighed in on longe...

S8 E13: For XYZ’s first ever live recording release, we spoke live from the SURROUND Podcast Network studio at NeoCon with Chicago native Cheryl Durst Hon. FIIDA, Executive Vice President/CEO at IIDA (International Interior Design Association). Based on her extensive experience in the interiors industry, three years as an iF Design Award Juror, and role as a sought-after board member, keynote spea...

S8 E12: Carole Wedge FAIA NOMA LEED AP is the CEO/EVP of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) - the largest design organization in the world with over 101K members across 200 chapters. An accredited architect herself who for 17 years served as CEO of Shepley Bulfinch- one of the nation’s largest architecture & interior firms founded in 1874, there are few better guests to speak about the...

S8 E11: Women are 73% more likely to be injured in a car crash than men. Across the trades, 90% of women cannot find properly fitting safety gear. In every public space everywhere, the lines for ladies’ restrooms are multitudes longer than for men. These aren't statistical anomalies — they are the predictable consequences of a world designed primarily by and for men. Karen Korellis Reuther is the...

S8 E10: When a strategic architecture and experience firm thinks about design in decades-long time horizons and considers culture, community, and climate in their built environment projects – what emerges are deeply human-centered projects that serve all stakeholders well. Spatial Strategy is the architectural equivalent of “thinking before we speak” - the practice of planning designs and builds b...

S8 E9: Foresight is a practice that predicts or prepares for the future by listening to the “weak signals of possible futures”. Similar to trend tracking and forecasting - it explores how a provocation can blossom into possibility. Tied to the release of the 5th annual iF Design Trend Report (downloadable here: https://ifdesign.com/en/trend-report) – it is a timely moment to explore the future of...

S8 E8: Todd Bracher studied at Pratt, did his Masters in Copenhagen, and spent a decade working across Europe, before returning to New York City where he established his eponymous design studio. Credited with bringing more than 200 products to market and receiving over two dozen patents alongside dozens of accolades and awards – Todd is the first American industrial designer to have Phaidon publis...

S8 E7: Within the industrial design community, our guest is known as an innovative, global leader who has created hundreds of products and services for major brands, launched over 100 early-stage ventures including Uber and TELO Trucks, received over 300 awards, was named one of TIME Magazine’s Top 25 Visionaries and recognized by Forbes as the “Most Influential Industrial Designer in the World”,...

S8 E6: “Embodied presence.” “Intelligent gestures.” “Vulnerability is the real humanity inside us.” This week, we host Artist & Experience Designer, Annabelle Schneider, for a seemingly esoteric, abstract conversation about ‘What’s Real’. However, Annabelle quickly shows the topic to be anything other than nebulous. Based on her long-time interiors practice and now multiple award-winning insta...

S8 E5: Humans have been covering our feet with shoes to protect from injury and disease for over 5000 years. Sportsmen have been harnessing shoe innovation to maximize performance since the 1800s. The global footwear industry today produces millions of SKUs every year tailored to the unique demands of every imaginable sport, demographic, and style preference. Once a highly valued handcraft, techno...

S8 E4: “It’s about the orchestration of human judgment and machine capability towards a shared outcome.” This week’s episode is about (Hu)man-Machine Collaboration, and our guest is Matt McElvogue, the Vice President of Design at Teague - a century-old Seattle-based design firm renowned for solving complex challenges at the forefront of technology. Whether we’re looking to space or deep into the i...

S8 E3: Of all the spaces in the world that people flock to, admire, and emulate in recent decades – few are as iconic as NYC’s The High Line- the old, elevated railroad tracks on Manhattan’s West Side, turned native garden and cultural space. In this episode, we speak with the project’s co-Founder, Robert Hammond, about 'Third Places'- what they are, why they matter, and how they’re evolving. From...

S8 E2: At the start of the year, what else is there for us to do than imagine all the bright wonderful possibilities ahead? And color helps guide us into sense and feeling. Our guest this week is Laura Guido-Clark, an expert in color, materials, and finishes whose career has touched interiors, education, public works, automotive, electronics, and household appliances. Science says the spectrum of...

S8 E1: To kick off the new year, we are opening Season 8 with a conversation about a favorite holiday entertainment and pastime, ‘moviegoing’. Our guest is Jed Harmsen, VP & General Manager of Cinema & Group Entertainment at Dolby Laboratories, famous for revolutionizing audio with noise reduction and compression to significantly reduce high background noise and now the world leader in spa...

S7 E19 Rerelease (150th episode overall): Acclaimed industrial designer and recent author, Nick Foster RDI, joins XYZ for our 150th episode of the series! In this special episode, we celebrate not only 150 episodes of future exploration, but also Nick’s recently released book ‘COULD SHOULD MIGHT DON’T: HOW WE THINK ABOUT THE FUTURE’ by MacMillan. And we’re going meta here to talk about the ‘Future...

S7 E25: For our final new episode of 2025, we’re speaking with Dr. Delfina Fantini van Ditmar - a Senior Researcher at the Royal College of Art where she co-directs the Becoming Regenerative Lab and a Professor in Research at CARADT in the Netherlands where she also Chairs the Regenerative Art & Design group. With an academic background merging biology with design, her practice seeks to empowe...

S7 E24: Happy Thanksgiving, America! And happy eating everyone everywhere! In this special edition, we’re speaking about food, and specifically, fine dining. Our guests are both formally trained top chefs and acclaimed restaurateurs who have each had restaurants in New York City recognized with a Michelin star, as well as James Beard Award wins and nominations. Together, we explore fine dining as...

S7 E23: Our guest this week is Martha Tsigkari, a Senior Partner at Foster + Partners, among the world’s most acclaimed architectural firms founded by Lord Norman Foster. For over 20 years, Martha is also the Head of their Applied R+D group. Developing machine learning, optimization and simulation tools, integrated processes and physical interfaces - the group pursues state-of-the-art research tha...

S7 E22: Everyone is talking nonstop about how machines, robots, and AI are going to replace humans in the workforce and beyond. But what’s true? This week, FUTURE OF XYZ speaks with Tey Bannerman, a trained product designer and software engineer with over 20 years in the tech sector, including designing and building AI systems for startups, large retail players, and multinationals in regulated ind...

S7 E21: In this episode, we speak with Gita Rebbapragada, COO at Crunchyroll, the global entertainment platform specializing in anime, manga, and Asian media. Anime is a hand-drawn or computer-generated animation style typically originating from Japan– but now coming from all corners of the planet. And it’s an entertainment sector estimated to reach $60B over the next few years. This is a fascinat...

S7 E20: What is creativity and why does it matter? How does creativity differ from innovation? What is the role of imagination? Of education? In the Future of Creativity, we speak with Doreen Lorenzo, Assistant Dean at the School of Design and Creative Technology at the University of Texas and former President of frog design. In this expansive conversation, we talk about the importance of research...

S7 E19 (150 overall): Acclaimed industrial designer and recent author, Nick Foster RDI, joins XYZ for our 150th episode of the series! In this special episode, we celebrate not only 150 episodes of future exploration, but also Nick’s recently released book ‘COULD SHOULD MIGHT DON’T: HOW WE THINK ABOUT THE FUTURE’ by MacMillan. And we’re going meta here to talk about the ‘Future of Thinking About t...

S7 E18: If you were to read Brittan Heller’s CV, you might wonder why we’re speaking with her about the ‘Future of 3D Computing’. A Yale-educated lawyer who prosecuted war crimes in Rwanda and the Congo, supported refugees from North Korea and Afghanistan, and served in the U.S. Dept. of State and Dept. of Justice before becoming a Teaching Fellow & Law Lecturer at Stanford University’s Law, S...

S7 E17: Off the shelf or highly bespoke, interior designers know that the choice of floor coverings is one of the most important decisions they can make for the feel of a finished space. From throw rugs to area rugs, wall-to-wall carpeting or other wovens – this is a highly-specialized industry where local and global mills and weavers work hand in hand with designers to produce products based on m...

S7 E16: The fashion industry is one of the world’s largest polluters, responsible for 10% of total greenhouse gas emissions and with 87% of textiles ending up in landfills or incinerators every year. Recent forecasts suggest that the trend is rapidly continuing in a negative direction with the resulting climate change impact anticipated to displace tens of millions around the world. Other than con...