Nasser Samman

Nasser's Pathway:
Diploma of Product Design
Bachelor of Industrial Design
Master of Creative Media (Animation and Interactive Media)

Nasser initially chose the Diploma of Product Design at RMIT University because he was unsure of what he wanted to do. After two years study though, his dream job became animatronics production in concept design, so Nasser went on to do further studies in Industrial Design and is now completing a Master of Creative Media in Animation and Interactive Media.

Starting out as a work experience student at Walt Disney Australia, Nasser believes this gave him the inspiration to pursue a career in design. He also designed an exhibition proposal for the Tasmanian Tiger at Healesville Sanctuary and was fortunate enough to teach Industrial Design to students at RMIT University 3 years ago. He is currently working as a concept artist at William May Productions, which involves “creating the menagerie of creatures and landscapes appearing in the show, whilst creating 3D sculptures that will eventually be turned into working animatronic creations”. To top the list however is his award for best film production of 2009 by ACMI and Viskatoons, “as well as a very generous pay cheque”.

Nasser believes RMIT taught him to feel “a great sense of responsibility…and really surprised myself at the amount of work I was able to achieve…it also has a diverse range of courses on offer as well as connections within the industry”.

Nasser feels the course “opened doors in terms of employment and although it’s a competitive industry, “it’s such a thrill to be able to create something that is your own and have seen by so many people”.

When asked what he would say to anyone that is interested in this field, he replies “do it…I now realise how fortunate I was to be able to gain access to such an institution like RMIT University”.

Screen shot from his winning film 'George and the Dragon'

Bonnie So

Industrial Designer

Graduated from Bachelor of Design (Industrial Design)

Website: www.thisis.com.au

Bonnie So was born in Hong Kong in 1986. She moved to Australia for education in 2001. In 2003, she took the Foundation Studies Course– Architecture, Planning and Design. After that she applied directly for the BA of Design (Industrial Design) at RMIT and got accepted. During her Industrial Design degree she spent a year aboard at Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft (FH) in Dresden, Germany where she further developed her passion and found her purpose for design.

During her studies at RMIT, Bonnie was able to work with students across disciplines, “The Greenhouse Multidisciplinary Project offered me a great experience to collaborate with a mechanical engineer student and business student to work for Sofitel Melbourne. It was the first project we had a chance to work with cross-disciplinary students as well as industry. We had learnt a lot from each other as well as our supervisor Dr. John Andrew.

Her time at RMIT also shaped her direction for design, “In my final year I did an elective called ‘By Product’ which was supervised by Simone LeAmon. It was probably the most influential project for my career. It was a project about re-purposing waste to a brand new product. This is where I developed my first product “This is a Trivet”.

In 2007 she graduated as an Industrial Designer from RMIT University and in the same year, she established the brand, ‘This is’ after designing a homeware product, ‘This is a Trivet’. ‘This is a Trivet’ is a product that is about re-purposing waste. She first showcased ‘This is a Trivet’ at the Melbourne Design market during the Melbourne Design Festival in 2007. After the success of the festival she went on to exhibit at the Salone Satellite, Milan International Furniture Fair in 2008. In 2009, Bonnie’s work was published in the Melbourne Design Guide 2009-2011. She has been working in Hong Kong as a project assistant at the Strategy Design Lab at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. “It was a great experience to learn more about the Hong Kong and China design industry. I was also invited to exhibit This is Collection at the Hangzhou Phoenix Creative Design Week in the product section – Infatuation.”

Bonnie recently returned from Osaka, Japan where she did a 3 month internship at a product design studio as well as learnt Japanese – no easy feet! She will be launching her new colour collections for This is Accessories and at the Design:Made:Trade at the Royal Exhibition Building on 15-18 July, 2010.

Her words of advice to anyone who wants to enter this industry? “Be passionate about what you do.”

This is a trivet by Bonnie So