Meet Chair Charlie Sheldon
About Charlie Sheldon, Interim Chair of Industrial Design
I am the acting interim chair of CCA’s Industrial Design Program and an instructor in upper-level studios and research courses. I also manage our internship program, which supports our students by connecting them to the vibrant design community that makes CCA thrive.
My background is varied—from the study of philosophy to furniture making to user experience strategy and digital design. My professional experience in design spans socially responsible public projects, service design, sustainable manufacturing systems, medical devices, consumer electronics, and furniture.
Passion & Expertise
My passion for design and education is all encompassing. I love investigating emerging areas of design opportunity and integrating craft and the act of making that CCA's culture of innovation and rich craft history lend itself to.
As a design professional, my areas of expertise and interest are sustainable product design, creative process facilitation, design research and design education. I am the cofounder of Link Studios, a design cooperative that incubates entrepreneurs working in everything from sustainable product design and medical device development, to musical instrumentation, furniture and jewelry design.
Accomplishments
I also founded Cragelmeyer LLC, a contemporary furniture company based on a system of designs driven by numeric conditions (parametric). The design system allows clients to quickly customize for fit, material finish and iconography, and vertically influence the design, manufacturing, inventory and end product.
Building Community Relationships
Outside of my professional practice, I am active in the broader San Francisco design community. I served for two years as chair of the local chapter of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), where I organized conferences and competitions for students and professionals, established a design entrepreneur series (Design Sight SF) and a recurring sustainable-design event and competition (Digging Deeper).
The IDSA experience allowed me to establish several important relationships with the local design consultancies and Silicon Valley tech giants. In addition to supporting this network, it broadened and enabled connections with local business communities (Wharton West, Haas, Net Impact, SCORE, CA Small Business Association, etc.); the science community (University of California San Francisco and the California Academy of Sciences); and the Mayor’s Office and its many city-based nonprofit organizations.
Most importantly, these experiences forced me to observe the overarching context from which good design is born, the growing role design has in society, and the real value it can bring as a process for solving complex problems.
Connect
Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments: csheldon@cca.edu.