How can craft and technology influence, and cater to, evolving social needs, user demands, and civic infrastructure? This summer, students in Nick Riddle's Industrial Design course titled "Bike Building I: The Frame" set out to answer the question.

Focusing on traditional principles and techniques of bicycle frame building, Riddle led students through the process of researching, designing, crafting, and manufacturing a custom bike. According to each student's individual desire, some of the final bikes were for mountain riding, others were for road riding, and others were purely for leisure. All were conceived, designed, and assembled in just six weeks.

Last year BusinessWeek magazine ranked alumna Caroline Lu (MFA Design 2008) among the “twenty-one people who will change business." The industry-leading magazine also distinguished California College of the Arts as one of the “world’s best design schools,” for its commitment to a cross-disciplinary curriculum that "defies inclinations and shatters silos."

It lies just across the railroad tracks from the California College of the Arts San Francisco campus, yet it seems like a world away. UCSF’s Mission Bay campus is a sprawling complex with thousands of scientists working on complex projects that are too esoteric for our community of artists, architects, designers, and writers. Or so we thought.

CCA Industrial Design junior Ryan David Francis placed third in the 17th annual International Housewares Association (IHA) student design competition for his Swivel Garden Cart entry. Judged by design professionals and managers at housewares companies, their decisions are based on original product concepts, research, analysis, and clear visual and verbal presentation.