Stephen Burks, Principal, Stephen Burks Man Made

Stephen Burks (DSGN ’92) is a globally renowned industrial designer whose studio, Stephen Burks Man Made, describes itself as “deeply invested in the transformative power of craft techniques that challenge the limits of new technologies within industrial production.” Stephen graduated from ID in 1992, when it offered a bachelor’s degree and has gone on to receive the Illinois Tech Professional Achievement Award and the National Design Award.

His latest exhibition, Spirit Houses, on display at Cunningham Hall on Illinois Tech’s campus until September 6, included a lecture at S. R. Crown Hall on August 28. Spirit Houses explores furniture and products designed to meet the specific needs of modern-day spiritual practitioners. The exhibition, according to Burks, delves deeply into a design-based response to the failures of rapid globalization, environmental degradation, structural racism, and inequity, and focuses on the religio-spiritual cosmologies of West Africa and Southeast Asia.

We talked to Burks about his exhibit and how his education at the Institute of Design has affected his career:

Do you have any reflections on how your career has evolved and developed since you first stepped foot on the Illinois Tech campus?

The “singular auteur” isolated from their surroundings and collaborators is historically how Western thinking has described the artist and designer. The twentieth century was wrought with stylists who were totally disconnected from the factory, from manufacturing, and from production. When I encountered that model as a student, having come of age at the turn of the millennium, it became clear to me that it was necessary to find another way to engage in design that would allow me to include the relationships I was developing with people in other parts of globe who were not considered “traditional designers.”

When I began to travel the world making my first handmade objects in places such as South Africa, Peru, Senegal, and the Philippines, I came to the realization that design was a Western concept. In each country, I met people who were deeply rooted in their community and were producing things that weren’t necessarily being called design objects but that, in my opinion, should be.

I wanted to find ways to combine my education and my work in Europe and the United States with this new community-based approach. That’s when the studio was renamed Stephen Burks Man Made, with the intention of bringing the hand to industry. As a studio, we are still looking at ways to engage age old wisdom from around the world in hand production in service of contemporary culture. Our work attempts to build bridges from “majority world” production to “minority world” distribution so more people and communities can participate in design.

What would you tell this year’s ID graduates who are also looking to explore craft?

In our experience, craft production is never separate from the artisan or community that makes it. Many of our most innovative projects have stemmed from a close relationship with both the processes and the people behind them. It’s important to remind ourselves who we’re designing for and why.

Your newest exhibition, Spirit Houses, is described as allowing participants to “engage the sacred in personal ways.” What beliefs and feelings did you have while designing these elements?

The challenge was to imagine a world where any object could become spiritual if given the proper focus by its user. Our intention was to build upon Southeast Asian traditions of daily remembrance and memorial to translate everyday objects into markers of spirituality. In the African-American tradition, we believe our ancestors are always with us. I’m fascinated with the idea of making a home for them.

You place your latest exhibition in the context of recent global events, mentioning “converging global crises,” and asking how design can “respond to loss, grief, and the need for self-care.” As you created this exhibition, which recent events affected you the most?

My son lost both of his maternal grandparents in the first two months of the pandemic, in the spring of 2020. Without being able to gather, neither as a family nor a community, we turned to design as a means of expressing a way forward. Our first spirit house was made at home from foam core and hot glue.

Your exhibit was designed to meet the needs of modern-day spiritual practitioners. What elements of your furniture and products did you feel were most important to include for their use by these practitioners?

Spiritual offerings and rituals engage many of our senses. In Buddhist practice, the burning of incense, the chanting of prayers, or the turning of a wheel cultivate mindfulness and an awareness of the present moment. Altar, for example, is a wall-mounted Douglas fir plywood shelf which one could place an offering on, or a photograph of a loved one. It also has acoustic properties that amplify sound as well as focus, intention, and meaning.

In a recent interview in Illinois Tech Magazine, you mentioned that you were drawn to “the New Bauhaus,” the Institute of Design, because you liked its emphasis on craft, and spoke on the need to strengthen ties between design and craftwork. Were there any lessons at ID relating to this that still stick with you? How did they help you in your career?

At Stephen Burks Man Made, we attempt to bring the hand to industry as a means of extending craft traditions into the future. We believe that the closer the hand gets to the act of making, the more room there is for innovation. This philosophy is rooted in the Bauhausian moment, which synthesized hand-making and industrial production.

The Spirit Houses exhibition at Cunningham Hall will be open by appointment only on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. until September 6. Contact jreesejulien@dirkdenisonarchitects.com to reserve.