Kurt Andersen is a writer, radio host, and journalist. He's the author of novels True Believers, Heyday, and Turn of the Century, and has written for film, television, and stage. He is the host and co-creator of arts and culture radio show Studio 360, co-founder of Spy Magazine, and author of Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire. Oh, he was also the design critic at Time for eight years. In this episode, Jarrett and Kurt talk about how he started writing about design, how design is a constant t...
Mar 20, 2019•50 min
Reinier de Graaf has been a partner at OMA since 1996. He co-founded the studio's think tank AMO and has overseen projects ranging from an exhibition of the history of the European Union to masterplans for projects around the world. He has also taught in Harvard's architecture department and is the author of Four Walls and a Roof: The Complex Nature of a Simple Profession. In this episode, Jarrett and Reinier talk about the origins of AMO and when clients don't need buildings, the intersections ...
Mar 13, 2019•42 min
Craig Mod is a writer, photographer, and designer based in Japan. He’s written extensively about books, publishing, walking, and technology for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Medium. He also publishes two newsletters, Roden and Ridgeline, and hosts On Margins, a podcast about making books. In this episode, Jarrett and Craig talk about his background as a designer and programmer, the evolution of his own writing and where he’d like to take it, and taking the longview in all of his work. Links ...
Mar 06, 2019•1 hr 5 min
Kimbro Frutiger is an architect and writer. He studied classical languages and archeology at Amherst College, with a focus on reconstruction of Greek-era sites in Sicily, before receiving an MArch from Yale University’s School of Architecture. Since 2000, he's written about architecture history and culture for a variety of publications and is currently working on a book. In this episode, Kimbro talks to Jarrett about how his varied educational background influences his work as both an architect ...
Feb 27, 2019•45 min
Nate Pyper is an alphabet artist working in publishing, performance, and video. He maintains an ongoing research practice on queer anarcho-punk zines and is a 2018 Graduate of the Yale School of Art. He previously worked as a designer at the Milwaukee Art Museum and organized the Designers Talking series. In this episode, Nate and Jarrett talk about his expanded practice, the role of writing and research in his work, and the importance of dialogue and conversation in his work. Links from this ep...
Feb 20, 2019•51 min
Sam Jacob is an architect, writer, and teacher. He is the founder and director of Sam Jacob Studio, an architecture and design practice based in London, has written for all sorts of architecture publications, and is currently Professor of Architecture at University of Illinois at Chicago and Visiting Professor at Yale School of Architecture. In this episode, Sam and Jarrett talk about how he started writing, the writing classes he's taught in Chicago, and how reading and writing influence his ar...
Feb 13, 2019•58 min
Jeffrey Schnapp is the founder/faculty director of metaLAB (at) Harvard and faculty co-director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. He holds the Carl A. Pescosolido Chair in Romance Languages and Literatures and Comparative Literature in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and is on the teaching faculty in the Department of Architecture at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. In this episode, Jeffrey and Jarrett talk about his background as a medievalist and ...
Feb 06, 2019•1 hr 6 min
Mark Minkjan is an urban and architectural geographer. He is Editor-in-Chief at Failed Architecture and produces the Failed Architecture Podcast. He is also part of Non-fiction, office for cultural innovation, and has written for numerous publications including VICE, The Guardian and The Architectural Review. In this episode, Mark talks to Jarrett about the origins of Failed Architecture and his goals for the publication, the state of architectural and design criticism, and finding new ways to t...
Jan 30, 2019•55 min
Nancy Skolos and Tom Wedell are designers, authors, and educators. They operate Skolos+Wedell where they are interested in demising the boundaries between graphic design and photography through collaged three-dimensional images influenced by painting, technology, and architecture and are long-time faculty members at RISD. In this episode, Nancy and Tom talk to Jarrett about how they met at Cranbrook and the influence of that education on their career, how design education has changed over the la...
Jan 23, 2019•1 hr 4 min
Adam Michaels and Shannon Harvey are the principals of Inventory Form and Content, a Los Angeles-based design and editorial studio focusing on graphic design, spatial design, strategy, and content development. They also operate Inventory Press, a publishing imprint that specializes in books on art, architecture, design, and music. Previously, Adam and Shannon were a part of the New York design studio Project Projects, where Adam was Founding Principal. In this episode, Adam and Shannon talk with...
Jan 16, 2019•1 hr 1 min
Kate Wagner is the creator of the viral blog McMansion Hell and has written about architecture, design, and culture for a variety of publications including Curbed, The Atlantic, Architectural Digest, and more. She recently graduated from Johns Hopkins with a Masters of Arts in Audio Science, specializing in architectural acoustics. In this episode, Jarrett and Kate talk about origins of the site, diverse forms of architecture criticism, and using humor to educate. Links from this episode can be ...
Jan 09, 2019•53 min
Cab Broskoski and Chris Sherron are two of the founders of Are.na, a knowledge sharing platform that combines the creative back-and-forth of social media with the focus of a productivity tool. Before working on Arena, Cab was a digital artist and Chris a graphic designer and in this episode, they talk about their desire for a new type of bookmarking tool and building a platform for collaborative, interdisciplinary research as well as larger questions around open source tools, research as artisti...
Dec 19, 2018•56 min
Chappell Ellison is currently a content strategist at Huge. She previously worked as a designer and was part of the inaugural class of SVA's MFA in Design Criticism Program. In this episode, Chappell and Jarrett talk about her move from design to writing, the role of the critic, and how a dreamlike memory from Disneyworld made her realize she wanted to be a designer. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm.
Dec 12, 2018•1 hr 13 min
Laurel Schwulst is a designer, writer, teacher, and webmaster. She runs an independent design practice in New York City and teaches in design programs at Yale and Rutgers. She previously was the creative director for The Creative Independent and a web designer at Linked By Air. In this episode, Laurel and Jarrett talk about how horses got her into graphic design, what websites can be, the potential of the peer-to-peer internet, and how writing and teaching influence her practice. Links from this...
Dec 05, 2018•1 hr 2 min
Martin Lorenz and Lupi Asensio are the founders of the Hamburg-based design studio TwoPoints.net. Founded in 2007, the studio's work blends graphic design, typography, and editorial. The couple are also teachers and have taught in design programs around the world. In this episode, Jarrett talks to Lupi and Martin about their work and process, the role of teaching in their practice, and how writing informs their work. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm.
Nov 28, 2018•1 hr 6 min
For the 100th episode of Scratching the Surface, Jarrett Fuller is joined by one of his oldest and closest friends Rory King to talk about their parallel journeys in design and evolving design practices. Rory is currently a graduate student in Cranbrook's 2D Design Department and has worked as a designer at Pratt Institute and 2x4. Together, Rory and Jarrett collaborated on Sway, an experimental zine and short-lived podcast that heavily influenced the work they both doing now. They also reflect ...
Nov 14, 2018•1 hr 3 min
Kelsey Keith is the editor-in-chief of Curbed. Before that, she wrote about design and architecture for Dwell, Architizer, and a variety of other publications. In this episode, Kelsey and Jarrett talk about the late 2000s New York media landscape, cobbling together a freelance career, and her editorial vision for Curbed. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm.
Nov 07, 2018•52 min
Alexander Tochilovsky is a designer, curator, and educator. He's currently the curator at the Herb Lubalin Study Center and an instructor at Cooper Union. He studied graphic design at Cooper Union and went to graduate school at Cranbrook. In this episode, Alexander and I talk about his background and how he got interested in design, the role of design history in his practice, and how we can do a better job of learning from and teaching history today. Links from this episode can be found at scrat...
Oct 31, 2018•1 hr 16 min
Andrew Blauvelt has been a designer, writer, curator, and educator. He's currently the director of the Cranbrook Art Museum, a position he's held since 2015. Before that, he worked at the Walker Art Center in a variety of roles including Senior Curator of Design, Research, and Publishing; Chief of Communications; and Design Director. He also served as Director of Graduate Studies and Chair of the Graphic Design Department at North Carolina State University and has written for a variety of public...
Oct 24, 2018•1 hr 6 min
Christopher Hawthorne is the Chief Design Officer for the city of Los Angeles, a brand new position appointed by Mayor Eric Garcetti. Before that, he was architecture critic for the Los Angeles Times from 2004 to early 2018. He is Professor of the Practice at Occidental College and has taught at U.C Berkeley, Columbia University, and Souther California Institute of Architecture. In this episode, Jarrett and Christopher talk about this new job and how he's approaching it, reading Paul Goldberger ...
Oct 17, 2018•1 hr 3 min
Justin W. Cook is an architect, designer, and educator. He's currently the Founding Director of the RISD Center for Complexity & Systems Practice, an initiative that is thinking about design in the widest sense. Previously, he worked at the Helsinki Design Lab and has advised students at MIT and Harvard. His work centers around design as a transformative act, sustainability, and systems thinking. In this episode, Justin talks to Jarrett about realizing he wanted to be an architect and his mo...
Oct 10, 2018•1 hr 8 min
Allison Arieff is the editorial director of Spur and a columnist for the New York Times where she writes about architecture, design, and cities. Before that, she was the editor-at-large for both Good and Sunset Magazines and was the editor-in-chief at Dwell. In this episode, Allison and Jarrett talk about how she wanted to be a writer since eighth grade, the expanding definition of design, and the relationship between design and policy. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurfac...
Oct 03, 2018•47 min
Daniel Eatock is a designer and artist based in London. He studied design at Ravensbourne College and earned his MA from the Royal College of Art. In this episode, Daniel talks to Jarrett about studying design and discovering conceptual art, his resistance to labeling his practice, the role of teaching in his work, and how he's working towards being more present. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm.
Sep 26, 2018•52 min
Marcin Wichary is a designer, writer, programmer, and typographer. He most recently was a designer at Medium and previously worked on design teams at Google and Code for America. He's currently writing a book on the history of keyboards and typing, due to be released next year. In this episode, Marcin and Jarrett talk about how writing has supplemented his design work, the value of personal projects, and writing about his obsessions. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.f...
Sep 19, 2018•1 hr 13 min
Brian LaRossa is a designer, illustrator, writer, and reader. He's the design director at Scholastic, writer for Design Observer, and on the adjunct faculty at CUNY. In this episode, Brian and Jarrett talk about his early resistance to the design world and how discovering its history and culture opened up a new love for the discipline. They also talk about how he started writing, his love of reading, and the similarities between his writing process and design process. Links from this episode can...
Sep 12, 2018•58 min
Robin Sloan is a writer and media inventor based in Oakland. He's the author of two novels, Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore and Sourdough. He's also written a variety of short stories and internet projects, dabbles in programming and machine learning, and makes extra virgin olive oil with his partner Kathryn Tomajan. In this conversation, Robin and I talk about what it means to be a media inventor and how this is similar to being a designer, his early career working at Twitter and Current TV, a...
Aug 29, 2018•1 hr 15 min
Mimi Zeiger is a writer, critic, curator and editor. She's written for a variety of publications including The New York Times, Dwell, Domus, and The Architectural Review and is the founder of Loud Paper, a zine and digital publication that sought to increase the output of architectural discourse. She was also the co-curator for the US Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennalle, which had the theme "Dimensions of Citizenship". In this episode, Mimi and I talk about how she started writing...
Aug 22, 2018•52 min
Dan Hill is a designer, educator, and writer. He's currently a director at Arup, a visiting professor at The Bartlett School, and Adjunct professor at RMIT. He's also the author of Dark Matter and Trojan Horses: A Strategic Design Vocabulary, and the long-running blog City of Sound. He previously worked at the Helsinki Design Lab and as director of Fabrica. In this episode, Dan and I talk about the evolution of his career, his vision for a new type of design education, and the role of writing in...
Aug 15, 2018•1 hr 15 min
Emmett Zeifman is an architect, educator, and writer. He's the cofounder with Alfie Koetter of Medium Office, a design practice based in Los Angeles and New York, and *Project*, an independent publication that investigates the possibilities for developing a critical position in contemporary architecture. He also teaches architecture at the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. In this episode, Emmett and I talk about the relationship between the classroom and the s...
Aug 08, 2018•1 hr 3 min
Anab Jain is a designer, futurist, filmmaker and educator. As Co-founder and Director of Superflux, she hopes to realize the vision of the Studio as a new kind of design practice, responsive to the challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century. She also teaches at the University Applied Arts in Vienna and gave a TED Talk last year on design's role in imagining new futures. In this episode, Anab and I talk about Superflux's blend of client and speculative work, her background in filmma...
Aug 01, 2018•44 min
