THEODORE R ULLRICH (1984)
I am an Industrial Designer, Interdisciplinary Engineer, and serial entrepreneur who designs, engineers, and develops revolutionary products. Especially simple, beautiful electronic devices that help humanity. I am a futurist with a heavy respect for the past. I believe that struggle is satisfying and convenience is a slow death. I’ve learned that beautiful things grow out of nothing. I’ve been told that "I cannot save the world" and "I cannot be everyone’s hero." These things inspire me. I believe bicycles, honesty, relentlessly developing a life passion, urban density and the internet are our ways out. I'm on a life mission to own nothing.
Ted holds a Bachelor of Inventive Design Engineering (BSE) Degree from Purdue University, and a Master of Industrial Design (MID) Degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). He has also studied architecture in Copenhagen, Denmark and around Scandinavia.
In 2010, Ted founded Tomorrow Lab™, a New York City based product development consultancy that researches, designs, and engineers revolutionary products that steer communities toward a better future. He does speaking events on the future of design and technology (see right column) and is an Adjunct Professor of Product Design at Drexel University in Philadelphia. In the past, Ted has worked at Eyebeam Center for Art & Technology, Armchair Media, Epidemik Coalition, and taught at the Georgia Institute of Technology's College of Architecture.
Ted helped start and/or propel the following projects at an early phase, most of which are now businesses:
TrafficCOM, an open data platform for automobile and bicycle traffic counts.
Windowfarms, an opensource citizen science project exploring how to provide fresh food to urban dwellers.
littleBits, a growing library of discrete electronics that snap together with magnets to allow fast prototyping of sensors and displays.
Social Bicycles an affordable bike share system which puts all mobile communications on the bikes themselves.
DoTank:Brooklyn, an action-oriented group of urban planners, architects, and designers who use boot-strapping and guerilla tactics to bring attention and positive improvements to the local community.
Bring to Light NYC, the city's version of the global Nuit Blanche night-time arts event format where public spaces are illuminated with electronic art for one night every year.
WRITTEN PIECES, SPEAKING EVENTS, & WORKSHOPS
- CONTACT ME
- PATENTS
- MY FOCUS
During the Spring of 2009, I focused on researching and developing tangible displays of digitally-conveyed information for my Masters of Industrial Design thesis at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Download the research paper here (33mb PDF): Development of a Tangible Display and Metric for Qualitative Human to Human Electronic Communications.
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CREATIVE FRIENDS, COLLABORATORS & INFLUENCERS