PARTICIPANTS

Tom De Blasis, Design Innovation Director at The Nike Foundation, took his first step towards a life in industrial design when as an 8-year-old boy he took apart his Star Wars Tie-Fighter and gazed upon the mess of circuit boards, wires and molded parts contained within.  Magic, inspiration and a painful lesson in spring-loaded assemblies hit him all at once.

He believes in designing experientially and so in the name of design research he has found himself deliberately walking into a burning building in full firefighter turnout gear, walking on a football pitch with Sir Alex Ferguson, going on a stakeout with a private detective and walking the tent cities of refugee camps.

In response to the Haiti earthquake Tom created The Gamechanger Bucket, a health and happiness kit that brings access to clean water and sport to disaster areas and developing communities all over the world.