User:Mchoe1artic/Stephen burks

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Stephen Burks is an American deisgner and a professor or of architecture at Columbia university. Burks is known for his collaborations with artisans as well as incorporating craft and weaving into product design. He is the first African American to win the National Design Award for product design.

Early life and Education
Burks was Born in Chicago in 1969. He studied architecture and product design at the Illinois Institute of Technology and Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture.

Career
Burks first started developing his own design practice heavily influenced by craft in 2003 When Missoni commissioned him for luxe fashion house. Missoni Patchwork vases, designed by Burks, was the first handmade objects produced in his studio.

In 2005, Burks went to South Africa to collaborate with international artisans from countries such as South Africa, Senegal, and Philippines sponsored by Aid to Artisans and Artecnica. There he started working with hand-crafted furniture, baskets and fashion accessories which he became known for later in his career.

Burks started his own design business at 2007 after meeting with Willard Musarurwa; a street vendor making wire souvenirs for tourists. After meeting each other in a local design institute at Capetown, they launched TaTu wire outdoor furniture together.

Burks held his eponymous solo exhibition in 2011, named "Stephen Burks: Man Made." where he exhibited his practice of merging craftsmanship and contemporary design.

In 2018, Burks was selected into Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University Graduate school of Design.

Awards and Honors
Illinois Institute of Technology Alumni Professional Achievement Award

Brooklyn Museum Modernism Young Designer Award

Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt National Design Award in Product Design