DAVID BASSETTI – FOUNDER 3D SEED
DAVID BASSETTI
POSITIVE AIR PRESSURE RESPIRATOR
Product Design Grant: ($5,000 Grant)
Product designers were invited to design ventilators or other life-saving equipment that can be affordably produced and distributed.
What do you see as the strengths of your winning project and what does this award mean to you personally?
It seems to me that it was a better fitting mask that is re-useable. Personally it means that the idea has been recognised as a very good one 🙂
What was most important for you when planning the project and what were the biggest challenges you faced?
Being in Spain at the time was difficult to do anything as we were in full lockdown, so I had to order all the parts online and as it was medical equipment it was especially hard.
What is your guiding design principle?
For this project it was, fit, then function. Most masks today don’t fit well but people don’t seem to care, which I find a bit crazy.
Where do you get motivation and inspiration from for your work?
Years in the medical industry.
How/when did you discover that you wanted to work in design?
When I was 17, I did a lot of windsurfing and broke a lot of masks. I wanted to make a better one that wouldn’t snap. So engineering and product design was my chosen career.
Is there a product that you wished you had designed?
No, I have done a few patents and I prefer to make something new and untried/tested.
How do you think your own culture and environment has shaped your personal and professional creative vision?
Covid shaped this project. Being in Spain watching everyone make their own masks was depressing to see. Hopelessly unsupported by the government and up to their own devices.
Tell us about a project which has been your greatest achievement?
Manufacturing the desktop systems that convert a PET plastic bottle into a 3d printed part.
Which designer in your field do you most admire and why?
Jonothan Ive ( but he’s not in my field exactly 🙂
How do you feel product design has evolved over the past years and how do you see it evolving in the future?
Product design should be less driven by profit and wholly derived from the Circular Economy. The Automobile should never have been produced as it’s only 30% efficient. It’s designed to consume petroleum, what a disaster product.
What do you think are the biggest challenges and opportunities in your industry now?
Re-defining what is good design for the betterment of humanity and our planet.
How do you decide to take on certain projects?
To make a difference to current circular economy principles. Today I’m designing a shampoo bottle to be 100% reusable for forming processes after it’s finished it’s life in the salon. It will NEVER go to the lie of todays recycling, but kept and reformed many times for the benefit of many people. Real cradle to grave stuff.. it’s why I take on work nowadays.
What would be your dream design project?
I’m doing it 🙂
What’s your creative process and what creative software do you use?
Creative people
What kind of questions do you ask before beginning a design project? What piece of information is of utmost value?
The cradle to grave analysis… and how it benefits humanity with it’s use of energy and materials.
What kind of culture or structure needs to exist to foster successful team collaboration?
Products should not equal profit.
Tell us about a time when a client disliked your work?
I have been fired from a large printing company because I stated that they only wanted to print more paper.
What’s your creative process and what creative software do you use?
Creative people
How do you deal with feedback?
Well I think… if it’s positive or negative I take it onboard.
What are you working on, what is in the pipeline for you?
The recycling 3d printer systems. Completely off grid for use by everyone to clean this planet.
IDA COVID-19 DESIGN INNOVATION GRANT
The International Design Awards and European Product Design Awards jointly launched the Covid-19 Design Innovation Grant in an effort to support the global effort to find solutions in tackling some of the crucial issues and problems relating to the global Coronavirus pandemic.