Paul Sukphisit

“After looking into the tea drinking experience, I found that current tea infusers have multiple parts and have problems with dripping and stability,” Sukphisit reported. “My all-in-one tea infuser has a tray to capture used tea water and can be clipped on the rim of the cup when brewing tea. This is my personal favorite portfolio piece due to its simplicity and functionality.”

Functionality is vigorously emphasized in the work of the soon-to-be alum of the Massachusetts College of Art and Design where the ID program there places its main emphasis on the design process itself. It is a theme he latched on to early in his life and one that has been more firmly imprinted by his early professional experiences. At MassArt, Sukphisit gained both valuable lifetime friends and skills.

“As a child, I would often customize a toy I liked to make it work the way I wanted it to work,” he said. That habit proved to be quite useful when he began an internship with Boston-based EMC Corporation.

EMC designs high-end data storage devices for banks and other financial institutions. Sukphisit recalled, “After working with engineers, I learned about the level of details that must be attended to in order for our products to pass inspection or a vibration test or a thermal test. You can’t just make something look nice, you must design it to work really well also.”

With his backgrounds in graphic design and photography, Sukphisit is no stranger to detail. When not ensconced in his work for EMC or his thesis project, he can be found playing with composition and subject matter through the lens of his Nikon SLR.

Following graduation this May, he expects to begin a career working with hand-held consumer goods, transportation design focusing on human interaction or entertainment electronics.

Paul Sukphisit can be reached at paul.sukphisit@gmail.com.