Hal Minick, IDSA
Year of Birth - 1929
Place of Birth/Childhood - Gibsonburg, Ohio (Population then and now 2400)
Design Education - Graduated 1953, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
Michigan. B.S. in Design, Major in Industrial Design. Instructor - Aarre
Lahti (a fabulous man, a great instructor with a wonderful wife, Irma,
and two boys, Alexis and Ahde. A real privilege to have known them all)
Professional Design
Experience -
1956-59 - Kelvinator Division of American Motors Corp., Detroit, MI. Here
I worked under Randy Faurot, Y. Alan Shimisaki and Herbert E. Anderson,
Jr. My highly recognized fellow designers were Deane Richardson and David
Smith of Richardson Smith (later Fitch Design) fame.
1959 - Lawrence Wilson Associates, Detroit, MI. Larry Wilson was a wonderful
person. A real gentleman.
1959-66 - Albion Division, McGraw-Edison Company, Albion, MI, Manager
of Industrial Design.
1966-1985 - Principal Owner, KMH Associates, Ceresco, MI. Now Dam Site
Design.
Retirement - (Interestingly,
I think, an Industrial Designer now turned Architectural Designer rather
than the reverse!)
1983 - Retired
to Tryon, NC from Marshall, MI for the good weather and to continue to
do architectural adaptive reuse, architectural design and architectural
(hands on) remodeling with my wife, Jacquelyn, whom I met in the Design
School at the University of Michigan and married in 1953.
1985 - Sold my interest in KMH Associates to my key personnel.
1991 - Became a distributor for Hearthstone, Inc., a log, timber frame
and structural insulated panel (SIP) pre-cut home manufacturer. As such
I design (and sell) custom homes for my customers and handle the Hearthstone
International contacts. Fortunately, Hearthstone does all the structural
engineering. One of my more recent homes was for construction in Ireland
to which I have traveled three times - prior to, during and after the
house construction. I have just finished the design for a second to be
built in Ireland for the same customer. I also have a custom log home
I designed now being built near Cashiers, NC and a custom timber frame
home to be built on Seabrook Island, SC starting late November.In
all I must have designed approximately 30 homes to date.
In the early 1990's my wife and I purchased an old stone farm house and property along with our son, Scott, and his wife, Jiao Ping (from Shanghai, PRC) , in Normandy, France and we all spent several summers restoring the buildings. Scott and Jiao Ping were both then working in Paris as graphic designers. In 1994 they moved to Hong Kong thus we sold the French farm property. Scott and Ping now own and operate a graphic design office in Hong Kong, Minick+Jiao Design, and have authored several published books relating to Chinese graphic design and minority Chinese crafts.
In 1998 Jacque and I purchased a small apartment (one of four in the building) in an old stone, former presbytery, building in Domfront, Normandy, France and have been going back and forth to France remodeling the apartment, using much of our own labor. Recently we moved to a small condominium development in Hendersonville, NC. This allows us the freedom to lock up and go to France, or other places, such as Asia, for longer periods of time. Additionally, I am a consultant to the president of a small nearby manufacturing and marketing company and have been involved in a nonprofit contemporary artspace. I play doubles tennis, outside, twice a week all year around. Basically, life has been more fun than I could ever imagine since retirement and I love my Macintosh Powerbook G3. It makes designing and communications so easy!