Stamps Directory
Stephanie Tharp

Professor, Stamps School of Art & Design
Contact
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Office: 2073 AA
Personal Website
Curriculum Vitae
BS, Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan
MID, Industrial Design, Rhode Island School of Design
Biography
Stephanie Tharp received a master of industrial design degree from the Rhode Island School of Design, and a bachelor of mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan. From 2002 until 2014, she was Associate Professor, and Program Chair, of Industrial Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s School of Design. She has work experience with Ford Motor Company, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Armstrong Industries, and amazon.com.
With her husband, Bruce, Stephanie presently runs Materious, a design studio that produces commercial and speculative products. They are currently working on a book project, Discursive Design, which seeks to further legitimize and problematize alternate forms of design practice that extend designers’ cultural agency.
She creates objects with an interest in the physical substance as well as the substantiveness of the designed objects. She hopes to connect with people beyond mere utility in addressing important contemporary psychological-, sociological-, and ideological-concerns. She engages in design explorations that aren’t driven by commercial constraints, but sometimes might be capable of existing within the market. Of special attention is the domestic sphere — a space in which artifacts have a particular capacity for intimate engagement with individuals.
Tharp has exhibited her work nationally and internationally and is the recipient of several design awards including Future Furniture Competition Winner from Interior Design Magazine, and Best in Show from Design Within Reach’s Modern+Design+Function Chicago Furniture Now Competition. She has lectured and presented nationally and internationally, and has received grants from Motorola, The Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children, and the OVCR Arts, Architecture and Humanities Award at The University of Illinois at Chicago.
Gallery
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In the News
- Bruce and Stephanie Tharp Book Launch
- Stamps School Co-Organizes 2019 Ewha International Design Conference
- Healthy Kids Through Active Tech: The 2019 Integrated Product Development Trade Show
- Stephanie Tharp Receives 2019 Provost’s Teaching Innovation Prize
- Bruce and Stephanie Tharp Featured in University Record
- IPD Featured
- Being Well and Staying Well: Stamps Design Charrette Focus on Geriatric Care
- Design@Michigan Convening
- Madeline Helland Recognized at 2017 ExpoSItion Event
- Stephanie Tharp Receives 2017 VentureWell Faculty Grant
- Rx for Reading
- Bruce and Stephanie Tharp Announce Core77 Design Awards
- Stamps Faculty: AMSA XXIV Poster & Art Exhibition
- Bruce and Stephanie Tharp: Core77 Design Awards Jury Captains
- MDes Design Charette
- Stephanie Tharp Speaks at AIGA Design Education Conference