If you’ve listened to any indie or alternative rock over the past decade, then there’s a good chance you’ve encountered one of Ian Schneller’s hand-crafted stringed instruments or amplifiers. As the man behind Specimen Products and the Chicago School of Guitar Making, Ian’s built an impressive client list including Andrew Bird, Wilco, Death Cab for Cutie, and even Seth Godin. He’ll be joining us on May 22nd at Braintree to break down his thoughts on the theme of Robot.

What drives your desire to create?
I am driven to create by some instinctive inner force. I think it is a byproduct of training my intuitive sensory abilities and my fascination with geometry and mechanics. I am endlessly amused by juxtaposing form with function. There is such beauty in nature, I want to help it be seen by us.

How does Chicago influence you or your work?
For me Chicago represents an almost compulsory and traditional pilgrimage up from the south.  For me this was a place where rampant industry and business wit outpaced the more laconic oeuvre of the south. I wanted to hear lots of noise when I was young and I found it here in Chicago.

What are you most proud of, professionally or otherwise?
I am most proud of the fact that my students are now receiving college credit for learning things that I was once exiled from the art world for.

What’s something people would be surprised to learn about you?
I am a hopeless romantic with a fetish for Japanese pickles.
 
How does this month’s theme—robot—resonate with you?
I have been fighting the ideology of the robot for years. I firmly believe that only through gaining an intimacy with the tactile interface of working with materials can we gain an understanding of them relevant to design. When engineering statistics and automated machinery take the place of hand executed process, something fundamental is lost. A disconnect occurs that foils our design efforts. I have seen this endlessly in mass produced consumer merchandise. Longevity, serviceability and beauty are lost in this disconnect. There is undeniable power in modern methods of automation and computerization, but the human interaction with and understanding of materials and physics in general is one of our greatest abilities. All robotics should be informed by this premise. My goal is to maintain this intimacy between mind and materials so that we can honor our natural abilities as a species. I believe that we can see even further into nature if we can just maintain this sensibility, this intimate approach to design. Engineering principles should be informed by experience, not conventional wisdom.

Snag your seat on Monday at 11am.

See you next week!
Rusty