It is hard to believe that we are halfway through the year already! It has already been an exciting 2025 at Tomorrow Lab, with new hires, new shop equipment and new projects – we have been kept busy! We often get asked where we draw inspiration from – and the answer varies depending on which TL’er you ask. We thought it would be fun to have a series of blog posts where we share some of our most often asked questions about what we do – and what better topic to start than what product designers, product design companies and brands we turn to most often. We also plan on sharing current product design trends, client FAQs, how to get a prototype made, a glossary and what even is product design? While there is no rhyme or reason to the order of these writings, we hope these posts in particular we can share with our community and clients to be helpful resources to share what it is exactly that we do all day, and what inspires us along the way.
Who does TL turn to when looking for Inspiration in Product Design?
From Left to Right: The Eames House (image: Ted Ullrich); The Frank Lloyd Home & Studio, (image: The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation); Steve Jobs with an iMac (image: CNN)
Kicking off the list with a bang, Ted Ullrich, one of Tomorrow Lab’s partners has several design heroes that he often turns to both professionally and personally when looking for inspiration. You cannot go wrong with the iconic duo Charles and Ray Eames, American designers whose work spanned across multiple disciplines including industrial design, architecture, graphic design, fine art and film. The classic Eames chair often comes front of mind when they are mentioned, however they created so much more than furniture – including small consumer products to even their own home in Los Angeles. Ted was lucky enough to visit this house last year, which was a part of the The Case Study House Program, which ran from the 1940-1960s in which Arts & Architecture Magazine pioneered the initiative to focus on creating affordable modern homes for the boom in residential construction following World War II.
Ted also often refers back to the visionary Steve Jobs of Apple – for his obsession with minimalism, detail and user-centric approach to products. Being a game changer in design and technology, Jobs brought Apple’s most iconic and loved products to market during his time at the Company. In order of debut, the iMac redefined personal computing with it’s all in one design and vibrant colors; the iPod transformed the music industry by making digital music portable and accessible; and the iPhone revolutionized communication, computing and media consumption with its touch interface and multifunctional capabilities. Ted continues to turn to these classic products to remind ourselves to keep it simple and user friendly. Ted and TL’ers always check out the annual Apple event, usually in June where new products for the year are revealed through livestream.
Finally, Ted looks to the emblematic Frank Lloyd Wright, the holistic designer and architect whose work fused identity, practice and innovation. A little known fact about Wright is that he faced bankruptcy several times but still continued to push the boundaries of design and their work still continues to inspire today all around the US and beyond. Wright’s clear inspiration from nature, Ted often likes to remind himself of, “Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you,” as Wright said. TL’ers are lucky to have one Wright building in the city – the Guggenheim Museum on the Upper East Side, as are several TL’ers who hail from Chicago, where many Wright original homes are still being occupied and preserved. Wright’s home and studio is located in a Chicago suburb, Oak Park which serves as a fantastic example of his Prairie style and includes his custom designed furniture and textiles.
From Left to Right: AeroPress (image: AeroPress); iOS 6 icons (image: Apple); Shigeru Miyamoto (image: GameRant)
Next up, one of Tomorrow Lab’s new electrical engineers, Dylan Kirdahy also looks to Apple for inspiration, but this time lesser known Scott Forstall who was the Senior Vice President of iOS software. Forestall championed “skeuomorphic design,” which is the concept of designing software interfaces with the look and function of real life objects. Kirdahy explains that examples of this are the notes app which looks like an actual yellow notepad, the iconic Mac trash can, the iBooks app which looks like an actual bookshelf, volume sliders that look like metal knobs that reflect light differentiated when the device is tilted, etc. These visual metaphors helped Kirdahy and other new users feel comfortable in a brand new type of user interface.
Kirdahy also looks to Alan Adler who invented AeroPress, a new kind of coffee brewer now beloved by coffee nerds (like Kirdahy!). The brewer has just three parts: a plastic chamber, a filter holder and a plunger. The coffee and water sit together in the chamber until the desired brew time is reached, at which point the user pushes the coffee through the filter using the plunger, dispensing the coffee straight into a mug and leaving the ground in the chamber. This simple, yet effective way to make a single cup of coffee on the go has resonated with coffee nerds so much that there is an international competition about who can make the best coffee with the device! Kirdhay often refers back to this design for its simplicity, elegance, ease of use, lightness, portability and indestructibility. Kirdahy believes this is one of the most iconic gadgets in the coffee world, in his opinion surpassing the french press and moka pot, which demonstrates that even a very simple product can have a lot of reach and staying power if it is cleverly designed and intuitive.
Lastly, Kirdahy finds general inspiration from the Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto, who is one of the most influential video game designers and is responsible for hits such as Super Mario Brothers and The Legend of Zelda. Miyamoto’s design philosophy of prioritizing gameplay, rewarding player curiosity and making games fun and accessible yet hard to master makes his games stand out. From a hardware perspective, Miyamoto focused on hardware-software synergy, pioneering gameplay that made creative use of motion controls (for example, the Wii) and touch screen controls (for example, the Nintendo DS).
From Left to Right: Lamp by Gantri (image: Gantri); Ikea bookshelf (image: Ikea); The Prowl Design Founders (image: Prowl Design)
Our Shop Tech turned full time Product Development Engineer, Ginger Lau shares the studio and brands she keeps coming back to again and again for personal insight and influence. Lau stumbled upon the 3D printed lighting company Gantri and she says their products “completely changed my perspective on what 3D printing could be.” Before discovering Gantri, Lau mostly saw 3D printed objects as clunky or purely functional for mechanical engineering. Gantri showed her that 3D printing could be used to create beautiful, thoughtful and emotionally resonant products. Lau was lucky enough to visit their studio in 2024 during San Francisco Design Week and got the opportunity to chat with their creative director and lead industrial designer. They shared how Gantri designs lighting with people’s everyday lives in mind – not just to look nice, but to feel meaningful in a space. Their cohesive design language and branding inspired Lau to try making her own lamps! In that process it helped Lau understand that product design is about more than how one object looks on a table, it’s about crafting a vision and creating a collection that can shape how a room feels.
Assembling IKEA furniture is what Lau believes sparked her appreciation for making things with her hands. Even though Lau’s IKEA picks were simple shelves and tables, she learned about different types of joinery, CMF (color, material, finish) and functional design. While in college, Lau would go to the IKEA store to find lighting parts or table components to create her own DIY “frankenfurniture” projects. With their revolutionary flat-pack packaging and DIY encouragement, Lau feels IKEA is a brand that makes design feel accessible and hands-on from a young age, which cannot be said for many other brands.
Finally, when Lau came across Prowl Studio, she knew it would be a firm she would look to often, as they are a women-led studio who focus on equity and community-centered design, which resonates with Lau on a personal level. Their design philosophy, “We begin with the end,” reshaped how Lau thinks about product development, pushing her to consider a product’s full life cycle, from material sourcing to end-of-life impact. Lau admires how Prowl prioritizes eco-friendly materials, design for disassembly and long-term usability without sacrificing aesthetics or functionality. Learning about and following Prowl’s work made Lau realize that good design isn’t just about form or function – it’s about intention, responsibility and creating with care.
From Left to Right: Windsor Chairs ready for sale (image: American Windsor Chair Company); Room & Board Windsor-style chair (image: Room&Board); James Dyson (image: The Guardian)
Last but certainly not least, Tomorrow Lab’s only resident non-engineer, Liz Cleaver, who is TL’s People & Finance manager, shares what inspires her in this arena. Being a relatively new homeowner, Cleaver is always looking for efficient, thoughtful and economical objects and brands for her little historic cottage.
Antiquing is a regular weekend activity for Cleaver and her partner – who often enjoy scouting various Windsor-style chairs and original Hitchcock furniture. Living in the Northeast, these items pop up everywhere and their original influence is still felt even in modern furniture designs. While the origins of the Windsor chair are unknown, it is thought that the first design was made between the 16th-18th century, and is often thought as perfected by American colonial craftsmen. According to The American Windsor Chair Company, the first Windsor-style chair was made in Philadelphia in 1730. This style of chair has staying power, with classic American furniture brands like Room & Board still selling styles referencing this iconic silhouette. Cleaver and her partner often look to timeless designs like these when thinking about what products to invest in and that will stand the test of time when it comes to quality and style.
And to conclude this list, Cleaver frequently turns to Dyson products when in need of a new home or beauty appliance. James Dyson was the originator of the bagless vacuum cleaner, inventing this revolutionary product that debuted in 1983. The invention process took five years and over 5,000 prototypes to perfect – now that is dedication! Using various Dyson products constantly reminds Cleaver what good design is made of – ease of use, intuitive features, storage/size considerations and aesthetics – if this device has to live out in a room, it better be easy on the eyes!
For more information on the Tomorrow Lab Team and what makes us tick – check out the blog pieces Personal Design Inspiration & Must Have Shop Tools & Recent Conversations with Tomorrow Lab’ers!
And if you have a hardware design idea and want to bring your product to life – connect with the Tomorrow Lab team here!