Telli Quinn '19 : Designing Her Way into a Successful Career

Telli, tell us about a favorite IYRS memory.

What I loved about IYRS was the collaboration between the students in my program, and across the other programs. I loved seeing what all of the other classes were working on just as much as they loved touring our maker space in the Digital Modeling & Fabrication lab. I remember making my first 3D printed part, or my first project on the lathe, and the CNC machines, and the laser cutter. It was very exhilarating knowing and seeing what I was able to create with these machines and tools. It really is always the first projects that I remember the most, because with that was a sense of pride and achievement. Like “wow, I made that and that’s pretty cool”. Most of the people in my program were creative and came up with different solutions to the same problems and that is probably one of my favorite parts about creating – is solving a problem, while making it look good.

What have you been doing professionally since you graduated from IYRS in 2019?

I've been working at Empire Group in Attleboro MA. It is a prototyping and product development company. I started as a Junior Industrial Designer and have just recently gotten the title of Industrial Designer. I am now one of 3 designers here and love every day of it. I get to work on products for companies of all different avenues from kids toys to kitchen products and home goods, to medical instruments and large scale displays for trade shows. It really ranges far and wide which is what I love about this position. I use my 3D modeling skills in Solidworks almost daily, as well as using 3D printers to test out ideas and iterate on/ prove out concepts, all of which I became familiar with at IYRS. We do a lot of sketching here both digitally and by hand to come up with forms and aesthetics for products. 

How has IYRS positively impacted your life or career?

I don’t think I would have found my passion as an industrial designer without IYRS. They connected me to Empire Group and it's hard to say if I would have found this path any other way. This career is a perfect combination of art and engineering, both of which I have always had an interest in, and was able to grow this interest at IYRS. I did my internship at Empire and loved it so much that I stayed! 

What is the most exciting project you've worked on?     

Product development takes a long time. Whether you are an inventor with your multimillion dollar ‘Shark-Tank’ type idea, or a well-established company with pre-existing products. Every single thing you see or buy in a store has been born from someone’s imagination and creative hand. So, to be able to work on a project from a very conceptual, premature phase all the way to the point where it is being sold in stores and online is pretty amazing. I’ve been working here for 3 years and my very first product is finally out in the real world for anyone to see and it feels pretty unreal. I did all of the design work from initial hand sketches and design concepts to final CAD that we sent to the factory. It is a line of cookware for the company called “Princess House”. It’s their newest cookware line called “Princess Heritage^® Signature Cookware” and it has been a dream to work on.