Schneider Electric is very excited to welcome Carmen He on board as the newest Industrial Designer at our design lab in Adelaide.
Born and raised in Rotorua, Carmen moved to Wellington to attend Massey University where she recently graduated with a Bachelor of Design in Industrial Design. During her tenure at the university, Carmen and her fellow students entered the Designer’s Institute of New Zealand’s Best Design Awards.
In 2018, Carmen became a finalist in the Student Product category for a group project where she co-designed LINK; a refined stool that expresses high qualities of aesthetic development, function, and manufacturability.
In 2019, Carmen and her fellow students went on to win a Gold Award for their design of a jet-powered boat, which had the judges commenting that they were “wowed by the impressive form, design sophistication and sensational details”. That year Carmen and her team also took home a Silver Award for the redesign a healthcare product which was designed to positively improve a patient’s experience.
“Aesthetic and function drive my design and as an Industrial Designer. I create for people. I have an appreciation for products that are designed for a purpose and I believe we as designers are responsible for making them as resolved as possible.” says Carmen. “I enjoy problem-solving and revel in finding the solution, though the most rewarding part of the process is discovering the root cause of the issue. That’s why I love working for Schneider, our core values align entirely with what I believe good design should be; everything is purposeful, held accountable in terms of sustainability, and most importantly, is focussed on human-centric design.”
“I thought it would be important to have someone who could represent New Zealand in the design lab. The philosophy of the Schneider Design Lab is to have designers who have a strong understanding of the people and cultures we are designing for and NZ absolutely deserved some representation. Carmen also possessed one of the strongest and most coherent portfolios I have seen from a graduate.” says Tim Turrini-Rochford, Pacific Design Lab Director who Carmen reports to directly.
For Carmen, Schneider is the perfect company to not only springboard her career as a designer forward, but the experience and mentorship available within the company is the most valuable resource that she says she just didn’t want to pass up. “Although it’s technically a team of two with Tim and I here in Adelaide, there is an overwhelming sense of inclusivity across the multitudes of different departments, no matter who works together. It has been a brilliant start to my journey here at Schneider, I’m looking forward to experiencing more of it in full swing when everyone’s back in action at the office!”