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​Dr. Bruce M. Tharp is an Associate Professor at the Stamps School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan. He received a doctorate in sociocultural anthropology from the University of Chicago, a master of industrial design degree from Pratt Institute, and a bachelor of mechanical engineering degree from Bucknell University. Early in his career he served four years as an army nuclear weapons officer in Germany and just before teaching, worked as a design researcher within Haworth’s in-house think-tank, the Ideation Group.
Stephanie Munson Tharp is an Associate Professor in the Stamps School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan. She 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. She has work experience at Ford Motor Company, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Armstrong Industries, and amazon.com.
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Bruce and Stephanie run materious, which produces commercial and speculative products. They have won national design awards, lectured internationally, and recently published a book, Discursive Design: Critical, Speculative, and Alternative Things, which seeks to further legitimize and problematize alternate forms of design work that extend designers’ cultural agency.
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