UW-Stout hosts Fourth Annual Design Wisconsin event featuring designers from top Wisconsin firms, May 16-18

UW-Stout’s School of Art & Design is gearing up to host the Fourth Annual Design Wisconsin event, which will showcase the impacts of industrial design and fashion design on Wisconsin’s culture, commerce, community and brand – past, present and future.

Design Wisconsin will be held Friday-Sunday, May 16-18, and will be free and open to the public. The event serves as an industry showcase and in the past has featured businesses such as Trek, Milwaukee Tool, Kohler, Mercury Marine, Polaris, Fiskars, Oshkosh and many more.

There will be opportunities for members of the media to connect with featured speakers and panelists, all of whom are Wisconsin and Minnesota-based industrial and fashion design leaders and many of whom are UW-Stout alumni. They will include:

• Michael Leighton (’02), Polaris Industries, director of industrial design, CMF & sculpting
• Kiki Redhead (’02), Sherwin-Williams, global CMF & trend manager
• Hans Eckholm (’95), Trek Bicycle, director of design
• Matthew Gueller, Milwaukee Tool, principal industrial designer
• Jacquelyn Koyen (’12), Spectrum Brands, senior CMF designer
• Brynn Wildenauer (’18), Sherwin-Williams Coil Coatings, senior architectural color designer
• Sherry Eckholm (’95), Loft Design, director of strategy
• Gregor Mittersinker, Loft Design, founder and creative director
• Noah Anderson (’13), Red Wing Shoe Company, senior footwear designer
• Sarah Noll (’11), Red Wing Shoe Company, product developer
• Gina Thurk (’10), Red Wing Shoe Company, pattern engineer

UW-Stout created Design Wisconsin in 2022 under the direction of School of Art and Design Associate Professor David Richter-O’Connell. This is the first year the event will be on campus. Previously, the event was held at Milwaukee Tool in Brookfield, Trek in Waterloo and DELVE in Madison.