Manuel Saez is an industrial designer and founder of manuel saez & partners, a New York City based multidisciplinary design consultancy firm. He has won more than sixty design awards and is a recognized speaker at conferences and design schools around the world. He is considered a prominent figure in the new generation of designers. In 2015 he founded Brooklyness, a New York based urban mobility start-up featuring the CLASSON smart helmet and the CMYK folding electric bike series. The CMYK folding electric bike series is currently on version 5.0 and is being offered both online and at the company's workshop based in Tribeca, New York City.
Early life and education
Originally from Tucumán, Argentina, Manuel Saez studied architecture at Argentina's National University of Tucumán. He graduated with Honors from the University of Bridgeport with a B.S. in Industrial Design, as well as a Masters in Technology Management. Manuel also holds an Executive Certificate in Strategy and Innovation from M.I.T.
Career
Prior to opening manuel saez & partners in 2008, Manuel established the multi-disciplinary in-house design team at Humanscale and served as Design Director there. He designed several award-winning products for both Humanscale and external clients such as GE and Fellowes. Manuel served as consultant Head of Design for Geiger International a manufacturer of architectural furniture and subsidiary of Herman Miller Inc. Manuel also worked at Timex Corporation as well as the consulting offices of Anderson Design and Product Ventures with clients including Intel, Gateway, Inc., Black & Decker, Shell, and Procter & Gamble. He is also extremely active in the design community and writes a regularly as an Expert Blogger in Fast Company. He has also served as professor of Industrial Design at Pratt Institute in New York from 2004 to 2006. In 2015, he founded Brooklyness, an urban mobility start-up based in Tribeca, New York
His work has been featured in Metropolis, Fast Company, Landscape Architecture, Innovation, Architecture, Buildings, Surface, Contract, I.D. magazine, and the New York Times. Manuel’s designs have won more than sixty design awards in the US and abroad, including Spark Awards, GreenDot Awards, Focus Silver Award, Japan GOOD Design Award, Best of NeoCon Gold, CES honouree, the Chicago Atheneum Good Design Award, the iF Product Design Award, and the Product Designer of the Year Award by the International Design Awards. His work is part of the MoMA Permanent Collection. Also in its fourth annual report on the intersection of business and design The "Masters of Design" feature in the October 2007 issue of Fast Company identified Saez as an "idea machine" making his mark in industrial design.
