Thomas Garvey

PRODUCT DESIGN JUROR

Dr. Thomas Garvey is President of the World Design Organization, an international non-governmental organization that promotes the profession of industrial design and its ability to generate better products, systems, services, experiences, and ultimately a better environment and society.

Garvey has worked across a range of design disciplines and global settings and has led international teams in professional design projects and research programs and co-chaired the reintroduction of the Research and Education Forum at the World Design Assembly in 2019.

Prior to WDO, Garvey was Associate Professor in the School of Industrial Design at Carleton University where he was Director from 2007-2017. He specialized in design for extreme and minimal environments. His interest in small-scale living spaces grew out of work in New York on space station interiors and led to doctoral studies at the University of Tokyo on the topic of housing and urban density. In 2022, he was appointed as Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Design of Hunan University.

Garvey and his teams have earned numerous awards, and their work has been presented around the world. He holds a Bachelor of Industrial Design from Carleton University, a M.Sc. in Communications Design from Pratt Institute in New York, and a Ph.D. in Architectural Planning from the University of Tokyo.