Chair of the Department of Design and Industry at San Francisco State University, Professor Ricardo Gomes IDSA visited the Design Archives as part of his sabbatical research. He is developing an important new study centre addressing global needs.

Using the archive of the design scholar, curator and critic Nathan Shapira (1929-2009) as a jumping off point, the archive at San Francisco will comprise a resource and a research base. Shapira – pupil of Gio Ponti, fellow of MIT, Industrial Design professor at UCLA – was a key player in the early discussions of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design relating to global design issues and socially responsible design. Inevitably, within the ICSID Archive at the University of Brighton Design Archives there are numerous documents that relate to his work and concerns.

During his stay Professor Gomes identified files that will have direct relevance as the project at San Francisco gains pace. This presents an ideal opportunity to establish the type of collaborative relationship that the Design Archives seek to foster and a joint endeavour to digitise and share access to this material will soon be underway.

For more information about the Nathan Shapira Archive visit http://nsdablog.wordpress.com/