Pacific Rim 18: TasteMaking LA
Design around food, connecting people across cultures
Experience an immersive design showcase in Los Angeles highlighting an inspiring collaboration between Tama Art University (Tokyo, Japan) and ArtCenter.
This special exhibition explores how design and food culture can bridge people and traditions across continents, reimagining the rituals of dining through innovative student projects that span from street food to fine dining, and from tableware and lighting to the social customs that shape how we share a meal.
About Pacific Rim
Since 2006, Tama Art University and ArtCenter College of Design have partnered through the Pacific Rim multidisciplinary education collaboration, an ongoing international exchange that addresses themes such as natural disasters, sustainability, ecology, health and well-being, and global food culture through research and design. The program celebrates creative solutions born from cross-cultural dialogue between Japan and the United States.
Through this collaboration, students explore diverse cultural perspectives examining customs, languages, and traditions, then propose responses and design-driven solutions that reflect a shared global vision.
JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles previously hosted the 2019 iteration of the Pacific Rim collaborative studio focused on street culture and art, and the 2023 edition centered on finding beauty and meaning in urban life following the pandemic.
This showcase marks the 18th Pacific Rim collaborative studio, featuring final projects from ten student teams.
Faculty and Organizations
Educational Leadership
David Mocarski
Chair of Graduate and Undergraduate Spatial Experience Design
David Mocarski has explored the boundaries of the creative process for more than forty-five years. He is the principal of Arkkit forms design.
David has also been involved with art and design education for more than forty-five years. He has been instrumental in the development of ArtCenter’s Spatial Experience Design program. He has been an educational leader at ArtCenter since 1978. In addition to developing both Graduate and Undergraduate curricular directions for Spatial Experience Design and Furniture, Lighting and Fixtures, he has taught Fine Arts, Illustration, Graphics & Packaging, photography and Industrial design. Many of his students have gained significant global recognition for their efforts. His sponsored studios with Bernhardt design have defined a new model for how industry interfaces with education. He has been instrumental in the evolution of ArtCenter’s International Study Abroad programs in Copenhagen “Designing Index,” Fresh Eyes and TESTLAB Berlin 1-6 and Pacific Rim 1-18 Tokyo, Japan and has worked closely with Designmatters on humanitarian projects for: GE Healthcare Africa project, Un Techo Para Chile “Safe Agua Chile, Peru and Columbia,” “Living Home India” and “Safe Niños” Chile.
Tatsuya Wada
Chair & Professor of Product Design, Board Member, Tama Art University, Japan
After graduating from Tama Art University in 1981, Tatsuya Wada started his career as a designer at Design Center, Hitachi, Ltd. He was mostly involved with designing home electric appliances.
He was also engaged in researching color, materials, and finishing. In 1992, he established a design office, G PLUS Co., Ltd., and acted as a design consultant for manufacturers such as Sony or Panasonic. Apart from consulting, he started teaching on the Product Design Course at Tama Art University in 1993, and is currently chair of Product Design. He has served as Dean of educational affairs and has been designated as a member of the board of directors since April 2019. With cooperation from ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California, he opened CMTEL (Color Material Trend Exploration Laboratory) at Tama Art University in 2007, and has been its director since then. He has organized various exhibitions, presentations and workshops with cooperation from domestic and overseas companies related to color, materials, finishing or trends in order to support students’ research. He is one of the leading experts on industry-university joint research among Japanese Art and Design schools. Tatsuya Wada was appointed a jury member of the G-Mark (Good Design) Award hosted by Japan Institute of Design Promotion in 2001. As part of Japan’s ODA program, he has also worked as a professor and designer in Thailand and India and has given workshops on product design management using company case method.
Dan Gottlieb & Penny Herscovitch
Associate Professors, Spatial Experience Design, ArtCenter College of Design, Pacific Rim Lead Faculty
Dan Gottlieb and Penny Herscovitch are Los Angeles-based designers and design-educators. Together they lead the design studio, Padlab, whose work encompasses lighting and materials innovation, illumination, spatial installation and exhibition design.
As Associate Professors of Spatial Experience Design at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, CA, since 2007 they have co-taught Pacific Rim international educational collaborations with Tama Art University in Tokyo, as well as with Tongji University in Shanghai. They have co-led ArtCenter Designmatters collaborations designing for social impact, including Safe Niños, co-creating with Chile-based nonprofit pediatric burn center COANIQUEM, and Safe Agua, co-creating with NGO Socialab to address water poverty in Latin America. Padlab has partnered with non-profit and educational institutions to design and implement exhibitions, from Tokyo and Shanghai, to London, DC, and the United Nations in NY. In 2003, Dan received his Master of Architecture from the Yale School of Architecture and Penny her B.A. in Architecture, Magna Cum Laude from Yale University.
Co-Presented by JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles
