Discover the innovative work of the Product Design class of 2026! Over 100 graduating students from across 8 programs are featured at Next Level, the 2026 KPU Wilson School of Design Grad Show. Learn more about our graduates and take a closer look at the projects they presented to industry and community.
Our Bachelor of Product Design degree transforms ideas into marketable products. In our hands-on program, students experience the entire product design cycle. They identify problems and explore sustainable, ethical solutions to the problems they see around them; develop their technical skills by creating prototypes; and apply their marketing and business expertise to introduce their designs to contemporary markets. Now more than ever, our world needs bold ideas and innovative thinking. Students blend design, business, and marketing to develop the holistic skill set they need to succeed in the product design industry.
Our program is all about the studio: the place where students experiment, discover, problem solve and innovate. It’s where creativity meets critical thinking, where theory meets reality, and where product designers learn by doing.
Meet our graduates:
Aidan Fornier-Hanlon
Aidan Fornier-Hanlon is a multi-disciplinary designer whose practice is guided by his experience in electronics manufacturing, fine arts, and making music. Raised in North Vancouver within a tight-knit francophone community, he brings a culturally grounded sensibility to his work. After studying Industrial Design Engineering at Elisava in Barcelona, Aidan came back home with a renewed passion for design’s impact on culture. He approaches every project with a focus on craft, function, and sustainability.
Capstone Description:
My capstone explores whether modular design principles and makerspace infrastructure can offer a sustainable alternative to conventional guitar pedal storage for urban musicians. I developed a flatpack, modular effects pedalboard system using Baltic Birch plywood and anodized aluminium, guided by circular economy principles and design for disassembly. Through in depth research and iterative prototyping, I surfaced practical challenges around makerspace manufacturing and pedal form factor constraints.
Alvin Gutierrez
A lover of many things, Alvin’s creative approach blends intuition with novelty and familiarity. Drawing on his diverse interests, his work emphasises the iterative nature inherent in design; building on what’s been done and making it just a little bit better, each and every time.
Capstone Description:
Alvin’s capstone is an exploratory project in music visualisation for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) audiences. By analysing audio inputs and translating musical characteristics into generative visual outputs, the project aims to explore how these relationships can support and enhance different ways of experiencing music and sound.
Angela Huang
Hi, I’m Angela. I enjoy creative hobbies such as sewing, painting, drawing, crafting, and journaling. I’m excited to be graduating from the Bachelor of Product Design program at the Wilson School of Design at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. The impact I want to make as a designer is to encourage individuals to connect with their best selves through design.
Capstone Description:
My capstone project focuses on improving the outdoor journaling experiences for the journaling community. The product I have been working on is a journal pouch set, designed to be customizable to meet the diverse user needs. The collection consists of multiple parts, encouraging users to express themselves and connect personally with the journal pouch set by building their own pouch. The collection also aims to allow users to journal comfortably outside of their living spaces.
Brian Patterson
I am a multidisciplinary designer with a passion for sense-making and problem solving. I leverage empathy and knowledge from an array of fields in my designs and see the world as an opportunity to challenge the status quo. With a fundamental need to consistently challenge my thinking and perspectives, I feel that design allows us to create with a consideration of other people over ourselves.
Capstone Description:
BioFilix is an ambient information kinetic sculpture that communicates a houseplant’s needs through a change in form. Applying the principles of calm technology, this analog device is designed to cultivate the user’s care of their houseplant by providing actionable insights and understanding of the plant’s status in an accessible and unobtrusive manner. BioFilix aims to rectify the rise in biophobia through helping urbanites rebuild their interest in and relationship to living organisms.
Heather Wang
I am a design student interested in material exploration and user-centered design. I enjoy working through hands-on processes such as prototyping, sewing, and 3D modeling, and I tend to approach projects through iteration and refinement. Outside of design, I like reading and playing video games, which often influence how I think about narratives, interaction, and user experience.
Capstone Description:
This project explores how a simple mechanical device can support better food management in household environments. Food waste is often caused by uncertainty around freshness and storage time, leading to premature disposal of still-edible food. The proposed design is a compact, attachable food-date tracking device that allows users to manually record when food was stored. By making storage duration visible, the device helps reduce reliance on memory and supports more confident decision-making in everyday use.
Jacob Aarons
I’m Jacob Aarons, a fourth-year Product Design student at the Wilson School of Design. I’m passionate about creating practical, interesting designs that make a meaningful impact on everyday life. I’m especially interested in consumer electronics and hope to build a long-term career creating engaging, unique products. Outside of design, I enjoy all kinds of music and spending time bouldering and rock climbing.
Capstone Description:
The Eco-Affinity Speakers explore how passive speakers can uniquely utilize natural elements to improve both sound and atmosphere. The passive design makes it easy to upgrade and use in different setups over time. The design combines preserved moss, natural materials, and a curved shape to reduce audio distortion while creating a calm, organic look. This also works to positively affect mental health through biophilic design, which I think we all need more of.
Jessica Cheryl Kartawijaya
Contact:
Email: jessica.jck81@gmail.com
Website: www.behance.net/jessicakartawijaya
LinkedIn: Jessica Kartawijaya
Instagram: @cherylbits
Jessica Kartawijaya is a Chinese-Indonesian product designer drawn to the space where culture, functionality, and a little bit of fun meet. She believes design shouldn’t be purely practical; it should have character. Her work focuses on creating human centered solutions that are thoughtful, accessible, and just a little bit playful.
Capstone Description:
BUA is a birth stool designed to support more comfortable, empowering births through active, upright positioning. The project explores how design can move beyond clinical solutions by integrating ergonomics, accessibility, and a human-centered approach, bridging functionality and emotional comfort to create a birthing tool that feels genuinely supportive and inclusive.
Jodh Sidhu
Jodh is a product design student with a strong passion for furniture and lighting design. He brings past experience in interior design to his practise that is rooted in the geographic and cultural landscapes of Vancouver.
Capstone Description:
Together is an interactive collection of outdoor seating designed to encourage interaction and social connection. To accomplish this, the stools are shaped in a way to interlock with each other, suggesting to users to come together. Lighting located under the seat of the stools will increase in intensity as they are brought in closer proximity to encourage social connection. Together is a participatory exhibit that allow for a wide range of uses.
Jordyn MacAdams
Contact:
Email: jordynmacadams13@gmail.com
Website: www.behance.net/jordynmacadams
LinkedIn: Jordyn MacAdams
Instagram: @jordynmacdesign
I have always loved working with kids, creating new ideas, and making things with my hands. So, when I realized I could put them together and build toys for a living I knew it was what I was meant to do. From that day forward I couldn’t picture myself doing anything else. With my work I hope to instill creativity and encourage exploration all while supporting childhood development through play.
Capstone Description:
This capstone aims to support gross motor skill development in 3–5-year-olds in low-income communities. Through social observation, creative storytelling, and outdoor play, these children will develop fundamental skills essential for future learning. Follow the lovable Pip as he explores the forest before coming to life to join your family on their own adventures.
Kenny Nguyen
Contact:
Email: kenny.nguyen791@gmail.com
Website: kennynguyen791.myportfolio.com/
LinkedIn: Kenny Nguyen
Instagram: @kernynugget
Product designer focused on pursuing the future of next-generation composites. My work explores modularity, performance, and sustainability through the design and fabrication of innovative composite products.
Capstone Description:
This capstone explores the development of a modular racing seat utilizing hybrid composites, including carbon fiber and flax with bio-based resin systems. The project investigates how modularity can improve adaptability, user comfort, and product longevity while reducing material waste. Through material experimentation and prototyping, it demonstrates a balance between performance and sustainable strategies in natural composite products.
Laurina Austin-Seade
I believe that good design begins with understanding what shapes someone’s choices. A background in sewing gave me an early fluency in making things that fit. Not just the person but the personality. My style is recognized in the details of my work and its simple implementation. What drives me is the conviction that people deserve products designed for their full humanity.
Capstone Description:
Research shows that a language can be lost in 3 generations. ‘Cultural Transmission through Gameplay’ explores whether the oldest games we know might solve the newest problem we have. Cultural and social disconnection. The capstone focused on using Oware, a mind-sport game as a vehicle to foster intergenerational connection. The proposed solution includes a game board and website that helps families co-create an heirloom reflective of their heritage.
Lucas Biggs
Lucas Biggs is a product designer originally from Bainbridge Island, Washington, now based in Vancouver, BC. His work bridges industrial design and visual communication, from physical objects to the stories that surround them. He believes good design earns its place through function, comprehensive aesthetics, and meaningful interactions that build a lasting relationship between object and owner. After graduating, he hopes to continue his design career to further advance his technical and creative expertise.
Capstone Description:
The Bridge L1 is a dual-mode luminaire designed for micro-living environments, where residential lighting rarely meets the demands of constrained, multi-use space. Grounded in a literature review, circular economy research, and a 13-participant user survey, the project identified limited lighting control as the primary frustration among residents. The result is a suspended linear light fixture with two independent aluminum dials controlling light direction between ambient and task modes, with app-controlled dimming for precise intensity adjustment.
Matthew Whatley
Form, function and materiality have always drawn me into design. I have always been interested in process and the sequence of steps that accumulate to an outcome, sometimes labour intensive and involve multiple attempts in order to achieve the desired outcome. Before this degree I spent 10 years developing my skills as a carpenter doing architectural concrete form work, using those skills as a foundation to cultivate my designs.
Capstone Description:
In my Capstone project I am taking natural woven fibers and reinforcing them with a bio-based resin resulting in a composite layered structural material. A flowing chair form was the final result that was only achievable through material testing, extensive research, user testing and prototyping. Project aim is to bring awareness to plastic over production and alternative methods for future use, as bio-based resin progress they could become a viable option as a plastic replacement material.
Michael Parrenas
Contact:
Email: michael.parrenas8@gmail.com
Website: michaelparrenas.ca
LinkedIn: Michael Parrenas
Instagram: @michaelpvrrenas
TikTok: @michaelpvrrenas
I’m a 4th year product design student with hands-on experience in the fashion industry, working with outofoffice (formerly known as OUTLAWS). As a product developer and designer, I contribute to the creation of garments and systems that balance aesthetics, functionality, and brand identity. My final capstone project reflects my interest in minimal living, adaptability, and intentional design for modern lifestyles.
Capstone Description:
This capstone project explores how a space-saving capsule wardrobe system can address overconsumption, decision fatigue, and shrinking urban living spaces. The system pairs a curated collection of versatile, mix-and-match garments with a two-piece modular bag featuring a waterproof dry bag inner shell and a structured outer shell that work together or independently. Rooted in minimalism and sustainability, the design empowers users to simplify daily clothing choices, reduce textile waste, and improve mental well-being.
Michael Walmsley
Michael is a designer passionate about human movement in all of its forms. His time outdoors gives his practice momentum, and is built upon craftsmanship, intention, empathy, and a touch of playfulness.
Capstone Description:
Free & Clean is a collection of rock-climbing apparel intended to reconcile the cultural values of the climbing community with the garments they purchase and use. A low footprint & circular product lifecycle is achieved through careful material selection, mono-material garment construction, and leveraging both man-made technical recycling processes and the bio-economy.
Nilvia Rojo Morales
Nilvia is a Product Designer and Commercial Relations licentiate. Driven by curiosity and a need to create things with her hands, she decided to pursue her passion. Her design aesthetic is informed by user needs and the environment. A semester abroad in Helsinki, Finland taught her that less is always more. There, she developed a deep admiration for impactful, unadorned design. She is an advocate for women-centred design and hopes to pursue a career in research and development.
Capstone Description:
Nilvia’s capstone, OP — Outdoor Period Kit — tackles a critical yet overlooked area in product innovation: Menstrual Hygiene in the Backcountry. She is proud to have addressed this gap and looks forward to collaborating with teams building impactful solutions for female users. Also pictured are two projects from her semester in Finland — a hand-crafted glass, made alongside master glassblowers, and a chair exhibited at the MOV. Each project reflects her growing commitment to design that is purposeful and human-centred.
Quintin Kehler
Hi, my name is Quintin Kehler, and I enjoy challenging problems and creating innovative solutions. It’s rewarding to turn an idea into reality that impacts people. My interests involve the visual arts, physical activities, and working with my hands. Meeting new people and gaining insights from new experiences are essential to my values and contribute to my growth as both a person and a designer.
Capstone Description:
The project tackles the overlooked issue of wheelchair users’ difficulty prepping meals in kitchens that are not adapted to their needs. My product solution to this problem is to design an adaptable prep surface that can be installed in the kitchen without fully altering the space. The design aims to bridge accessibility gaps and offer wheelchair users independence in their own kitchens.
Ryan Hope
Ryan Hope is a passionate problem solver that believes there is a unique solution for every problem. A passion for the outdoors and sport has lead Ryan to pursue a career in Product Design. With testing at the core of his process he looks forward to creating a more inclusive world for all adventurers.
Capstone Description:
The Impact Beanie combines culture, style, and safety for snowboarders by snowboarders. When concussions left the beanie lap a thing of the past, Ryan sought to find an alternative. With the growing progression of snowboarding, safety should not be compromised. Concussions and brain injuries are common like any sport. The Impact Beanie is meant for those riders looking to cruise the mountain and ride features in the terrain park.
Sam Spencer
Sam is a designer who creates purposeful solutions shaped by curiosity and real-world need. Her work explores the intersection of hard and soft materials, merging structure with flexibility to form thoughtful, integrated systems. With a passion for 3D printing, electronics, and mechanism design, she develops objects that feel visually simple yet reveal layered complexity through function, detail, and innovation.
Capstone Description:
ThermaForm is a wearable support garment designed to assist nurses recovering from long-term musculoskeletal injuries. Developed through user-centered research and real-world testing, the design integrates targeted heat therapy into a discreet, flexible form that can be worn during demanding shifts. By blending soft textile construction with embedded functional elements, ThermaForm supports comfort, mobility, and recovery, offering a practical solution that responds to the physical realities of hospital work.
Sara Lee
My name is Sara and I am fourth year student at the Wilson School of Design. In the past four years I’ve done all sorts of product all the way from shoes to chairs. I love fabrication and am always looking forward to a new project.
Capstone Description:
My capstone focuses on designing modular shelving for a small living space. As living spaces continuously shrink, mess is inevitable. My capstone questions “Can we leverage psychological and behavioural research on the organization of one’s home/workspace to design furniture to optimize focus in a small living space?” It additionally addresses environmental and health issues within the furniture market such as fast-furniture, and toxic finishes.
Solène Ochu
Solène has a particular interest in environmental technologies and PPE-based design work. Trying is the first demanding step when exploring new ideas. Trying, failing, and trying again. Easier to say, harder to do. Trial and error led to the CAD modelling, sketching, sculpting, sewing and research successes she now can call skills. Using these skills she hopes to put out into this world solutions that solve problems that already exist, not create new ones.
Capstone Description:
The focus of Taproot is to produce analog solutions for freshwater quality monitoring. Constructed using ceramic, it will eventually get recycled back into the production supply chain. Taproot could support more intentional use of high-tech data gathering devices made from critical and conflict minerals. Devices used by conservation organizations are typically bought through grants, and not always in high quantities. Taproot positions analog options as low-cost accessible alternatives for exploratory use-cases in test site mapping.
Thomas Schratz
Contact:
Email: schratzt@gmail.com
Website: Portfolio
LinkedIn: Thomas Schratz
Instagram: @thomasschratz
I’m Thomas, and I spend most of my time outdoors, skiing, climbing or biking. I love to get into the nitty gritty of design, working through problems to see a team’s vison come together to create elegantly functional designs. A beautiful solution paired with beautiful aesthetics is the perfect amalgamation of art and engineering, and is what I love about design.
Capstone Description:
Ski binding mounting systems lack a universal standard and aren’t designed for easy removal or reinstallation. This limits skiers from adjusting boot size, binding type, mount position, and from transferring bindings between sets of skis. Any change causes irreparable damage, shortening the lifespan of the ski, and causing more environmental harm. This project was centered on developing a mounting system that preserves ski performance while enabling universal and repeatable remounting.
