10 to Watch: Todd Bracher

Founder
Todd Bracher Studio
www.toddbracher.net

As the son of a carpenter who found as much pleasure in building his own toys in his father’s wood shop as he did playing with them, Todd Bracher is no stranger to product design. The native New Yorker has collaborated with some of the industry’s most prestigious furniture and product brands, and received nominations for International Designer of the Year in both 2008 and 2009.

His collaboration with 3M to create the Lightfalls “Virtual LED” caught our attention this year at NeoCon as one of our favorite introductions at the show. Bracher says in working with 3M, they “found a way to light a vast surface with minimal use of LEDs, where we manage the diffusion of light so efficiently we can extend the reach of a single LED vastly further than ever before.”

Bracher cites acclaimed designer Jeffrey Bernett of studio B as a friend and mentor who helps him put things in perspective while continuously raising the (already high) bar one notch at a time. Part of that perspective is keeping things simple.

“Reduction is very important to me,” Bracher says. “Singularity is the way we communicate truth. It’s one idea ... it’s not hidden in complexity, it’s not over complicated, it’s not diluted. And that’s the way I like to package or contain these ideas about design.”