PISCATAWAY, N.J., Aug. 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its
ongoing effort to expand and enhance the role of design across its
key business processes, American Standard Brands recently welcomed
three additions to the company's design team. Emilie Williams, Greg
Reinecker and Gabriela Ravassa are working at the Company's
design studio at headquarters in Piscataway, NJ, reporting to new Vice
President - Design Jean-Jacques L'Henaff.
Emilie Williams, as associate
design director for faucets, leads all design projects for that
category. Williams formerly served as senior designer at Ignite
USA, where she designed and
developed housewares products for the Contigo and AVEX brands.
Previously, Williams spent eight years as lead industrial designer
at Delta Faucet and senior designer at the Masco Corporation, where
she worked on the Brizo brand. She holds a Bachelor of Industrial
Design from North Carolina State
University.
Greg Reinecker, as lead designer,
oversees industrial design projects from concept through
implementation across various product categories. Reinecker has
worked with two leading design consultancies — Teams Design in
Chicago and Axis Design in
Austin, Texas — and brings over 10
years of experience in multiple industries, including power tools
and housewares.
Gabriela Ravassa, working as industrial designer, pursues
projects across all categories, but is currently focused on trade
faucet lines for American Standard and DXV, the company's new
flagship luxury bathroom and kitchen brand. A graduate of Parson
School of Design, Ravassa worked with eyewear brand Don Vetro, as well as OMHU, a Scandinavian brand
specialized in elegant mobility aid products for the elderly.
The new trio brings the current U.S. design team to six members
― including L'Henaff; Alyson Lyons,
lead designer; and Christophe
Bucher, chief industrial designer - chinaware products ―
plus three associates located in manufacturing facilities overseas.
L'Henaff joined the Company in October
2013 in the position of vice president – design.
"Jean-Jacques is leading us in a forward-thinking direction,
creating world-class product design for products that perform
fabulously while looking beautiful and meeting the high-style
demands of today's customer," said American Standard President and
CEO Jay Gould.
Prior to joining the company, L'Henaff has been a design
executive for Kohler Asia, Audiovox, and Terk Technologies, and
held various design management positions for consulting firms such
as Henry Dreyfuss Associates and The Arnell Group in New York City. He holds a Bachelor of Science
degree in Product and Transportation Design from Ecole Superieure
de Design Industriel in Paris.
In reinvigorating the design function at American Standard,
L'Henaff and his team have taken a more "user-centric approach to
the design process," he said. "It is all about the user's
experience. We focus not only on the product's look, feel and
function, but also on the overall experience we want the user to
have when interacting with them."
The keys to this approach are two-fold. The first is a
commitment to validating new design concepts by submitting them to
first-hand consumer testing early in the development process. "The
idea is to test our prototypes early, learn early and repeat that
cycle again and again until we obtain the right experience," he
said.
The second key is closer ongoing communications among team
members, including their colleagues in China. "One designer may focus on faucets,
another on bathing and another on chinaware, but we cannot work in
silos without regard for each other's challenges and perspectives,"
said L'Henaff. "Each American Standard or DXV product is a brand
ambassador, so all of us are involved in building the brand, and
each is on board with what's happening with our product line as a
whole. We have been given this unique opportunity to build on
fifteen decades of design tradition and re-interpret it for 2015
and beyond. We are intent on making the most of it."
ABOUT AMERICAN STANDARD BRANDS
American Standard Brands make life healthier, safer and more
beautiful at home, at work, in the community and throughout the
world. Offering total project solutions for residential and
commercial customers around the world with respected brands such as
American Standard®, Jado®,
Porcher®, Safety Tubs®, Crane
Plumbing®, Eljer®, Fiat® and
Decorative Panels International®. American Standard
Brands is owned by Lixil Corporation (TSE Code 5938), a global
building products company. Learn more at www.americanstandard.com,
or follow us at twitter.com/AmStandard,
www.facebook.com/AmericanStandardPlumbing.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140814/136329
SOURCE American Standard Brands
