Currently based in Chicago but originally from Bangkok, Thailand, Alissa Touranachun approaches her design practice with curiosity and interest in ubiquitous narratives. Mundane encounters like the shape of fruits, the shifting shadow. Or the texture of something in her palm inspired her designs.
Informed by her human-centered training, her work observes the interactions between objects’ materialities, users, and the contexts. With emphasis on objects’ sensorial engagement, she believes delightful connections between an object and its user can be formed by balancing utility and emotional expression. This includes the use of humor, nostalgia, and sometimes childlike narrative in her work. She often combines natural materials (wood, ceramics, paper, fabrics, etc.) with industrial-made fixtures and found objects, leveraging material manipulation and handcrafted methods to create subtle designs with surprising physical properties.
Professionally, she utilize her design research skills, including user observation, in-depth interviews, and market research, to generate insightful design opportunities for custom-made furniture, medical devices, and home-use appliances. With 5+ years of experience working in a design studio environment, She is proficient in communication, collaboration, and prioritizing tasks according to the project goal.
Her responsibilities range from research, concept development, design, coordination, prototype, and fabrication. Typical methods of making include rapid prototypes, CAD modelings and renders, CAD-led fabrication (3D printing, Laser-cutting, CNC), woodworking, and ceramics.
CV
2024-Present
* Design Assistant at Norman Teague Design Studios (NTDS)
* Fabricator at AllKinds Studio
2023
* Teaching Assistant at UIC School of Design (Design Drawing)
* Graduate Design Researcher at UIC Innovation Center
* Design Internship at Norman Teague Design Studios (NTDS)
2022
* Student coordinator for UIC Public Design Seminar Series
* Student coordinator for UIC Public Design Seminar Series
2019-2022
* Designer at Glo Design International
2019
2017
Education
2024
* MDES in Industrial Design at University of Illinios Chicago
2019
* BFA in Industrial Design at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi
Awards / Exhibitions / Events
2025
* Solo month-long display at Chicago Rebuilding Exchange’s featured maker program
2024
* UIC Board of Trustees Waiver for Academic Performance
* Thesis project exhibition at UIC Year End Show
2023
* UIC Board of Trustees Fellowship Waiver
* Bangkok’s Strange Tools exhibition at Bangkok Design Week (Bangkok, Thailand)
* Plastic Ooooh! at Good Chaos (Chicago, USA)
* TXATXA’s Shelf Life, curated by Studio Herron under NTDS (Chicago, USA)
* Bangkok’s Strange Tools exhibition at Bangkok Design Week (Bangkok, Thailand)
* Plastic Ooooh! at Good Chaos (Chicago, USA)
* TXATXA’s Shelf Life, curated by Studio Herron under NTDS (Chicago, USA)
2019 (BFA)
2015-2019 (BFA)
* Petch Prajom Klao Academic Excellency Scholarship