ACIDO 24th Annual Rocket Awards

On June 6th, ACIDO (Association of Chartered Industrial Designers of Ontario) hosted the 24th annual Rocket Awards, celebrating the next generation of industrial design talent from Carleton University, Humber Polytechnic, OCAD University, and Sheridan College.

Tensen Design + Manufacturing was proud to have Jacob Edding, CID participate as part of this year’s jury, judging the Extreme & Specialized Environments category.

Events like Rocket are a valuable reminder of what industrial design looks like at its best: curiosity, research, empathy, technical thinking, and the ability to turn complex problems into thoughtful solutions. Each project represents months of exploration, iteration, critique, and refinement, and it takes real confidence to present that work to a room of industry professionals.

This year’s projects covered a wide range of challenges, from worker safety and mobility to sustainability, infrastructure, learning, recreation, and specialized environments. What stood out most was how many students approached design not just as a product outcome, but as a way to understand people, systems, behaviors, and environments more deeply.

Congratulations to all of the nominees who shared their final-year work. The level of thinking, presentation, and ambition across the projects was impressive, and it is exciting to see where this next group of Ontario designers will take the field.

This year Jacob presented the Design for Manufacturing award to Jessica Smith for her modular wheelchair project, Axis. Jessica demonstrated a deep understanding of the common manufacturing processes required to fabricate the wheelchair, particularly tube bending. One of the best ways to design a product that can be successfully made to print is to build it yourself using actual tools and workflows, getting out of CAD and into the workshop! Jessica’s project is a great example of that approach, and it’s worth taking a look here: https://acido.info/Axis

Thank you to ACIDO for continuing to create a platform that connects emerging designers with the broader design and manufacturing community.