Multiple generations of Herreshoff family members have their names on a total of more than 100 US patents. These include the expected sailing vessels, valves, and steam engines, but also the less expected smelting equipment, sewing machine parts, beet presses, and one of the 20th century’s most influential automobiles. Design Historian Matthew Bird will present an overview of these patents, the technologies and innovations they represent, and the remarkable people who created them.

Matthew Bird curates and designs museum exhibitions that help introduce design into fine-art institutions. His knowledge of manufacturing and materials informs these projects, as well as his teaching and writing about design history, making the information easy to understand and enjoy. Trained as an industrial designer and metalsmith, his own design work has been sold in gift stores, museum stores, galleries, and catalogs throughout the US and overseas. He has developed and managed multiple retail environments and participated as a designer and buyer for several others. For more than 30 years, Matthew has worked in different parts of the art, design and gift professions. For almost 20 years he brought his professional experience into the classroom teaching design and design history at Rhode Island School of Design.