Design and Empathy with Raffi Minasian — Explained
Please help us extend a warm welcome to one of BaT’s favorite designers, teachers, sellers, and all-around renaissance men: Raffi Minasian, known in these halls as @raffi. He talks with Alex about his father’s “trial by fire” mechanical training program; the roots of his obsession with car design; learning to drive in a 1952 Crosley (with doors!); human- and object-based empathy; a novel way to stay calm in the BaT comments; accidentally becoming a star seller for other people’s cars; the odd calmness that 1,200 live BaT auctions can provide; his unorthodox, Pegaso-centric introduction to Art Center College of Design, his future alma mater; his 16 years in die cast design at Franklin Mint; insights into shifts in popular culture; embracing the ridiculous; and the Beetle as a gateway drug.