Max Pratt

Max Pratt is a researcher and designer who focuses on the relationships between waste streams and human impact. In an effort to reduce our impact on the ecology we so often forget we are a part of, they aim to reframe the way we approach the environment around us. Max works to develop and inform sustainable practices in ecology, social equity, human health, mobility, rapid prototyping and manufacturing.

Max holds a BFA from RISD in Furniture Design, as well as an MID in Industrial Design, and teaches in both the department of Industrial Design and in the Hyundai Regeneration Studio. As a product designer, they worked in the field of mobility design, specifically in the engineering and manufacturing of performance racing bicycles. Max was a founding partner and technical director of Nice Bikes, a racing bicycle manufacturing company and nonprofit professional women’s cycling team with a mission of promoting equity and inclusion in the outdoor industry. The bicycles they designed and fabricated have won numerous UCI races and placed in the top 10 at UCI World Cups and US National Championships. Their work in bikes has been featured in Outside Magazine, VELO, VeloNews, Bicycling Magazine, Bike Quarterly, The Radavist, Cyclingtips and more.

Max’s current practice focuses on small-scale architectural studies and in-depth scientific research of the marine ecology and how our behaviors impact it, in search of better materials and better ways to use them. With the support of the RISD Nature Lab, they are conducting several studies of commercial marine practices including finfish harvesting, New England lobster fishing, and seafood catering to identify, archive and design solutions around existing waste streams. The goal of this work is both immediate, applicable recommendations for reducing environmental impact, as well as materials and methods for reuse and reclamation of otherwise wasted resources and materials.