Salient’s co-owner and inventor, David Yakos, created a DIY shelf project video that went viral on social media. Instead of selling the instructions, he partnered with Family Promise of Gallatin Valley to offer the plans for free with a donation option. The fundraiser has raised over $30,000 for the organization’s housing programs.
Read more about the story on montanarightnow.com
See the video on Yakos’ Instagram.
Check out the fundraiser on Family Promise of Gallatin Valley’s website.
Maker Studio in the News
Maker’s Studio made quite the impression during it’s release at the 2015 New York Toy Fair this February, winning the Best of Toy Fair award from Techlicious, making numerous Top 10 Lists (listed below), and receiving glowing reviews for its take on open-end play. Co-inventors David Yakos, of Salient Technologies, Inc., and maker Parker Thomas teamed up with toy and game producers, ThinkFun to create the open-play concept toy. Three Maker Studio sets have been released: Propellers, Gear and Winches, and the included Engineering Challenge Cards encourage kids in problem solving and thinking outside the box. Built by engineers for budding engineers, ThinkFun’s Maker Studio puts creativity back in play.
Check out some of the great reviews at these links:
April 14, 2015: No Monsters In My Bed Blog Review of Maker Studio
April 13, 2015: The House of Boys…And a Girl Blog Review of Maker Studio
April 13, 2015: Cummin’s Life Blog Review of Maker Studio
March 6, 2015: KBZK News Piece on Bozeman local, David Yakos & the invention of Maker Studio
February 20, 2015: Maker Studio named in the CNET “Most Amazing Stuff of Toy Fair 2015” list
February 19, 2015: Maker Studio named in GeekDad’s Top 10 of NY Toy Fair 2015
February 19, 2015: Makezine is all about Maker Studio promoting the make-movement
February 19, 2015: The Maker Studio pieces “feel great, fit together well, and demand open-ended play”, says Amy Kraft of Makeroni
February 18, 2015: Kidscreen ranks Maker Studio in their favoriate non-tech toys
February 18, 2015: DadDoes places Maker Studio on the “Good” end of his article, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Toy Fair 2015
February 16, 2015: Out of 150,000 products, Maker Studio is awarded Techlicious Best of Toy Fair 2015 List along with 7 others
February 11, 2015: Reuter’s Magazine lists ThinkFun’s Maker Studio as a great toy for kids who want to “build, do and explore!”
February 7, 2015: The Making of and Inspiration behind Maker Studio
If you’re into videos, check out the Made by Bella series – where Bella and her Friends work through the Engineering Challenges of Maker Studio
3D Printing Keynote Speaker
October 2014, David Yakos, VP and Director of Creativity at Salient Technologies, Inc. addressed a roomful of technology professionals as the keynote speaker at the RJ Young “Power of 3D Printing” Conference in Nashville, TN. Yakos presented the ability of 3D printing to take risk out of product development through prototyping.
RJ Young Brings “The Power of 3D Printing” Exhibition and Award Winning Product Designer to Nashville
Southeast’s leading office technology provider brings “The Power of 3D Printing” Exhibition and Award Winning Product Designer David Yakos to audience in Nashville, Tennessee.
Nashville, Tennessee (PRWEB) October 16, 2014
Nearly 50 professionals from across the mid-state attended “The Power of 3D Printing”, an interactive 3D printing exhibition and guest lecture at the Omni Hotel, sponsored by the RJ Young Company. The event showcased 3D Systems printing technology and informed a wide-range of professionals, from architects to advertising agencies, of the competitive advantages that 3D printing offers and featured a lunch-time presentation by award-winning product designer David Yakos.
“Weapons to wheelchairs and dog toys to space exploration, all industries could use 3D printing technology,” Yakos said as he addressed the audience. He explained how 3D printing in product development allows you to “fail fast and fail cheap” to get more desirable products to market faster.
Read the rest of the story HERE
AeroPod – 2018 Eurobike Award Winner
The AeroPod by Velocomp (a Salient client for many years), won the prestigious Eurobike Award in the “Bike Components” category. AeroPod was voted Outstanding for it’s degree of innovation, design, weight/ pack size.
You can read more about the Eurobike assessment of the Aeropod here.
In 2018, over 350 products were entered into the Eurobike Awards, and was judged by six industry experts.
Way to go, Velocomp!
EUROBIKE AWARD 2018 | Expert panel of judges – Jurysitzung from Messe Friedrichshafen GmbH on Vimeo.
Salient Product Design Mentorship
In partnership with HATCH, Salient is excited to announce we are now accepting applications for the 2015 Product Design Mentorship!
Launching in just a few short weeks, Salient will accept up to 6 candidates for our hands-on Mentorship. Good applicants are students who are (most likely) pursuing degrees in Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Design, Product Design or it’s equivalent – OR, those who have a marked interest in Product Design and the skills necessary to contribute to the program.
The Salient Mentorship is created in partnership with the HATCH 360 Mentorship that uses a bottom-up and peer to peer approach to build meaningful relationships, share knowledge and expertise, and challenge each other.
All students will be coached by Salient Technology owners – David Yakos and Stephen Sanford on Salient’s 3 Phase Design Process: 1) Concept Design, 2) Prototype Development, and 3) Design for Manufacturing, and invited to participate in all three ares on an actual project.
The Mentorship is not paid, nor is it for credit. The Application Deadline is Thursday, February 19th, and Classes will be held from 3 PM – 5 PM, Thursdays, March 5th, March 19th, April 2nd, and April 16th. Some work will be required outside of class time.
Email for more information and application forms.
“In The Making” – An Inside Look at the Design Process
Sharing an inside look at our design process and the journey of one of our current projects is pretty exciting – especially when it’s with Doc Mike North, host of In the Making.
In the Making takes viewers behind the scenes of spectacular projects, people and ideas while they are being created. Doc North travels the world to give viewers an inspirational look into what it takes to make scientific breakthroughs, create companies and invent the future. Follow North to catch the next big thing while it’s still IN THE MAKING.
In this episode of In the Making, we’re exploring a new, non-lethal weapon alternative and sharing a bit of the developmental process by showcasing concept design, prototyping and production design. The non-lethal pepper spray attachment mounts to any standard picatinny rail and has a range of approximately 30 feet to assist in defusing hostile situations.
Developing a product that’s used in the field means several prototypes versions are necessary to test the feel and function of the device. It’s important that a product feels right when in hand, which isn’t something that can be determined from a digital CAD file. The product has to feel robust, secure, made for the hand, and easy to operate. In testing this product, we found physical testing helpful in figuring out nozzle size and ensuring the pepper spray reached the correct distance. We also tested and perfected one hand operation including firing, loading and reloading.
The aim in designing this product is to save the lives of people who are unnecessarily shot due to chaotic series’ of events ending in lethal force. Officers are often called to enter situations without knowing the true nature of the environment and whether they will need to be armed with lethal or non-lethal force. This product gives law enforcement an option other than lethal force without endangering themselves or civilians by needing to lowering their firearm to switch tools in the midst of conflict. Now, hostile environments that are escalating to a high-risk situation can be quickly defused before they end in a fatal shooting. Our goal is providing an alternative to lethal force by making a product that matters.
Thank you, Doc North, for your time and energy!
David Yakos is VP and Director of Creativity at Salient Technologies, Inc.
3D Printing in the News
Just in case you missed it – here’s a short feature* on 3D Printing by ABC Fox Montana starring Salient Technologies, Inc. owners David Yakos (VP, Director of Creativity) and Steve Sanford (President)!
Reporter, Rachael Aragon takes a quick look at the how’s and what’s of 3D Printing at the Salient office in Bozeman, MT…
*Update: March 18, 2015 – We regret that the video for this feature is no longer available, but you can still click on the photo above to read the full article.
