In an industry dominated by the young, 91yr old Barbara Beskind is breaking the glass age-ceiling, and now works as a designer for IDEO, where according to the Wall Street Journal, Beskind walks with her custom modified ski poles from the train station to the Palo Alto-based IDEO offices. There, she shares her wealth of knowledge and experience with other designers, with some being 60 to 70-years younger.
Barbara Beskin is a Designer. Not because of some label associated with the job title, but because being designer is an ingrained part of her personality.
Beskind began her design aspirations as many of us did, by designing toys as a child during the Depression (almost 20 years before LEGOs were invented!). In a recent NPR feature on Beskind, it was revealed that during the Great Depression, when she couldn’t afford to buy toys, she started to make hobby horses (aka rocking-horses) out of old tires.
After being turned away from engineering (which was only open to men at the time) by her high school counselor, she joined the army and spent 44 years as an occupational therapist, all the while designing braces and other new equipment. It seems the designer in her was going to find its way out any way it could.
“It makes aging more tolerable, more enjoyable. Yeah, I mean, I enjoy the age I’m in. I think this is one of the best chapters of my life.”
Driven by a longing to simply design, her remarkable career continued to rise from there. Soon after, she then opened the first private practice occupational-therapy clinic in the U.S., where she continued to design new equipment and was eventually awarded 6 patents for inflatable therapeutic devices.
Among other reasons why Beskind’s story is so remarkable is that no matter the obstacle, she always found a way design and make new things, because it’s simply a part of who she is. And now, at 91 years old, she is living out her dreams to be an inventor. While she helps the IDEO design teams with insights on designing for the elderly and aging population, Beskind is also still working on her own inventions.
Who knows if the next IDEO-designed product you use may have been designed in-part thanks to Beskind?
