BERNARD J. CANNIFFE

Growing up in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales shaped who I have become. South Wales had coal, iron and industry where there was the belief that there was work for everyone. My father was a coalminer, as where many fathers, and the work was hard and dangerous. My mother was a nurse and our home was surrounded with conversations about working conditions, wage disparities and the importance of unionization. I Co-founded PIECE Studio in 2006 because of the desire to use design that was bigger than itself. The PIECE Studio premise was that we could begin to think in terms of design politic.

TOGATHER TODAY TOGETHER TOMRROW is a celebration of how the present informs the future. We stand on the backs of giants and we have a responsibility to leave this planet in better shape than we inherited it. We come together as one–we reach over the table and take someone’s hand and look into their eyes and say, “I trust and respect you.”

GIANT STEPS ARE WHAT WE TAKE uses the lyrics from one of The POLICE band’s songs about walking on the moon. It is also reminiscent of the Gemini and Apollo space missions to put mankind on the moon. We are called to make giant steps.