Elaine Tajima only does good work for good reasons and with that in mind, she founded Tajima Creative in 1996. She's not only worked with some great brands, such as Macy's and Apple, but she has also been able to extend her beliefs into her work by overseeing projects such as Women Beyond Borders, the Global Nuclear Disarmament Fund, and Shinnyo-En's Six Billion Paths to Peace Forum.

Joan Takayama-Ogawa is a renowned ceramic artist and educator at Otis College of Art and Design. Her work is in many permanent collections around the world including the Smithsonian Institution and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. As an educator, Joan teaches ceramics, is a member of the Product Design faculty at Otis as well as an Associate Professor of English.

Jackie Brander, is one of the most sought after names in the fashion retail business today. Jackie owned Fred Segal Fun for over 20 years, and she was responsible for all of the buying and brand development. She added a men’s store, a women’s boutique, and was well known for the popular Sundance Gifting Suite. Jackie directs various multi-media projects that incorporate fashion, art, music and other marketable extensions

Tom Sandonato's kitHAUS. Featured in Dwell, Metropolitan Home, and the New York Times, kitHAUS reinvents the traditional backyard room as an elegant, module flexible enough to become yoga studio, office or greenhouse. Modular in design, these pre-fab, aluminum-framed structures can be assembled in a matter of days to produce an elegant modernist addition or entire dwelling with minimal fuss.

Jo Lauria, former curator of Decorative Arts at LACMA, is an independent curator and historian that has spent her life following the mantra that she will only know of the things she finds to be useful or beautiful. More recently, she curated the Craft in America: Expanding Traditions Exhibition and co-authored the book, Craft in America: Celebrating Two Centuries of Artists and Objects, created to complement the PBS documentary series. Less recently, Jo has published extensively and organized numerous exhibitions.

Randall Wilson, an educator at Art Center College of Design and Otis College of Art and Design, has dedicated himself to teaching and community involvement. Randall gives back to the community through projects funded by grants from the City of Los Angeles and The Ahmanson Foundation. Randall is also an accomplished maker with many years of experience working with woods and metals.

John Maeda, a native of Hawaii, was trained as an artist and designer from a young age (including glass blowing, drawing, painting, illustration & design). He later attended, and graduated from, Art Center College of Design. John currently works as a graphic designer, doesn't work as a painter, and seems to think that nothing is ever designed properly and re-tools, re-thinks, and re-builds all manner of objects and machines.

Robert Apodaca graduated from Otis College of Art and Design, and has spent several years since then working at several architecture and design firms exploring what the design world had to offer. Inspired by the creative possibilities within the intersections of art, design, and architecture, Robert has taken those ideas into the heart of a number of exciting projects including his own creative space, and Shibui Designs.