Alberto Villarreal, M.A.

The Yanko Design article Finally A USB Body Implant for Hardcore Transfer said

You’ve got no excuse, design student, I know you put that file in your finger last Tuesday. Oh, your finger is corrupt? That’s a tough break. I hope you got the clip-in version. Uh-oh, permanent? Harsh. Better get that chopped off and replaced further up your arm. Gonna have to call you Anakin pretty soon.
 
Yes, that is a USB device in place of a fingertip.
 
Purely a “visualization” project, yet in an age where a person can have their entire anatomy changed, how far off can this be? When does the machine become the body? What would you have implanted?
 
I’d like a WIFI detecting fingernail.
 
Designer: Alberto Villarreal of Zanic Design
 

Alberto Villarreal, M.A. is a Senior Industrial Design Consultant based in Mexico City. His studio is located in the Condesa area, one of the most international and culturally active zones of the city.
 
He has worked helping a variety of industries create innovative products such as: sport items, private and public transportation, fashion accessories, furniture, toys, consumer electronics, and high-tech medical equipment.
 
Previous clients include: Adidas, Nike, Hewlett-Packard, LeapFrog, SanDisk, Tokidoki, and Fila.
 
Alberto’s work has been published in books and magazines worldwide and several web portals have featured it. He has also participated in collective exhibitions in Asia, Europe, North and South America. He has been invited as lecturer at several universities and he’s participated as Juror in design competitions. Nowadays he is one of the Mexican young designers with high international recognition.
 
He has received some of the most prestigious awards of the industry, including: red dot – best of the best, Chicago Athenaeum Good Design Award, iF Hannover Product Design Award, and IDSA/Business Week Industrial Design Excellence Award, among others.
 
Alberto balances his client work with humanitarian activity; from 30 to 50% of his work consist on design and development of philanthropic projects for non-profit organizations such as the San Francisco chapter of Engineers Without Borders (ATDT group) and Project H Design (of which he leads the Mexico City Chapter). He is also an active member of Fundaci’s UNAM, where every month a percentage of his salary is donated to support educational and research programs in Mexico.
 
He obtained a Bachelor Degree in Industrial Design from UNAM (Mexico) and a Masters Degree in Transportation Design from Umea University (Sweden). He is fluent in Spanish, English, and Italian, with a basic understanding of Swedish, Portuguese, and French. In 2000 he received the Medal “Gabino Barreda” given to the best student of each major at UNAM, Mexico. And in 2002 he was awarded as Honorary Member of the National Association of Research in Didactics, of Spain.
 
Watch Pecha Kucha Night in San Francisco. Read Featured Artist Interview – Alberto Villarreal and Green with Envy.