Bould Design is the power of a design behind the scenes. Throughout the vast landscape of consumer products, the brands stand out, heralded for their design, for pushing the limits of materials and wrapping function into bold new forms. The brands revel in that. Bould Design is one who creates it. For years, they’ve produced the design and visuals for some of the most iconic products on the market. Fred Bould, Founder and Design Director takes us on a short journey of what that is like and how they use KeyShot in the process.

Bould Design / Fred Bould

Modeling software used: SolidWorks
https://www.bould.com/

Fred Bould has been making things since he was old enough to hold a tool. He’s always been very particular about the materiality and function of objects. “I honestly don’t know what else I would do. It just made sense for me to be a designer because that’s what I have been doing from a very young age.”

A lot of people at both Carnegie Mellon and Stanford served as mentors to him. As when at Stanford, working with Dave Beach as a teaching assistant in the Stanford Product Realization Lab where students learn about design through making things. “The facility has CNC milling machines, lathes, welding, casting, sheet metal, rapid prototyping and more,” Fred recounts, “It was pretty mind blowing. I was also fortunate early on to work with some clients that believed in me and gave me some great opportunities.”

Almost every project Bould Design works on goes into production. If you’re serious about making things, you go to Bould. “I would say that we have a well-tuned focus on function, materials and processes. I feel it is extremely important to understand the potential and limitations of your media.” And this is exactly what their clients have explained as a differentiating factor.

Creating strong visuals is an important aspect to this and their entire process. “KeyShot is integral to our process. We use it in the usual ways to evaluate designs visually, but also to simulate complex color, material and finish combinations before plunging into expensive cosmetic models or modeling the effectiveness of lightpipes.” One of their main clients has even used the hi-res KeyShot renderings for a national billboard ad campaign, saving a lot of cost on photography. For Bould Design, KeyShot is an extremely versatile tool.

Fred enjoys the activity of designing above all, finding satisfaction in making things work. When asking him what advice he would pass along to someone interested in doing what he does, Fred has a simple answer. “Master your tools!”