Bruce Mau D.Litt. (born October 25, 1959) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

designer and educator. He began his career a graphic designer and has since applied his design methodology to architecture, art, museums, film, eco-environmental design, education, and conceptual philosophy. Mau is the chief executive officer of Massive Change Network, a Chicago-based design consultancy he co-founded with his wife, Bisi Williams. In 2015, he became the Chief Design Officer at Freeman, a global provider of brand experiences. Mau is also a professor and has taught at multiple institutions in the United States and Canada. From 1985 to 2010, Mau was the creative director of Bruce Mau Design (BMD). In 2003, while still at BMD, he founded the Institute Without Boundaries in collaboration with the School of Design at George Brown College, Toronto. In 2010, Mau left the company and went on to co-found The Massive Change Network in Chicago with his wife, Bisi Williams. Mau founded Bruce Mau Studio in 2020.

Early life and education

Mau was born in Pembroke,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, on 25 October 1959 and spent his early years in

Sudbury, Ontario Sudbury, officially the City of Greater Sudbury is the largest city in Northern Ontario by population, with a population of 166,004 at the 2021 Canadian Census. By land area, it is the largest in Ontario and the fifth largest in Canada. It is a ...

. He attended Sudbury Secondary School. Mau chose to study art at the advice of the high school art teacher, Jack Smith, who mentored him in his early studies. He then studied at the

Ontario College of Art & Design Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD, is a public art university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus is spread throughout several buildings and facilities within do ...

in Toronto, and he studied advertising under Terry Isles. However, before graduation, he left the school to join the

Fifty Fingers 50 (fifty) is the natural number following 49 and preceding 51. In mathematics Fifty is the smallest number that is the sum of two non-zero square numbers in two distinct ways: 50 = 12 + 72 = 52 + 52. It is also the sum of three squares, 50 = 32 ...

design group in 1980.

Career

Mau stayed at Fifty Fingers for two years, before crossing the ocean for a brief sojourn at

Pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle aroun ...

in the UK. Returning to Toronto a year later, he became part of the founding triumvirate of Public Good Design and Communications. Soon after, the opportunity to design Zone 1/2 presented itself and he left to establish his own studio, Bruce Mau Design. ''Zone 1/2: The Contemporary City'', a complex compendium of critical thinking about urbanism from philosophers such as

Gilles Deleuze Gilles Louis René Deleuze ( , ; 18 January 1925 – 4 November 1995) was a French philosopher who, from the early 1950s until his death in 1995, wrote on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volu ...

and

Paul Virilio Paul Virilio (; 4 January 1932 – 10 September 2018) was a French cultural theorist, urbanist, architect and aesthetic philosopher. He is best known for his writings about technology as it has developed in relation to speed and power, with divers ...

, architects

Rem Koolhaas Remment Lucas Koolhaas (; born 17 November 1944) is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He is often cited as a re ...

and

Christopher Alexander Christopher Wolfgang John Alexander (4 October 1936 – 17 March 2022) was an Austrian-born British-American architect and design theorist. He was an emeritus professor at the University of California, Berkeley. His theories about the nature o ...

remains one of his most notable works. The firm has produced work for the Andy Warhol Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Gagosian Gallery. Mau remained the design director of

Zone Books Sanford Kwinter is a Canadian-born, New York-based writer and architectural theorist, and a co-founder of Zone Books publishers. Kwinter currently serves as Professor of Theory and Criticism at the Pratt Institute. He formerly served as an associ ...

until 2004, to which he has added duties as co-editor of Swerve Editions, a Zone imprint. From 1991 to 1993, he also served as creative director of I.D. magazine. He is a member of the

Royal Canadian Academy of Arts The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880. History 1880 to 1890 The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Queen Victoria on 16 July 1880. The Governor General ...

and served on the Herman Miller Design Council from 2008 to 2012. He has lectured widely across North America and Europe. He served on the International Advisory Committee of the

Wexner Center The Wexner Center for the Arts is the Ohio State University's "multidisciplinary, international laboratory for the exploration and advancement of contemporary art". The Wexner Center opened in November 1989, named in honor of the father of Limite ...

in Columbus, Ohio. In 1998, Mau produced a 43-point program called an "Incomplete Manifesto for Growth" that attempts to help designers and creative folks think about their design process, the manifesto has been widely circulated on the web. In 2006, he participated in the

Stock Exchange of Visions {{Unreferenced, date=August 2007 The Stock Exchange of Visions is a project initiated in 2006 by Fabrica, Benetton's research center. It gathers visionaries from diverse nationalities and cultures, who hail from a wide range of specialties, to prov ...

. In 2010 Bruce Mau and Bisi Williams founded the Massive Change Network. In the 2010s, Bruce Mau Design was involved in the redevelopment and redesign of Ontario's

ONroute ONroute LP is a Canadian service company which has the 50-year concession to operate highway rest areas along Highway 400 and Highway 401 in the province of Ontario until 2060.Hunter, Douglas (2012). ''Double Double: How Tim Hortons Became a Can ...

service centres."ONroute in Ontario"
''

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Pos ...

'', January 31, 2012. As of November 19, 2015, Bruce Mau is the Chief Design Officer for

Freeman Freeman, free men, or variant, may refer to: * a member of the Third Estate in medieval society (commoners), see estates of the realm * Freeman, an apprentice who has been granted freedom of the company, was a rank within Livery companies * Free ...

, a brand experience company and service contractor. In September 2022, Bruce Mau and Bisi Williams undertook a collaboration with the University of New South Wales through the Massive Change Network (MCN). This was called 'Massive Action Sydney' and saw staff and students from the Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture (ADA) form five 'Renaissance Teams' to collaborate on ways to create Massive Action across some of the most perplexing and wicked challenges of our time. The project and its outcomes are ongoing.

Awards

He was awarded the

Chrysler Award for Design Innovation The Chrysler Design Awards celebrate the achievements of individuals in innovative works of architecture and design which significantly influenced modern American culture. Chrysler's awards started in 1993 to recognize six designers based in the U ...

in 1998, and the

Toronto Arts Award Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

for Architecture and Design in 1999. He is a Senior Fellow of the

Design Futures Council The Design Futures Council is an interdisciplinary network of design, product, and construction leaders exploring global trends, challenges, and opportunities to advance innovation and shape the future of the industry and environment. Members inclu ...

, since 2006. Mau was awarded the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) Medal in 2007. In 2007, Mau was in residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, in the Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Design Objects department. He received the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Collab Design Excellence Award in 2015, in conjunction with an exhibition of his designs. Mau received the Cooper Hewitt 2016,

National Design Award The American National Design Awards, founded in 2000, are funded and awarded by Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is a design museum housed within the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in Manhattan, New Y ...

for Design Mind, for his impact on design theory, design practice and/or public awareness.

Honorary degrees

Mau has received many

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

s including honorary doctorates from

Emily Carr University of Art and Design Emily Carr University of Art + Design (abbreviated as ECU) is a public art university located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The university's campus is located within the Great Northern Way Campus in Strathcona. The university is a co ...

in 2001, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in 2006 and

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

(RISD) in 2014. Other honorary degree include an honorary fellow of the

In 2007,

Laurentian University Laurentian University (french: Université Laurentienne), officially the Laurentian University of Sudbury, is a mid-sized Bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public university in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, incorporated on March 28, 1960. Lau ...

awarded him an honorary degree and the

Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1890, it has 5,928https://about.colum.edu/effectiveness/pdf/spring-2021-student-profile.pdf students pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergra ...

awarded an honorary degree in 2011.

Teaching

From 1996 to 1999, Mau was the Associate Cullinan Professor at Rice University's

School of Architecture This is a list of architecture schools at colleges and universities around the world. An architecture school (also known as a school of architecture or college of architecture), is an institution specializing in architectural education. Africa ...

in Houston, Texas. He has also been a thesis advisor at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

's Faculty of Architecture, Landscape & Design. He was a William and Stephanie Sick Distinguished Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SIAC) in 2007–2008.

Fellowships

Since 2009, Mau has served as a Distinguished Fellow of the Segal Design Institute at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

. He served as an

artist-in-residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

and as a

visiting scholar In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

at the

Getty Research Institute The Getty Research Institute (GRI), located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts".

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Personal life

Mau is married to Aiyemobisi "Bisi" Williams and they have three daughters named Osunkemi, Omalola, and Adeshola (named in honor of Bisi Williams's Nigerian heritage).

Graphic design

* ''

S,M,L,XL ''S,M,L,XL'' () is a book by Rem Koolhaas and Bruce Mau, edited by Jennifer Sigler, with photography by Hans Werlemann. Overview The book was first published by Monacelli Press in 1995 in New York and 010 Publishers in Rotterdam. This enormou ...

'' with

(1995) * ''Life Style'' (2000) * '' Massive Change'' (2004) * ''Eye'', No. 15, Vol. 4, Winter 1994