Topher Gent

Topher Gent is a craft-based designer, researcher, and educator. His practice spans furniture, ceramics, critical craft, and design theory. His studio work is a form of design research, where objects can function as material experiments rather than end products. Using craft as methodology for research, his process becomes a systematic investigation into the human-object relationship and materiality. His work examines how objects express themselves or reveal traces of how they were made, often navigating the tension between handcraft, digital fabrication, and contemporary design.

Topher has taught in various capacities for over 12 years. Prior to joining the faculty at RISD, he taught 3D design at Swarthmore College and conducted applied design research with the Center for Functional Fabrics at Drexel University. He currently teaches Spatial Dynamics in the Experimental and Foundation Studies division, where he strives to cultivate collaborative studio environments that support individual creativity while functioning as research labs for experimentation and unexpected discoveries. His teaching emphasizes critical thinking through making, treating the act of making and responding to objects as a mechanism for accessing different ways of thinking and processing ideas.