Design.Sustainability.AI.
I'm an industrial designer, driven by sustainability and purpose, with a deep curiosity for technologies like AI.
AI in design ↓Sustainable design & strategy ↓Industrial design ↓
I've designed products for Philips as lead designer, led design research projects for Bose, and self-produced items sold at MoMA and Tate Modern. I researched regenerative fashion for ASN Bank. At Motif, I connect years of design tool expertise with early experience in AI design, resulting in new tools, applications and AI agent skills. What they share: an insatiable curiosity for innovation, a love for the three dimensions of products and spaces, and an inability to stop before a design is perfect. If that's what your next project needs, let's talk.
AI in design
AI is changing design in unprecedented ways. Speed and efficiency gains seem a given, but I’m more interested in how AI can help us create better and more sustainable designs, giving us the confidence to dream bigger than we might on our own. I help clients use and develop AI tools and workflows that open up new design potential, make visualisation more effective, and empower designers rather than replace them.
Designing without clicking
There is something very satisfying about designing mostly with words and sketches, and almost without using your mouse. Using tools and skills that I helped Motif develop, this clip shows me adapting a former printing workshop into a sustainable co-working space, from sketch to furnished 3D interior.
AI that creates tools to help us design
AI that designs for us might not be so interesting. AI that creates tools to help us design is revolutionary. A human designer might only design one chair. This configurator generates chairs, lounge chairs and benches from the same rules, allowing us to evaluate many more concepts and even create bespoke versions for one customer.
Controlled complexity, in reach of everyone
How often have we stopped ourselves from designing something because it was too complex to model? Controlled complexity is now in reach of everyone. This tool, for example, spreads ingenious hole patterns over any 3D surface, tuned with a few sliders and exported straight to CAD.
3D CAD, without CAD
A folding bike that packs into a compact shape. From first sketches to detailed 3D CAD, created entirely in ChatGPT Astra.
“Your presentation and the discussion of the cases really got things moving, in a positive way.”
International printing technology company
Drag the zones, the plan reshapes itself
Every design project will have its own custom tools: the expertise will be in knowing what to ask for, not how to make it. Take this programme tool for a museum. Drag the zones and the floor plan reshapes itself, keeping every square metre on target.
Sustainable design & strategy
Sustainability drives innovation, because so many sustainable solutions are also better design: longer-lasting and repairable through circularity, new qualities through biobased materials, lower costs through using less. AI puts sustainable innovation within reach of any company; I've built the custom tools to help you get it done, in a sustainable innovation workshop or a full design project.
A regenerative fashion industry
Design research for ASN Bank: 50 climate-positive and regenerative solutions for the fashion industry, from new business models to biobased materials and renewable energy. “It inspires all who aim to transition from a polluting system to one where human rights and the environment are protected.” Kirsten Kossen, Head of Human Rights, ASN Bank
Sustainable innovation agents
My 'Groenovator' agents help companies find sustainable innovations with built-in business cases. In days, you have a shortlist of possibilities you never imagined, and the most promising ones we can research, test and develop together. “Things came up that really weren’t on our radar, visualised in a way everyone can understand.” Participant, workshop with Bureau Om
“Kode21 [the team I led] has developed a unique method that has helped organisations like General Mills go beyond emissions reductions to discover new, climate positive business opportunities and find value, not just costs, in sustainability.”
Coffee can be climate-positive
Recycled and biobased materials, and a modular and repairable design. Smart management of energy, water and coffee. And above all, regenerative sourcing: KoFF explores how coffee-making could become climate-positive.
Better design, more sustainable
When used well, sustainable options can also be the options your customers want. Repairable, efficient, and using high quality materials; principles I've used in projects for companies such as Philips.
Vattenfall's sheep
I designed these sheep for one of Vattenfall's renewable energy projects. It's a long story.
Industrial design
The red thread through my career, and the one that now integrates the AI and sustainability pillars. I love working on products that are worth making. To bring them all the way to production, or to envision future possibilities in design research projects.
Award-winning ease of use
As lead designer, I created the Philips DR 7000 M, a mobile X-ray system that is easy to drive, park and position. Touch the handles and the tube head moves with zero force, and the controls you need are right where you are, at the patient’s side. That ease of use won a Red Dot, an iF and a US Good Design Award. Designed in collaboration with the Philips Design healthcare team.
Some of the best projects don’t get made
A shaving project for Philips, in which I led a dream team of engineers, marketeers and designers. In a category full of hyperbole, we showed an elegant alternative that expresses masculinity in a mature way. Our designs beat the strongest competitor products in focus group testing. Although the project was cancelled, it paved the way for the successful OneBlade range.
A 3D printer that feels right in the kitchen
XOCO prints customised chocolate. Unlike most 3D printers, it was designed to feel right where food is made. “Dutch design studio Michiel Cornelissen Ontwerp has designed a chocolate printer that can produce intricate confectionery…” dezeen.com
Sense and simplicity
For Philips Personal Care, the Care Code project translated the ‘Sense and Simplicity’ brand promise into a stunning yet practical design language, with far fewer shapes, materials and colours. In this bikini trimmer, the comb is part of the housing: one slide switches it on and sets the hair length.
Swap materials in a matter of moments
I created the concept for the one-hand swappable print cores, and the design of the printhead: complex functionality in a tiny space, made friendly and easy to use. “The Ultimaker 3… is one of the most elegant 3D printers I have ever used.” forbes.com
Only one like yours will exist, ever
A ring in which an algorithm gives every bird its own posture and body type, out of a million combinations. It was sold in design stores around the world, including Tate Modern.
Information where you need it
When parked, the tube head of the DR 7000 M shows the system status on a small dashboard. During an exam, a large touchscreen on the base unit, and exposure settings on the tube head screen, right next to the patient.
Hey, that looks a bit like a penguin!
Sippy cup for Philips AVENT. With the Philips Design Mother & Childcare team, I created the original concept and the final CAD revision. ‘My Penguin’ has won praise from users and experts alike, and has received design awards including iF and Red Dot.
A calm, safe and open impression
In the design of the Philips Multiva MRI scanner, the focus has been on creating a calm, safe and open impression for patients, to minimise the anxiety sometimes associated with such examinations. I created the concept with the Philips Design healthcare team, who brought it to production. iF Award, IDEA finalist and GIO.
Reduced to what matters
Care Code shaver for Philips. An anodised aluminium body, maximally reduced in complexity. Indicators stay hidden until they are needed, so the focus shifts to the shaving head.
A tribute to the colour pencil
One 3D-printed connector and 36 standard pencils: a tribute to the colour pencil, and to a new way of making things. “Michiel Cornelissen showcased a stunning set of bowls that are formed from everyday pencils…” inhabitat.com
No assembly required
Hatch Frame, 3D-printed glasses. An intricate latticework makes them incredibly light, and the printed hinges fix themselves when opened. Shown on the runway of 3D Printshow New York.
Ghost spinning top
A spinning top, 3D-printed in stainless steel.
From flat to tall
A 3D-printed lampshade, made flat and fully assembled. Folded out, it is flexible like a textile yet keeps its form, shielding the bulb’s glare while letting the light through. “Michiel Cornelissen is always coming up with the most clever designs that I really want to own.” design-milk.com
Sold at MoMA and Tate Modern
3D-printed bird jewellery, sold at MoMA in New York and Tokyo, and at Tate Modern in London. “This is great… what you see is what you get, but with a twist.” Bonnie Mackay, Creative Director, MoMA Retail
Coasters that become trivets
Laser-cut bamboo coasters that interlock in a hexagonal grid, designed in Grasshopper. “…thanks to a clever mathematical design, the coasters can be combined to form larger trivets…” gizmodo.com
Little Printed Cars
A reinterpretation of the Citroën 2CV's earliest incarnation through 3D printing. With a neat trick: printed on its side, it comes off the printer with working wheels, no assembly needed.
Merry Bird
3D-printed jewellery, sold at MoMA and Tate Modern.
The easiest way to wear your music
Pod à Porter, a 3D-printed neckband for the iPod shuffle: ultralight, finely textured and made to order. Mentioned in The New York Times. “Wanted: the cleverest way to wear an iPod shuffle” fastcodesign.com
Designed as if drawn with a thick marker
Wire Frame, 3D-printed glasses. All superfluous details dispensed, resulting in glasses that are light and striking in their simplicity.
Use the pencils from your drawer
A kit that turns 30 standard pencils into a 38 cm icosahedron: lampshade, mobile or educational toy. “Dutch designer Michiel Cornelissen created this DIY kit that allows users to assemble their favourite pencils into a large icosahedron” designboom.com
More than a technical box
For Philips and Bosch. Professional audio that shows its quality instead of hiding in a closet, with integrated handles and a single programmable button. iF Award.
3D-printed accessories
Designs for my 3D print shop on Shapeways.
Industrial design, sustainable innovation or AI in design?
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