As an instructor of design, I nudge students towards finding their own voice as designers. I teach fundamentals such as color theory, surface design techniques, and knit textile structures. My classes are hands on and project based. Students learn skills that are both technical and skill based in concert with creative problem solving. The technical aspects of my classes are tool boxes that are not separate from, but entwined with the creative process. I believe ideas often arrive through working with materials and media. Students are given the space to discover both the potential and limitations inherent to media. Working directly with materials through a guided, creative prism has the benefit of generating ideas and solutions to design problems. It is my hope that by taking one of my classes, students will have the foundation they need to synthesize the skills they have learned, so that they can continue to work on those skills independently.