Monty Stauffer

With an education in fine arts and design and more than 15 years at Kohler Co. in new product development, Monty is considered a leader amongst a small group of elite makers within the organization. From an early passion for rebuilding vintage motorcycles and surfboards, Monty learned how to quickly make simple tools and machines with which to experiment and test ideas. As a ceramic artist with his own small production studio, Monty on a regular basis produces small custom collections. It is against this vast experience in the practicalities of how we make objects that Monty brings a series of special skills to the Kohler WasteLAB. Monty’s primary role is to develop and guide aesthetic and design decisions, advance processes as well as material investigation that can be used in production. In addition, he makes the needed dies and tools and where necessary equipment that support advanced development and production. The Kohler WasteLAB started as a question: What if we looked at waste differently - as an opportunity for innovation? It is through answering this question that Monty as both a designer and a maker is pushing a new kind of innovation that furthers the Kohler Design and Sustainability Journey.