James Auger is a designer, researcher and lecturer whose work examines the social, cultural and human impact of technology and the products that exist as a result of its development and application.
On graduating from Design Products (MA) at the Royal College of Art in 2001 James moved to Dublin to conduct research at Media Lab Europe (MLE) exploring the theme of human communication as mediated by technology. After MLE he worked in Tokyo as guest designer at the Miyake Design Studio developing new concepts for mobile telephones. In 2005 he returned to the RCA to teach on the Design Interactions programme. During his time in DI he has been a Philips research fellow exploring the human experiential potential of smell as part of their probes programme (2006–2007) and more recently completed a Ph.D (December 2012). His thesis questions the process through with emerging technologies enter everyday life using the robot as a focus for the study.
James is a visiting professor at both the Haute École d’Art et de Design in Geneva and Musashino Art University in Tokyo. He is a partner in the speculative design practice Auger-Loizeau whose projects have been published and exhibited internationally, including MoMA, New York; 21_21, Tokyo; The Science Museum, London and Ars Electronica, Linz. Their work is in the permanent collection at MoMA. Before moving into the field of design James completed an Engineering apprenticeship at Rolls-Royce, Derby (aero engines) and worked for several years as a model-maker and special effects technician in the film industry.