Daniel Westcott

Background

About Daniel Westcott

I'm less interested in the way things have "always been done"​ than in how they could be done better. I love making things work which in turn gives me a passion for simplifying complexity. To me, when people can do more, or live better, because I gave them better tools, reduced waste, created clearer processes, or guided them to deeper insights, or if I can help someone grow to do something they didn't know they could do, that's winning.and if I can make the world a bit better in the process, well, I like that too. In my career I've been honored to have my invention of a Digital Sample System, Tryk®, exhibited in the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum's Triennial—Why Design Now and included in the Smithsonian Museum's permanent collection. As an industrial conservationist, I'm interested in reducing waste wherever it is found; it's not always found in the obvious places, nor is it even recognized much of the time. In travel this means ensuring a positive impact from our efforts. It means fostering sustainable–and even constructive–travel. It means shaping our world based on facts, and finding the subtle ways that we, who both drive and consume travel, can ensure that the lives we live are not only rich, but that our actions make the lives of those around us, and those who will come after, richer and fuller. It was industrial waste reduction which inspired this invention when I stumbled upon a manufacturing inefficiency while doing some color work for a carpet mill. It turns out that there is a strong business case for efficiency. The old ways of considering fractional losses derived from waste to be cheaper than reducing that waste are being proven to be quite costly, both financially, and otherwise.