Thomas Rupp

I have been a professional designer for over forty years. Originally I intended to be product designer, and attended Cal State Long Beach to reach that goal. I studied there under the late Herb Tyrnauer and Michael Kammermeyer. I began designing exhibits by a twist of fate when I answered an ad for part time help at the design firm of Halsted & Muramatsu. They did both product and exhibit design, and so my focus slowly began to change. Still, for many years I managed to design consumer electronics, medical equipment, furniture, and toys.

Since those early days I have concentrated on mostly on displays. I have created tradeshow booths, museum exhibitions, point of purchase displays- just about everything in the field. In addition to working professionally, I taught exhibit design for three semesters at my alma mater.

For the past several months I have worked with a general contractor in Newport Beach, CA to develop designs for new client projects. This has centered around residential remodel jobs. A few of my illustrations from these projects appear within my portfolio.

Recently I stepped out into a field apart from design. I wrote a work of narrative nonfiction titled "Rockne & Jones: Notre Dame, USC and the Greatest Rivalry of the Roaring Twenties" that was released by Kent State University Press in, 2017. It's been great fun sharing a little bit of history with my readers.