Did you ever wonder why your cell phone’s keypad is sized the way it is, or who chose the materials for the office chair you sit in all day? Those people are industrial designers, and Rhode Island is chockfull of them. In fact, only Michigan has a higher number per capita.

Since last February, the state also has had its own chapter of the Industrial Designers Society of America, which will hold its monthly Young Professionals Night meet-and-greet tomorrow [Thursday / Jan. 29 ] from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at Local 121 on Washington Street in Providence.

The chairman of IDSA-Rhode Island is Matt Grigsby, a RISD alum who is co-founder of the Providence-based company Ecolect and a 2007 Rhode Island Innovation Award winner. Grigsby talked with Providence Business News recently about IDSA-Rhode Island’s first year, what the plans are for its second one and the growth of industrial design in the Ocean State.