This paper explores the complex essence of prototypes in industrial design that allows for engaging and teaming up various stakeholders and product contributors, and for design students to be deliberately exposed to the challenges of real-life projects. It provides a case study of a handcrafted metal framework that prompted a series of collaborative encounters between science, technology, and education involving multiple players, including a user innovation collective, control scientists, design researchers, and students. The case illustrates how experiential knowledge is generated when academics and practitioners engage with specialists from various domains, and students are not passively involved observers but rather hierarchically positioned participants with clearly defined tasks.