This spring, Mississippi State University interior design students in Anna Chaney’s furniture design class competed in a design competition. For the project, students had to research and develop a complete understanding of the design, development and manufacturing process of a piece of furniture. Students began with the conceptual development and working drawings, which were then put ...
As a component of the curriculum, interior design students complete a three-month internship. The internship occurs in the summer following their third or fourth-year in the program. These internship experiences immerse students into the profession of interior design, offering them opportunities to participate and contribute to projects including national and international. This project participation and ...
Eleven students submitted work in the competition, and 85% of the students who won awards were only in their second year in the program.
Students moved their work from the classroom to the final presentation gallery and practiced one last time to work on design vocabulary and presentation style. We had a great Lunch of Little Dooey’s (a Starkville staple meal) and parents came at 12:00 to watch the final presentations. The students worked so hard and we were proud of their exciting accomplishments!
Thursday was spent learning to use markers and pens to create presentation drawings. Students were taught the rendering process to show textures, finishes and create light and shadow on their drawings to convey ideas to clients. Students were also coached on their presentation style by the camp counselors and practiced for the final presentations on Friday.
Wednesday was a day of both technical and artistic exploration. Students started with a lighting workshop, culminating in a ‘scavenger hunt’ across campus to locate and view specific lighting applications. The afternoon included a perspective sketching workshop. The afternoon and evening had students finishing the design development of their projects in preparation for creating presentation drawings. They day ended with a night-time delivery from Insomnia Cookies!
Tuesday started with a recap of the previous day’s experience, including a quick discussion of the clients, and inspiration images. Students then created their floor plans at 1/4″ scale and added furniture. We also discussed the design concept and required finishes and furniture. We ended the day with critiques of the projects and determined the next steps in project development.
After checking in at Hathorn Hall, students began to explore design process. Students were randomly assigned a client, an inspiration image, and a particular house. Working in small groups they listed how the specific client profile would impact a design, then looked at the inspiration images to see what spatial and visual components could be drawn from the inspiration piece. The day culminated with dinner at The Perry and a t-shirt design charrette. It was a great first day!
Free to all, the exhibition was available for viewing 4-6 p.m. Friday [April 20] and 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday [April 21] in the first-floor showroom at the university’s Franklin Furniture Institute.
Interior design students recently presented their Barefield Workplace Solutions Steelcase Projects.