The myth of the College of Design is that once a student enters its halls they never return. However the students of the College of Design are out to dispel that myth once and for all.
“There’s a tendency for the College of Design to be perceived as a black hole where students go and never come back,” said Tim Rosenberg, a senior in graphic design and Design Council president.
All students and community members will have the rare opportunity to peek into the College of Design with their annual Design Studio Collective, happening April 16.
During the Collective, all of the studio doors will be open and available for viewing, so people can see what the College of Design students have been working on all semester.
“It shines a light in the black hole to show the talent the students have,” Rosenberg said.
The Design Council has been planning the event the past month and a half, according to Rosenberg, and there is a lot of hard work that goes into planning. This year, the Council is trying to appeal to students of other majors to attend.
“In the past, Studio Collective has been more of an internal function within the College of Design,” Rosenberg said.
Among the scheduled events are catering by Jasmin Mediterranean Bistro, and performances by a cappella group Acappology and a folk band called Old Nadine. Both groups of performers have design students involved with them.
Rosenberg also explained that this year’s theme is going to be called “Geometrica.” It will be an innovative way to organize the event for visitors.
“Each studio is going to have a shape that represents each studio. We’ll have signs posted up and maps for visitors,” Rosenberg said.
Students will be contributing whatever they have been working all semester for visitors to see. Contributions include anything from garments included in Art to Wear, national competition entries and an alternative bike rack.
Veronica Tibbitts, a senior in textile technology, is one of the featured designers at Art to Wear this weekend and is hard at work preparing for both the show and Studio Collective.
“I will be showing a few of my garments from the Art to Wear show, maybe some other stuff depending on how much room I have,” Tibbitts said.
Jeremy Leonard, a senior in environmental design in architecture, will be featuring some of his entries for a national design competition.
“I’m doing a design build of a shelter so we’ll have mock-ups of that,” Leonard said.
Michael Hobgood, a senior in environmental design in architecture, helped build an alternative bike rack featured in the Collective. He explained that during one architecture studio, students are supposed to actually build something instead of a model, but due to the economic crisis, professors were worried the students would not have the money to build.
“Building something is a valuable lesson and it’s a valuable studio for us,” Hobgood said.
The group Hobgood worked with did fundraising on their own to build the bike rack.
“We didn’t have to do something; we didn’t have to do the extra work,” Hobgood said.
Rosenberg stressed that while the event is free, participants must register online. He explained that the council needs a count of how many people will attend in order to get enough food and make sure there is enough space to accommodate all attendees.
Students from across all majors and members of the community are encouraged to attend.
“I always see my work all year. It’s really interesting to see what everyone else puts up,” Tibbitts said. “There’s a lot of great students and cool work that’s being done.”
“People should come because it shows the diversity of work at the College of Design,” Leonard said.
“Studio Collective is a fantastic opportunity for the other colleges on campus and the community at large to discover all the talent and hard work that goes into the College of Design,” Rosenberg said.
