NEW YORK–Design students from leading academies will participate in a competition at the 20th International Contemporary Furniture Fair, scheduled for May 17 to 20 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center here.
The fair is expected to attract more than 25,000 visitors, from architects and designers to manufacturers and developers. Around 641 exhibitors from 39 countries will be showing their wares.
Students from the California College of the Arts, Savannah College of Art and Design, the School of Visual Arts and Yale University’s school of architecture will showcase their prototypes to a panel of industry leaders. The prototypes reflect solutions to design problems formulated by the various academies.
At CCA, for example, the task was to meet the challenge of sustainable design for mass production. In a project sponsored by Wal-Mart, the CCA students worked with Bevara Design House and Wal-Mart staff to “develop those designs with market potential,” according to a statement.
At SCAD, which tends to emphasize community outreach and small-scale production, students focused on designing portable bedding for homeless people.
The SVA students, who are graphic artists, dealt with incorporating social merit into their designs. And at Yale, the work of students in famed Italian designer Massimo Scolari’s studio will be shown. Those students were charged with designing a scholar’s center, including furniture for the funerary complex of King Djoser at Saqqara, Egypt, circa 2650 B.C.
Also at the ICFF this year is an exhibition of cutting-edge materials—ceramics, metals, polymers and others—and new production processes, in a joint venture of George Little Management and Material ConneXion Inc. Referred to as “Materials Matter,” the exhibition will serve as both a showcase and marketplace. — Nathan Weber