Higher Education

At the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP) this past April, VMSD editors toured the school’s annual DAAPWorks senior project exhibits. The Interior Design undergraduate program displayed a vast array of imaginative interior concepts, including Outstanding Interior Design-winner, “Uplift,” a Walnut Hills, Cincinnati, community resource center, designed by Caroline Beaulieu; Director’s Choice Award-winner, “Linear Art Museum: Art Experience into Daily Life,” a cerebral reimagining of downtown Cincinnati’s SkyWalk, by Zheng Xu; and Director’s Choice DAAPCares Award-winner, “Mother Earth Collective,” a women’s agricultural education and empowerment center aimed to continue the sustainability movement, in Joliet, Ill., by Samantha Rupp.

This spring, VMSD sponsored The Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio) Department of Design’s undergraduate retail design studio class and final project competition, “Redefining the Retail Experience,” for which teams of interior design, industrial design and graphic communications students worked together to envision interiors and branding concepts for “generous brands.” Five teams of students ultimately competed to win a trip to VMSD’s International Retail Design Conference (IRDC), Sept. 5-8, in New Orleans. The OSU seniors were tasked with substantiating their proposals with in-depth demographic research and explaining their in-store storytelling strategies. The winning team (Madeline Cipro and Rachel Herman) conceptualized a dual-branded Boxed Water/WeWood store in New York’s Central Park, which unified the two companies’ goal to plant trees around the world. 

Sheridan College (Oakville, Ontario) held its annual Year End Show and Portfolio Exhibit at Toronto’s OnlyOneGallery, where second-year students identified and created a narrative to express current retail trends. Based around the concept of “Flora’s garden,” the installations welcomed guests to a romantic tea party under an arbor and continued the journey into a “moonlight garden.” The theses were a reflection of the students’ core competencies learned throughout the program. During the exhibit, students had the opportunity to network with local industry figures and celebrate their achievements.