At Student Furniture Competition, Designs Come to Life
Over 200 students displayed their one-of-a-kind furniture pieces at the 21st Vellum/CAED Furniture Competition and Exhibition. Hosted by Cal Poly's Architecture Department and San Luis Obispo firm Vellum Design Build, the event allows students to showcase their creativity and technical skills to a broad audience during a juried competition.
True to Cal Poly’s curriculum, Vellum is all about Learn by Doing. As students overcome challenges to actualize their vision, they learn what makes an ingenious design-build.
“Rather than just having an idea of how [design] works, you get real life experience,” fifth-year architecture major Giovanna Trujillo said.
This signature event encapsulates architecture education at Cal Poly: from sketching and creating concept models to testing, prototyping and completing a final product.
“It’s a good way to see a process from beginning to end,” said Tai Phaniphon, a fifth-year architecture major.
“In academia, it's rare that we get to build architecture... but here’s an opportunity for us to actually build something that we design,” said architecture professor Tom Di Santo.
This year, the top project, SPaCe Architects’ Milano Grand Prize, went to fourth-year architecture major Samuel Sundstrom for "(Grass Paper) Accessory," a multipurpose lamp made of handmade, recycled grass paper, cast aluminum and stainless-steel tubing (pictured to the right).
Sundstrom will be attending the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milano this April for the largest furniture trade fair in the world.
See more student pieces displayed at Vellum in the gallery below.
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