Assignment 4.0

As a design professional you will begin to value professional organizations that bring together like-minded designers. Long-standing professional organizations such as ASID, IIDA, and AIA, to name a few, will provide you with opportunities to grow and to learn about new developments in the profession. Newer, more specialized organizations such as the USGBC, which focuses on "green" issues in building design, will offer you the change to focus on a particular specialty area in the profession.

We were to visit two networking events and write about our experiences there.

Avenues Event

I recently attended the Avenue’s event for IARC. I was unaware of this prior to taking Professional Practices, but I am glad I was given the chance to attend this year. I feel that this event was very successful and beneficial to all that attended and should be continued on through following years.

I interviewed with Kathryn Walker with Lisa Sherry Interieurs. I was pleased to find out that they have an office in Charlotte and in High Point. I found my interview to be extremely beneficial for many reasons. But, due to the short amount of time allotted specifically for the interview, we ran out of one-on-one time for me to ask questions. We mainly spoke about my portfolio. Kathryn gave me pointers on how to make it stronger and what she would look for if I were applying for Lisa Sherry Interieurs.

I realized how formal my portfolio actually was. All of my images are either Auto Cad, Google SketchUp, or Photoshop images. Kathryn said it would be more appealing and show more of my skills to include hand drawings, or sketches. The layout will hold the pages together and not make the portfolio appear weak or thrown together quickly.

Kathryn was very nice and was interested in what I had to say. She also provided me with the information I inquired as well as helpful tips I would not otherwise have known. I was very pleased to have chosen Kathryn to speak with and have a mock interview with. After the end of the one on one interviews there were a few of us that gathered back around her to get in a few more questions before the event ended. She told the other students basically the same things she told me. She offered me an internship but of course would not be a paid internship. She said their office was always looking for new and fresh ideas from students.

Another person I spoke with was Keith Hobgood from “out of Our Minds.” He was a representative from an animation and graphics firm. I remember watching the video he had set up multiple times throughout the event. It walked the viewer through making an idea into a sketch, then finally into an animation. I was really impressed and wasn’t sure what to actually ask him. I stood to the side while he talked to other people because I had never really thought about doing anything with graphics so the whole process just amazed me. I still have no idea what it takes to turn a sketch into a digital animation. But seeing it come together on screen was very intriguing, and something I definitely would like to learn more about.

ID Collaborative was also a firm I spoke with. The booth was labeled as Senior living and commercial, but talking to them more I found they had a wider range. They do projects such as industrial, residential, institutional, commercial, sports and recreation, or interiors. I enjoyed speaking with the two ladies about different projects their firm completed. It made me appreciate a firm that hired employees with different specialties that did not limit the firm to one specific field of interest.

In speaking with the representatives from CJMW, I was quite intrigued. This architecture firm is the most frequently used name I have heard since moving to Greensboro. So as you can imagine, I was interested in hearing more about their firm. I was fascinated with the fact that the firm had an in-house engineering department. They use consultants for structural and civil engineering projects, which is typical of an architecture firm.

The last firm booth I visited was Davis Furniture. Furniture is also something I have thought about studying into more. This particular firm is family owned and operated and has been for four generations of their family. The style of the company is ever changing and growing with society. They are a commercial grade firm and design furniture from free standing bar stools to business desks. Speaking with the representative excited me to learn more about the furniture business and possibly pursuing it as a career in my future.

Speaking with many representatives on different topics really helped me open my eyes to the potential careers I could go into. I enjoyed the avenues event and found it very beneficial. I believe this helped all of us as students and should be kept around to help future students of IARC.

High Point Furniture Market

High Point, NC hosts one of the largest furniture markets in the country. Before moving to Greensboro I had never previously heard of the market, but I got to experience it first hand on April 6. The furniture market was nothing like I had expected. I expected it to be huge, but that is an understatement of what I witnessed. Upon walking around the IHFC building, there was an overwhelming amount of companies present representing their furniture, art and lighting fixtures.

I was fortunate enough to speak with someone from each showroom I entered but there were 5 people I spoke with that really stuck out in my mind. My favorite furniture store was Kuka Sofa. Luis was the representative I spoke with. This is an international furniture company based out of China. Luis was one of the Mexican representatives present at the furniture market. The style of the furniture really fit my personality and lifestyle. The only furniture in the showroom were sofas for living rooms.

Luis was explaining how the transportation of the sofas was transported in containers. Since this is an international company, the containers range up to 3,000 cubic feet. Each container holds several pieces of furniture to be delivered to businesses across the country.

Another showroom I enjoyed was the Orient Express company. This was such a different experience than the Kuka showroom. The Orient Express showed furniture for living rooms, dining rooms, and just stand alone pieces of furniture. The style was extremely contemporary. Jim Jordan spoke with me about an interesting collection the company was producing. It’s a washed oak with a 9 ply veneer applied to it. The finish is applied with a wire brush to give an interesting texture I’ve never seen up close before. Although I enjoyed walking through the showroom, the styles produced by this company were not ones that I could see myself purchasing in the future.

I then went to another showroom called the Marquis Collection of Beverly Hills. A woman named Shala spoke with me quickly about the different styles and techniques used in the company. This company produces pieces of furniture as artwork and furniture to be used. All of the final products are organic and use the following styles: botanical, fossil stone or seashells. The products are all natural and contain no artificial colors. The botanical style is laminated and the fossil stone and seashells are all natural. Each piece is also a wood base. The furniture and art pieces are individually hand pieced together: extremely labor intensive.

Moving into different showrooms that were art specific, I came across Art Max. I was fortunate enough to be able to meet and talk to the owner and the designer, Richard. His art was like none I have ever seen. He designed furniture too, but mostly art or furniture that was also considered art. He has been in the industry for over 20 years. He has four other designers that work with him but Richard has the final call on each piece. Some of his art is sculpture pieces. Each has a similar style and you can tell the same designer makes them all, but each piece also has individual characteristics. Richard’s brother runs the plant in China that produces some of the art/furniture.

Hebi Arts Inc. was another show room of art that really caught my eye. At first glance each piece appeared to be glass, but speaking with Rich I discovered each piece was wood. Each product is hand finished in lacquer. They have such a smooth, glossy finish that is almost impossible to just look at. The products are conversation pieces. The shapes are organic and free flowing. They are all manufactured in Vietnam, but the company is based out of California. The company uses suspended shipping because the products are extremely fragile. The pieces are suspended with rubber bands inside the shipment packages. I really enjoyed this showroom and would love to have multiple pieces of art from this company to design my future home.

The furniture market was definitely something I look forward to visiting again. It is so large though I will have to set aside a couple days to get the chance to see as much as possible. I spent a couple hours at it this year and very much enjoyed it. From speaking to all sorts of different designers and representatives, I witnessed first hand the difference in furniture and art internationally. This was a fantastic experience for me and I am exited to return for the spring furniture market.