Continuing with the impressive student work at ICFF, RIT’s “booth” stood out through and through. Wilsonart International (a manufacturer of laminate surfacing materials) teamed up with RIT to create a student competition called Metaproject 01. Twenty senior industrial design students were given the task of designing seating prototypes using the Wilsonart laminate. The palate was limited to the use of black, white and red laminate colors in order to focus attention on the design. Further requirements included:
– The product must be well crafted and bear substantial weight.
– The product must be recognizable as a seating device. The product must function as a seating device.
– The product must incorporate an image of the Wilsonart laminate sample chip.

The $1,000 scholarship prize was awarded to Dan Fritz for his chair The Trance (top). There were 5 runners up who had their pieces displayed at ICFF, but the other 14 projects not exhibited were included in the beautifully designed catalogue that were being distributed by the students who were also enthusiastic and eager to show and explain their designs.

Daniela and I would have had a tough time deciding who to pick as a winner; good thing they didn’t ask us to be judges. Other projects shown here include: The Cooler Bench by Andy Clark; The Nodule by Francesca Pezze; The Reader by Megan Searle; and The Encounter by Tim Kuo.