| Providence, RI (May 4, 2022) – Rhode Island School of Design’s (RISD) Furniture Design department is pleased to present Embodied & Imbued at WantedDesign Fair 2022, at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York, NY from May 15–17.
RISD’s pedagogical framework of critical making invites students to nurture a project from conception to fruition, engaging in research, critical discourse, conceptual development and hands-on explorations of materials, crafts and industrial processes. This model allows for continual touchpoints along the route to reconsider ideas of sourcing, equity, social value, meaningful utility, heritage, personal expression and object making as well as manufacturing’s role in social and ecological harmony. This hands-on approach of experimenting with materials at full scale results in an embodied wisdom that grows and expands with every project and throughout a lifetime of practice.
The collection of chairs, tables, hooks, textiles and other furnishings takes unusual forms and methods of construction. One chair is made of compressed dust among other materials, and another combines Baltic birch plywood and laminate to create the illusion of a drawing represented in three dimensions. The pieces play with your expectations in unexpected ways.
The work includes dust chair by Bill Carroll, Low Caned Lounge by Grace Elwood, I-Beam Bookshelf by Jan Rybczynski, Blue Girl & Extruded Side Tables by Amelia Greteman, 90° Stove by Madeleine Young, Hole Punch by Spenser Atlas, Pulley System by Theju Nimmagadda, Cynthia’s Garden by Sam Northcut, Swell Wall Hooks by Anna Dawson, Metal Lounge by Louise Ferlet, Vessels of Spring by Isabel Yang and 15 West in the Canal by Aydan Huseynli.
The intangible yet essential value of critical making is that this deliberate care and intention is imbued in each project. Whether it is a one-of-a-kind artistic expression, social design or design for commerce and industry, the emotional, intellectual, physical and creative labor of the designer informs the very DNA of each project, and the resulting objects carry the potential for a future that envisions the values and practical realities of a thriving, just and harmonious world.
RISD Furniture Design students Anna Dawson, Shannon Jones and Maxwell Taylor Milner are also showing work in the fair’s Launchpad site for individual designers, and RISD senior Sam Northcut has been selected to appear in the Emerging Designers Showcase at WantedDesign.
A selection of images can be found here.
About Rhode Island School of Design
RISD’s mission, through its college and museum, is to educate students and the public in the creation and appreciation of works of art and design, to discover and transmit knowledge and to make lasting contributions to a global society through critical thinking, scholarship and innovation. The college’s strategic plan NEXT: RISD 2020–2027 sets an ambitious vision for educating students for the future and bringing creative practices to bear on the creation of just societies, a sustainable planet and new ways of making and knowing. RISD’s immersive model of art and design education, which emphasizes critical making through studio-based learning and robust study in the liberal arts, prepares students to intervene in the critical challenges of our time. Working with exceptional faculty and in extraordinary specialized facilities, 2,500 students from 68 countries engage in 44 full-time bachelor’s and master’s degree programs. RISD’s 31,000 alumni worldwide testify to the impact of this model of education, exemplifying the vital role artists and designers play in today’s society. Founded in 1877, RISD (pronounced “RIZ-dee”) and the RISD Museum help make Providence, RI among the most culturally active and creative cities in the region. |