Tuesday, 22 April 2008 | Levent OZLER
School of Visual Arts Presents "The Chair Project" at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair
MFA Design Department Students Reinvent a Mass-Market Icon
Students in the MFA Design Department at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) will exhibit design concepts in a multimedia display at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF), May 17 - 20, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York City. The students were challenged to re-purpose a raw wood IKEA-brand chair based on contemporary cultural touchstones like disco, suburbia and machismo, and the resulting products were created under the guidance of SVA Chair of 3D Design and MTV designer Kevin O'Callaghan. SVA is one of four schools selected by ICFF organizers to participate, along with the California College of the Arts, Savannah College of Art and Design and Yale University.
"To address the challenges confronting graphic designers in the face of ever-changing visual media and rapidly evolving business environments, our students focus on entrepreneurship in the broadest sense: developing a viable concept, and then working through the process of prototype fabrication, production, and marketing of individual intellectual properties," said Lita Talarico, who co-chairs the MFA Design Department at SVA with Steven Heller.
According ICFF organizers, each year the world's leading academies of design are invited to enter a competition juried by industry luminaries. Invitees present student-designed products and prototypes developed as solutions to a problem formulated in the studio. The 2008 jury was made up of representatives of the design publications Abitare, Domus, FRAME, Interni, Intramuros, Metropolis and Wallpaper*.
School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City is an established leader and innovator in the education of artists. From its inception in 1947, the faculty has been comprised of professionals working in the arts and art-related fields. SVA provides an environment that nurtures creativity, inventiveness and experimentation, enabling students to develop a strong sense of identity and a clear direction of purpose.
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