Bienenstock Furniture Library Announces 2016 Furniture Design Competition Winners
Furniture World News Desk on
4/1/2016
Heather Seto, First Place Award Winner for Furniture Design
In early March, the Bernice Bienenstock Furniture Library Board of Directors announced the winners of design competitions that awarded scholarship to distinguished scholars to continue studies in their respective fields of Interior and Furniture Design. In addition to the $5,000 awards, each has been given memberships in the ASFD and ASID professional associations and their schools will receive $1,000 to use in their academic programs.
This is the second of a two part series announcing the winners of the Furniture Design portion of the scholarships. The Bienenstock scholarships are open to any junior, senior or graduate student enrolled in an accredited college design program and have awarded more than $400,000 in scholarship money.
The winning entry can be downloaded from this winners link.
The first place winner was Heather Seto a Senior at Kendall College of Art and Design for her Nocturne chair. The second place winner was Adismara Kirana Prasetya of the Savannah College of Art & Design. She receives a $1,500 scholarship to be applied to continuing education. Finalists in the furniture category included: Kyung Min Lee, Kendall College of Art & Design; and Bo Zhang, Savannah College of Art & Design; Nathan Sturgeon.
"Our founder, Sandy Bienenstock, advanced his long-standing desire to invest in the education and future of the furniture industry by establishing the Library itself and by initiating the Bienenstock Scholarships," said Russell Bienenstock, president of the Library Board. "The intention of these scholarships is to encourage and inspire the best and most creative minds and to help them to develop their talents. To that end, this is the fourth year we added a scholarship for interior design to our long-standing award in furniture design, creating two substantial national scholarships."
These competitions are a collaborative effort among the ASFD, ASID and the Furniture Library. The ASFD founded the furniture competition and leads the judging. The library hosts the competition and funds the scholarships. This is an annual competition and a new contest will be announced in May of 2016.
FURNITURE DESIGN COMPETITION
Entrants were asked to design an aesthetically pleasing chair of original design from any material. Instructions were "The chair should be visually stunning, appropriate for manufacturing, fiscally feasible and suitable within the constraints of mass production." There were 21 entries from 8 different colleges.
Nocturne Chair
Judges in the furniture design category included Dudley Moore, Jr. ASFD, Otto & Moore, Inc.; Rick Schroeder, Stanley Furniture; Danny Davis, Davis Furniture; Royale Wiggin, Thayer Coggin; Richard Frinier, Richard Frinier Design Studio; Scott Coley, Scott Coley Designs.
Dudley Moore, President of the ASFD and Chairman of the Furniture Design Committee noted, "This chair makes unique use of innovative materials that are marketable and saleable." Danny Davis added "this designer showed a compelling progression of design to achieve the final form." Judge Scott Coley called it, "very stylish and sporty."
Seto, when asked about her inspiration, said she commented: "Refinement, tonal differences, and delicate beauty are a few attributes from the night sky that I chose to implement within the context of Nocturne. The intention of this piece is to create an invitation to the user. I want there to be a unity between the user and the form. Nocturne is a free flowing spirit that is sophisticated, boundless, and bold.
With the application of contrasting finishes and textures, I wanted to emphasize the subtle contrasting textural variety between the 1-1/2" x ½" carbon fiber framework and the visually connecting velvet channeled seat and chair back." Nocturne is also available in leather. A shaped single steel mesh shell is molded with polyurethane foam padding to offer comfort and horizontal support to prevent warping within the frame.
When asked what inspired her personally, Heather responded philosophically, sounding as much like a motivational psychologist as a furniture designer. "As a young designer, I am inspired by the observation of human behavior and their interaction with the built environment. Through these observations, unarticulated needs are presented, which in turn helps shape the direction of my designs. I am always striving to create unique solutions that disrupt the ordinary and expected- empathy for the user is critical." Her future aspirations are to attend a European graduate school to "diversify my understanding of furniture within an international context." Her ultimate goal is own a multi-disciplinary design practice that focuses on a multitude of design genres, such as product, interiors, and site installation.
Monty Simpson, Assistant Professor of Furniture Design at the Kendall College of Art and Design commented, "Heather is an amazing young lady. All of us at Kendall College of Art and Design are extremely proud of her first place finish in the Bienenstock Library Chair Competition. Heather takes a holistic approach to the design process. She studies the interconnections between the user, task, and environment then uses this information to create a sense of unity between the user and form as is evident in the design of her Nocturne Lounge Chair.
ABOUT THE BIENENSTOCK SCHOLARSHIPS
The annual Bienenstock Scholarship competitions are open to any junior, senior or graduate student enrolled in an accredited college program of furniture design or interior design. Since 1984, the Library has awarded more than $400,000 in scholarships to students in hundreds of colleges and universities. Judging is blind-with no name or college shown with the submission. A distinguished panel of industry experts juried each competition.
The 2016 winners will be awarded their $5,000 scholarships, along with respective one-year student membership in ASFD or ASID, during High Point Market in April. Second place winners each receive a $1,500 scholarship and the colleges representing the first place winners each get $1,000 towards their programs.
About Bernice Bienenstock Furniture Library: The Bernice Bienenstock Furniture Library is a worldwide center for research, design, and collaboration. It holds the world's largest collection of rare and significant books on the history and design of furniture, with more than 5,000 volumes.
The Library is located in High Point, NC and is open to members of the home furnishings industry, students and the general public. The Library was founded in 1970 with an endowment from Furniture World Magazine and the Bienenstock family. It is supported by a board of directors from nearly every facet of the home furnishings industry. It is devoted the advancement of knowledge about design, furniture, interiors, architecture, textiles, finishes, and constructions.
The Library's rare book collection contains volumes published since 1543. A special climate controlled room houses these rare volumes. It is a treasure trove of inspiration for anyone interested in home furnishings and interior design.
The Library's facilities include the Vuncannon Seminar Room, the high tech Hadley Court Center For Design Collaboration and the Pat Plaxico Sculpture Gardens. These areas are available for seminars, classes, events, meetings, design collaborations, networking and design retreats for a small honorarium.
In addition, the Library operates a specialty bookstore selling significant contemporary works, out-of-print, and hard-to-find volumes. For more information visit www.furniturelibrary.com or contact Karla Webb, Library Director at info@furniturelibrary.comor 336-883-4011. The easiest way to stay up to date on the developments of the library is to "LIKE" its Facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/BienenstockFurnitureLibrary.
About the ASID: ASID is a community of people driven by a common love for design and committed to the belief that interior design, as a service to people, is a powerful, multi-faceted profession that can positively change people's lives. Through education, knowledge sharing, advocacy, community building and outreach, the Society strives to advance the interior design profession and, in the process, to demonstrate and celebrate the power of design to positively change people's lives. Its more than 30,000 members engage in a variety of professional programs and activities through a network of 48 chapters throughout the United States and Canada. Founded in 1975, the American Society of Interior Designers is the oldest, largest and leading professional organization for interior designers. The Society's membership also includes more than 10,500 students of interior design.
http://www.asid.org