UW-Stout Interior Design Club: A Semester in Review

TIME FLIES WHEN YOUR HAVING FUN--or when you're busy with school, work, and trying to have a social life. Personally this has been one of my favorite semesters at UW-Stout so far. I am so proud of all the activities our Interior Design Club was able to participate in over these past few months and I just wanted to take a pause from our busy schedules and review all of our events this semester!

I. MSR NEXT FORUM (October 12th)

For the first event of the year, UW-Stout students, traveled to The Workshop in Minneapolis. The Workshop is a truly unique office for a branding agency which doubles as an art gallery. This project was recently designed by MSR. It was great to see this new project and to have students interact with industry professionals. The forum focused on implementing sustainability into a business settings. The speaker Nancy Himmelfarb has worked with many large companies to implement environmentally friendly strategies into their business process. It was interesting to learn about sustainability from a new perspective.

II. SPEAKER: ANN MARIE JACKSON (October 16th)

For the second consecutive year Ann Marie Jackson has made the trek from Alabama to speak with students at her Alma Mater (Stout). This years discussion focused on 'Mapping your Future'. Ann Marie has so much great experience to share with students and she talks openly about topics not always discussed in school like finances and clients. We look forward to having her join us in the future to speak again!

III. IIDA INSIGHT KICKOFF (October 18th)

IIDA Northland gives students a wonderful opportunity to connect with professionals in our industry. They do this every year through the IIDA Insight Mentorship Program. They do this by pairing up a student with a working professional with similar interests. This is a great chance for students to being growing their network, which is one of the main reasons for joining an organization like the Interior Design Club! The Kickoff event is a time when everyone in the program gets together to mingle, meet their mentor, and discuss goals for the upcoming year! This year featured a pumpkin decorating competition at Hennepin Made, which is a custom lighting studio! I highly suggest all students to get involved in the Insight Mentorship program!

IV. CUNINGHAM GROUP TOUR + FLUID SPEED MENTORING (October 19th)

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Our first 'Double Day' featured a tour of the Cuningham Group's office remodel and NEWH Speed Mentoring at Fluid Interiors. Our trip began with meeting Brittany Johnson at the Cuningham Group construction site. The office was currently under construction, which was a great opportunity for students to get a glimpse at an actual project and see how a design physically gets put together. Additionally, CGA is the first renovation project in Minneapolis attempting to become WELL certified. WELL is a certification program that assess both the environmental and the wellness criteria of a workplace!

Our second stop of the day was at Fluid Interiors, which also recently when under a remodel. NEWH hosted a speed mentoring event...which is like speed dating with professionals. Each round 2 students were paired with a professional for about 10 minutes where they could introduce themselves and ask any kinds of questions, after which a bell would sound and students would rotate onto the next professional. I truly loved this event and thought it was a great networking experience! After the event concluded, Fluid staff was kind enough to show us around their beautiful office!

IV. FUSION + CAPTURED (November 3rd)

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Another amazing event that IIDA Northland hosts every year is the FUSION event! Typically it is a fashion show where architecture firms compete against each other to make the best costume out of building materials. However, this year they changed it up and the challenge was to create the best photo environment based on a song of their choice. The event was held at The Machine Shop in Minneapolis. The competition was great! This year there was actually a waitlist for student volunteers!!!

V. SPEAKER: COCO DUGAN EARLY (November 15th)

This semester Stout had the honor of hosting Coco Dugan Early who is a seasoned designer with tons of experience, especially in retail design. She is a principle at New Studio Architecture, as well as, an adjunct professor at Dunwoody! She walked us through the basic things she wish she would have known about Interior Design when she was in school. She also shared her experiance of working under the URBN umbrella with companies such as Starbucks, Urban Outfitters, and Anthropology.

VI. FUNDRAISER: INTERIORS BINGO (November 29th)

A huge thank you for everyone who came out to the Stout Ale House to support our Org. There was a great turn out with lots of prizes. I look forward to winning next time;)

VII. ESG + THE DEPOT TOUR (December 1st)

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Our second 'Double Day' of the semester included a tour of ESG's office as well as tours of their projects: The Depot and Hewing Hotel. ESG is a rapidly growing firm that does amazing work in the hospitality market segment. They have had many award winning hotel projects. Before touring their project the UW-Stout students got to listen to a presentation about the concept of the hotel. ESG uses storytelling to convey their message to the clients. They use inspiration images and mood boards to really sell their design.

After the presentation, one of the designers who had worked on The Depot project gave us a thorough tour of the hotel, which included the lobby, banquet halls, and even some of the suites! The project was very neat and inspirational! Afterwards we walked as a group to the Hewing Hotel to glimpse at the award winning lobby, which was quite hectic as they decorated for the holidays!

VIII. INTERIORS CHRISTMAS (December 6th)

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Our final event of the semester was the First Annual Interiors Christmas!!! The event included a panel of professional guests, cookie decorating, and lots of holiday spirit. The alumni's who spoke on the panel were: Lindsy Tomski (CGA), Natalia Haywood (Perkins + Will), Lisa Kirkbride (Milliken & Company), and Anne Olson (Studio Hive). For an hour students were able to ask questions and listen to the professionals speak openly about their experience. We truly appreciated the alumnus coming out and sharing their time with us.

IX. SENIOR SHOW (December 15th)

Last, but not least, I hope everyone makes it back to look at the amazing projects our Interiors Seniors have been working on all semester! I am truly excited to see the diverse array of projects my peers have completed. Senior Show is from 6-9 pm this Friday December 15th in Applied Arts! Hope to see you there.

Thanks for a wonderful semester!!!