Cazenovia Pilot

Cazenovia College Interior Design Student Wins Honorable Mention in National Lighting Contest

The following is a press release provided by Cazenovia College

Justine Reed of Valatie, N.Y. Designed “Pagoda Express” Light Fixture

Justine Reed, a senior in Cazenovia College’s Interior Design Program, shows the light fixture project she entered in a national lighting competition for college students. Photo by Prof. Josef Ritter

Cazenovia, N.Y. – Design contests sponsored by manufacturing companies provide a chance for interior design students to test their skills against those of their peers at colleges and universities across the nation. Justine Reed of Valatie, N.Y., a senior in Cazenovia College’s Interior Design Program, designed an oriental styled light fixture which she dubbed “Pagoda Express.” She entered the design in a contest sponsored by Luraline Product’s Company of Opa Locka, Fla. Her design was chosen by the judging panel of the 5th annual “It’s Your Light” Student Design Competition for an Honorable Mention Award.

Josef Ritter, professor of interior design, and a lighting specialist, encourages his students to enter competitions. “Competitions are vital to assessing our students’ critical thinking and problem solving skills against their peers at other institutions,” Ritter said. “The possibility of entering a design in a competition also provides a more competitive environment to projects assigned in the classroom.”

Reed, the daughter of Johnny and Simone Sanchez-Souquet of Valatie, and a graduate of Ichabod Crane High School, is the first Cazenovia College student to submit a design to this contest. The project was a learning experience for Reed. She said, “With Professor Ritter’s encouragement, I designed the fixture specifically for the Luraline competition. I had to do some research on ‘RLM’ light fixtures, and lighting in general, but once I noticed trends toward nature I just sat down and began to sketch. Nature seems to be a component in Asian inspired design, and that concept ended with ‘Pagoda Express,’ which respects the traditions of the East while maintaining Western modernism.”

The competition was stiff, and Reed believes the functionality and adaptability of the fixture was the reason for her honorable mention. “Two of the five judges put my light fixture in first place out of more than 100 entries,” she said. “It can be adapted to signage and used in parks or for illuminating one table at a restaurant. Of course, the fixture’s aesthetically pleasing appearance probably helped, as well as its cost efficiency.”

Design students sometimes joke that they could work 24 hours every day to meet the demands of their course-work, and most take advantage of every available moment in the CAD computer labs. “Wining this honor really validates what I'm doing here at Caz,” Reed said. “I work hard day in and day out so that I can enter the work force with a capacity to design aesthetically pleasing environments, and this proves that I can do that.”

Contest entries were judged by a panel of industry experts based on creativity and feasibility of the design. The first place design, shown at www.luraline.com, received a cash prize of $1,500. Some winning designs are put into production and become part of Luraline’s product line.

The competition is open to students enrolled in design and architecture programs at U.S. universities, colleges and technical schools. Howard Levine, president of Luraline, said, “It is our goal that the annual “It’s Your Light” competition encourages and supports design education in the United States by actively fostering new design talent.”

Posted by jimj at May 11, 2006 05:56 PM | TrackBack