Chairing Styles @ FIDM

So it all worked out according to my lovely plan; I graduated from FIDM about a month ago, but got accepted into the school’s Chairing Styles program , extending my involvement with FIDM for another year or so!  I was not ready to be done with my FIDM educational experience, so I am trilled for the opportunity to be included in the Chairing Styles program where FIDM allows for me to design and work with a manufacturer to produce my own chair!  Not only will I be able to say that I am an Interior Designer, but that I am a custom furniture designer as well! 

This class is a unique collaboration between fashion, interior, and textile design.  FIDM partners ten pairs of fashion designers and interior designers to create a coordinating garment and chair that will be sent down the runway of the annual FIDM Debut show.  Two years ago Cotton Inc. , decided to sponsor the event by providing the fabric that the fashion and interior designers would use in the garment and chair.  This allowed for another element of designer involvement allowing a FIDM Textile student to design one of the ten fabrics.  I am including a marketing piece that was created for last years debut show to explain how the Chairing Styles program fits into the event.  I have also included my good friend Caity Hall’s chair as an example of the final product, a chair and a garment designed with the same fabric.  Caity won 2^nd place and received a prize from Cotton Inc. Congrats Caity!  Thankfully I have been able to use Caity as a resource to anticipate all this class has to offer.  This year, the first place winner receives ten thousand dollars and a trip to North Carolina to tour the Cotton headquarters, second place receives six thousand dollars, and third place receives three thousand.  My goal is of course first place, so my next step is to get busy gathering inspiration.

The collage is from TheFashionClub.com.  Caity's chair picture is from The FIDM Magazine.