January 25, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jenee Arends
Vellum Design Build
805-784-0487, jenee@vellumdesignbuild.com
Tom Di Santo
Cal Poly Architecture Department
805-878-0091, tdisanto@calpoly.edu
Architecture Students, Faculty Compete in Furniture Design
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Cal Poly’s Architecture Department is partnering with Vellum Build, a San Luis Obispo design and build firm, to host the third annual design competition, gallery exhibit and silent auction. The Vellum/Architecture Department Furniture Design Competition Feb. 2 and 3 will benefit Cal Poly’s College of Architecture and Environmental Design.
The competition, now under way, is open to all CAED students and faculty members. It challenges participants to create furniture from concept to finish. The designs must be original and fabricated by an individual or team. Entries will be judged on function, individuality, beauty and production.
The furniture entries will be displayed, and winners will be announced at an artists’ reception on Friday, Feb. 2, from 6 to 10 p.m., at the old Pier One building at 848 Monterey Street. The exhibition site is courtesy of Copeland Properties. The event is free, open to the public, includes refreshments.
The public will have an opportunity to silently bid on the entries during the reception and from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 3. All proceeds will go directly to the designer.
Steynberg Gallery at 1531 Monterey Street will showcase the top twelve winning entries during the week of Feb. 4-11.
“Our motivation for this competition is to inspire creative thought and practice and to challenge students and faculty to the boundaries of material and design,” said Paul Abbott, principal of Vellum Design Build and construction management alum. “What better medium to explore the human interface with design than a chair, lamp or table?”
“The work of Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Mario Botta, Michael Graves and Frank Gehry among many others, confirm the rule that architects need to seek legitimacy in their work through the design of smaller scale objects,” says Henri de Hahn, head of the Architecture Department.
The Vellum/AD Furniture Design Competition is a way for students to realize their conceptions in full-scale and test their ideas, before getting back to the task of creating large-scale environments, according to Tom Di Santo, professor of architecture at Cal Poly. “Furniture is a way to see the universe of design in a grain of sand, an elegant fusion of form, technology, material and comfort.”
The panel of judges is comprised of artists, furniture designers, architects and laureates. They include Cal Poly landscape architecture alumnus Eric Pfeiffer of Pfeiffer Design Lab, architecture alumnus Joey Shimoda of the Shimoda Design Group, and Len Wujcik, professor of architecture and furniture design at the University of Kentucky.
About Vellum Design Build:
Vellum Design Build is a custom home builder and interior design firm that explores modern living though innovative design. Vellum Design Build is located at 811 El Capitan Way, Suite 230 in San Luis Obispo.
For more information on the design competition, exhibit and silent auction, call Vellum Design Build at 805-784-0487 or contact Jenee Arends at jenee@vellumdesignbuild.com, Tom Di Santo at tdisanto@calpoly.edu or Will Benedict at wbenedic@calpoly.edu.
(Note to photo editors: Contact jenee@vellumdesignbuild.com for photos of last year’s event)
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