• Furniture Designers Group Names Design Challenge Winners

    The American Society of Furniture Designers has announced the winners of the Student Design Challenge 2011.

    ASFD and partner Stanley Furniture designed the competition as a benefit to design students, to add excitement to design program curriculums and continues to foster student mentoring.

    The Design Challenge was open to junior, senior and graduate level students enrolled in an accredited college design program. The design goal for Challenge 2011 participants was to create a writing desk or an executive desk that could transition into one of four style categories within the Stanley Furniture product line. A panel of professional ASFD-member furniture designers and Stanley Furniture executives judged the entries on the criteria of presentation, creativity, originality, selection of materials and the feasibility of manufacturing.

    Jacob Court, a senior at Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, Mich., took first place in the competition. His entry, "Driftwood Writing Desk," impressed the judges with the creative use of materials. The judging panel felt the design would easily fit within the Stanley product line in the Casual Artisan/Transitional category. One judge called it "a stand out piece."

    Stanley Furniture will manufacture a prototype of the winning design and showcase the piece in the Stanley Furniture showroom during the April 2012 High Point Furniture Market. The winning entry also will be featured on the Stanley Furniture Web site. Court also won a cash prize of $1,000.

    Daniel Jacobs, a junior at Kendall, took second place and a $500 prize for his "Shoreline Writing Desk."

    In third place, Jacob Blok, also a junior at Kendall, won a $300 prize for his "Cabinet Maker's Executive Desk."

    Receiving honorable mention were Susannah Dirkse, a senior at Kendall, for her "Cottage Style Writing Desk"; Christopher Eitel, a Kendall junior, for his "Criedor Writing Desk"; and Jerri Hobdy and Joseph Willet, both of the Savannnah College of Art and Design, for their "Writing Desk."

    Cash prizes were made possible by the ASFD scholarship fund and a sponsorship by Zenith Global Logistics. All winners and honorees will receive a free one-year membership to ASFD.