Herbert, Sia Take Popular Vote in Groovystuff Design Challenge

February 11, 2013  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Green on February 12, 2013

Mike Herbert and Eric Sia won the popular vote in reclaimed-teak furniture vendor Groovystuff's latest student design challenge.

Herbert, from Columbia College; and Sia from Southern Illinois University won most votes at the recent Las Vegas Furniture Market for their environmentally friendly product designs and innovative contributions to the home furnishings industry.
 
Herbert and Sia competed against undergraduates from their respective schools to design an environmentally friendly product that reflects the celebrity Dick Idol Legends brand and can be produced using sustainable manufacturing practices. Students produced miniature models and product display boards for market attendees to vote on during the Las Vegas Market.

Herbert's Vail Chair and Sia's Savanna Magazine Rack were voted "most marketable and most likely to show a profit" by retailers, interior designers and trade professionals attending market.
 
Herbert is a junior majoring in product design Chicago's at Columbia College. For the Groovystuff by Design Challenge, he was inspired by art deco architecture and the glory days of the American past when he designed a rustic modern lounge chair that "James Bond would feel comfortable in."

Sia is a senior majoring in industrial design at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill.

"The design brief was to develop a home decor product that will enhance the modern rustic design life style," Sia said of his submission.

Each student will receive a $250 cash prize along with permanent royalties for life.
 
"The challenge was a very productive learning experience that opened a new horizon in the design world for me," Sia said. "I enjoyed working with the materials but it was tough, however it expanded my knowledge, which I'm thankful for. I would like to thank Groovystuff for giving me the opportunity to be part of the design challenge."
 
"I'm very thankful and so encouraged that my chair won the Popular Vote at Market for the Groovystuff Challenge," Herbert said. "When my professor of my furniture design class, Mark Klein, announced the project last fall, my class and I were extremely excited, and we all did so well in helping each other turn out an amazing level of quality and creativity. I'm so thankful for all of them and for the chance to be creative with reclaimed materials that really stretched our boundaries as urbanite design students in Chicago."
 
The University Hall of Innovation & Job Creation is an industry co-operative founded in 2011 by Groovystuff CEO Chris Bruning that seeks to bridge the gap between education and the residential home furnishings industry. The University Hall provides an opportunity for students and professors to network with retailers, designers, manufacturers, suppliers, journalists, and industry professionals.

To introduce graduates to the residential home furnishings industry, Bruning created the Groovystuff by Design: Connecting Education with Industry Challenge. In stage one of the contest, students compete for the "popular vote" and a cash prize at the High Point or Las Vegas wholesale furniture markets where Groovystuff maintains permanent showrooms.

Stage two of the process sees the winning innovative designs from stage one put into production and launched six months later at the following wholesale market. Those student prototypes then compete for the grand prize of "Most Orders Written at Market" and the winner rewarded with an additional cash prize, inclusion in the celebrity endorsed Dick Idol Legends Collection, permanent royalties for life, and motivation to join the residential home furnishings industry.