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Furniture Library Announces Design Scholarship Winners
March 10,
2013 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Special Events on March 11, 2013
The Bernice Bienenstock Furniture Library has announced winners of design competitions for scholarships to students studying Interior design and furniture design.
Xie Xin, a student at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University won a $10,000 Award for Interior Design. Kai-ning Huang, a graduate student at The Savannah College of Art & Design, won a $10,000 Award for Furniture Design. In addition to the $10,000 awards, they have been given memberships in the American Society of Furniture Designers and American Society of Interior Designers professional associations.
The Bienenstock scholarships are open to any junior, senior or graduate student enrolled in an accredited college design program. Each winner will be awarded the scholarship funds during the April High Point Furniture Market.
Our founder, Sandy Bienenstock, advanced his long-standing desire to invest in the education and future of the furniture industry by establishing the Library itself and by initiating the Bienenstock Scholarships, said Charles Sutton, president of the Library Board. The intention of these scholarships is to encourage and inspire the best and most creative minds and help them to develop their talents. To that end, this year we added a scholarship in interior design to our long-standing award in furniture design, creating two substantial national scholarships.
The competitions are a collaborative effort among the ASFD, ASID and the library. The ASFD founded the furniture competition and leads the judging. The ASID sponsors and judges the interior design completion. The library hosts the competition and funds the scholarships. This is an annual competition, and a new contest will be announced in November.
Entrants in the furniture design competition were asked to design a chair that was visually stunning, appropriate for manufacturing, fiscally feasible, and suitable for mass production, said Sutton. Our goal was to arrive at a design that could be marketed to the residential and/or contract trade.
While the decision was difficult, the Delta Chair by Kai-Ning Huang stood out as the outstanding design submitted," said Dudley Moore, ASFD president and chairman of the Furniture Design Committee. "The form of the chair was unique and visually stunning, and the modular aspect of the chair made it a great solution for public environments. We were impressed by the designers thoughtful consideration of creating a comfortable personal space for people in todays increasingly congested world. Furthermore, in a word, the chair was just flat-out cool.
Interior design competition entrants were asked to design a project including both residential and commercial spaces to a set of specifications.
Of Xie Xins winning design, the judges noted, This design is a great combination of creativity and function. It shows a wonderful understanding of the inhabitant, and a sensitive and lyrical expression of design that was both functional and a highly creative work of art.
Students from 18 colleges and universities submitted qualifying entries to the Librarys 2013-design scholarship competition. All judging was blindwith no name or college shown with the submission. A panel of industry experts juried each competition.