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i saw design: designers of the next generation

Seriously, I envy these design students from Cebu. One, they got the opportunity to be mentored by some of the top furniture companies in the country. Thanks to the Student Internship Program (SIP) of the Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation Inc. (CFIF), organizer of the annual CebuNext Furniture Exhibition, 26 students from the University of the Philippines Visayas Cebu College (UPVCC) Industrial Design program and the University of San Carlos (USC) Interior Design program were paired with Cebu’s best furniture designers/manufacturers in coming up with a design for their own individual furniture prototypes. From 26 participating students, a total of 31 furniture pieces and accessories were produced.

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[Furniture prototypes designed by the students of UPVCC]

Second, apart from being mentored, the students’ partner company also sponsored the actual fabrication of their designs. Wow! In my alma mater (UP Diliman), we also had a furniture design course. However, we were set in groups and were supposed to fund the production of our own chair prototype. :(  I was telling the Cebuano students that they’re very lucky to have such program set up for them.

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[Furniture prototypes designed by the students of USC]

Third, which I think is the most important part of the whole program, the students got to show off their work in a really big event! Local and foreign guests of CebuNext got to appreciate their designs. It’s not surprising that some of the guests might even be interested in purchasing their work. Ana and I especially love the Expanding Bookshelves by Jurisse Gerzon (UP) and B Chair by Merchin Paul Belarmino (USC). Which of these is your favorite?

For larger images and details about the furniture pieces and the student, visit df’s flickr photostream here. For more information on the participating schools, visit UPVCC Industrial Design’s site here and USC’s site here.