We’re celebrating 25 years! Look back on some great memories from over the years!
2020 Seniors Spotlight
IIDA Illinois is very proud of our students who are graduating amidst the COVID-19 chaos and we want to celebrate them and their great accomplishments!
Congratulations, 2020 Seniors!
Abigail Hall is a graduating senior from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. She will be moving to Charleston, SC this summer and enjoys commercial design, client branding and identity. She finds inspiration from specific client locations, and loves exploring bold color and texture applications in her designs. Abigail enjoys reading fiction, spending time with family, and traveling in her free time!
Check out some imagery from her senior project below, and even more of her work at her website!
Carly Aldridge is graduating from Illinois State University. She recently moved to Colorado for the summer and is enjoying outdoor activities such as camping and rock climbing in her free time. Carly is continuing her education through a Master’s degree over the next year.
Check out some imagery from her senior project below!
Rachel Gamen is graduating from Illinois State University and has been very involved in her student IIDA chapter as the Membership Chair. She’s also spent her time in school as a Family Consumer Science Dept. Student Ambassador and working part time, not to mention keeping up with her coursework to finish school with a 4.0 GPA. She loves high-end residential design after completing an internship in Chicago during the summer of 2019. She’s already planning to take the first part of her NCIDQ this fall, and is looking for a design position in Chicago.
Check out some of her work from her Senior Project below!
Molly Quinn is graduating from the College of DuPage! During her time in school, she’s been involved in many programs on campus, in addition to keeping busy with her schoolwork. She was the President of the NKBA campus student board and has been a member of the Academic Honor Society since 2017. She has received an Associate of Arts and a Kitchen and Bath Certificate, in addition to completing an almost year long internship.
Check out some of her work at her website!
Megan Westra is graduating from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale this year with a B.S. in Interior Design. She is hoping to move to Colorado this summer, or as soon as it’s safe to travel again!
Check out imagery of her senior project, ‘The Pad’, which was a wellness center in St. Louis MO below. Head over to her website to see even more of her work!
Shaneenah Agustin is graduating from Columbia College in Chicago with a degree in Interior Architecture, but before she landed here in the city, she had also lived in the Philippines and Singapore! She loves cities, exploring food, and diverse cultures. She was drawn to design by the creative way of problem solving- from things as small as a door knob to landscapes and skyscrapers, and even beyond to how we live and are going to live as a society in the years to come.
Check out some imagery from her senior project below, and even more of her work at her website!
Tiffany Caraos is graduating from Columbia College in Chicago with a B.F.A. in Interior Architecture. She’s finishing her college career with achieving the 2020 Interior Architecture Hollis Singer Award with one of her colleagues. She was first interested in interior design from an awe of the infinite possibilities an imaginative mind can create and apply in ways not limited to a canvas but to spaces we experience every day. Outside of school, she harnessed her creativity to experiment with different types of mediums in art and design which has helped her hone a variety of skills.
Check out some imagery and a video from her senior project below, and even more of her work at her website!
Ursula Sharp is graduating from the College of DuPage! She is a passionate interior designer with a background in sales and marketing. She’s creative, hardworking and has a desire to transform a space into something exactly what the client needed all along!
Check out some imagery from her senior project below, and even more of her work at her website!
Event Recap : Stitch 2020
Energetic, theatrical performances and creative use of design materials have made Stitch a favorite staple event for the A&D communities since it began in 20xx. Each year, IIDA presents the highly anticipated mashup of wearable art and design along with all of the perks of a great party.
This year, the Stitch committee took the fun and pageantry to a new and exciting venue implemented a big change of venue . Revel Fulton Market gave the event a new twist with a forty-foot long runway—more than enough space for models to strut their stuff, which HOK’s team said “gave a more professional feel to the show.”
Also, in a departure from the norm, the judges this year were all members of the real estate, architecture and design industries.
Teams put in many hours of extra-curricular time to take architectural and design materials from their partner sponsor and turn them into stunning fashion-forward garments that demonstrated this year’s theme, Audio/Visual. When asked what the surprise was while preparing for the event, every team had the same answer—the amount of time that goes into designing and engineering the garment.
Catie Crutchfield of Aria Group said, “The biggest surprises came during trial and error in construction. There were a couple times we had a very clear picture of how something would work, and in reality it did not work at all.” However, as BOX Studios mentioned, “it was empowering actually to see how far people take it. Seeing the show makes us want to try harder next year knowing just how stiff the competition can be!”
Although building a garment from scratch out of non-fashion materials is difficult enough, most people would agree getting up on that runway and strutting your stuff for a full minute and a half is even harder! Martika Camacho of Aria Group was the team model and commented that, “walking down the runway for our performance was extremely terrifying before stepping on, but it was night [and] day once I stood on stage and felt the crowd’s energy. Honestly, knowing how proud our team was and hearing the support in the crowd is what makes working that runway fun! The dress felt so weightless on stage, and I had so much adrenaline!”
This sentiment was echoed in all the models’ responses. Jordan Hall of Eastlake Studio said, “the amount of support I received from not only my studio but other reps and designers on social media, was incredible. It really proved to me how tight-knit the design industry is.”
Each team had different priorities when preparing for the show. For some like CBRE Design, materiality was important. “We used our materials really smartly. We were paired with a furniture manufacturer and it was important to them that we showcase their materials, not just swatches. We used two barstools and turned them into exaggerated hips on the outfit, and cut and spray painted chair spindles to create a head piece and scepter.”
HDR’s team response hit on one of the event committee’s goals each year: have fun and be creative. “We really wanted to be creative and have fun while working together as a team. This experience really allowed us to collaborate with people outside of our work on a daily projects. That brought diverse ideas and skill sets together which made the process fun.”
Best in Show winner, Aria Group, spoke about what they thought set them apart from the rest of the competition.“The goal was always to push boundary, showcase a highly detailed garment and seamlessly execute a collaborative piece. Winning Best of Show was a huge accomplishment that our team is so proud of, each team member’s voice was truly part of our harmonious garment and performance.”
Chipman Design was the Best Concept to Creation Winner and said the firm’s garment “looked towards nature as a true depiction of audio visual, by using thunder as the product of lighting. This became our concept after discussing how it could be a powerful outfit for a male model.”
Best Stage Presence winner Wright Heerema Architects said “when we found out the theme was audio-visual we wanted to do something that was outside the box. I think our concept of ‘White Noise’ played to both audio and visual. You’re able to see the static surrounding our model, Sandra, and you hear the white noise within the music we chose.“
The teams gave some input on themes they would love to see in the years to come. Some of those suggestions include a sustainability-focused theme, a scary “what we see in the dark” theme, and motion picture/ Hollywood films theme. The options are endless.
In the end, anyone who has attended Stitch knows the competition can be fierce, but the co-chairs Jill Dexter of Stantec and Catherine Tejada of Global Furniture agree the most important thing to remember each year is to have fun. “After all the hard work that goes into designing and building the garment, you deserve to enjoy the night! The room is full of friends, colleagues, and industry peers and they are ALL so excited to see what you put together! We’re all rooting for each and every team!”
Check out all the photos here!
Awards:
Best in Show: Aria Group | Ceramic Technics | Mapei
People’s Choice: HDR | Steelcase | Designtex
Best Hair & Makeup: Simeone Deary | Standard Textile
Best Concept to Creation: Chipman Design | Tree Towns
Best Use of Material: Huntsman Group | Arper | Gabriel | KSA Lighting
Best Stage Presence: Karras Associates | Wright Heerema | Diffa Chicago
Curious Concoctions, vol. 1
Although our summer plans may not turn out exactly how we imagined this year, the IIDA IL board is still planning to enjoy our favorite drinks, and we hope you will join us! Try out some of our favorite recipes, and tag us on social media to tell us what was your favorite!
Cheers!
Member Spotlight April : Michael Isaac
Michael, living his “best Super Mario Brothers moment” in Mount Victoria Reserve in Auckland.
Those “mushrooms” are vents above an abandoned missile site.
Michael Isaac, MS-Arch, Associate IIDA, EDAC, LEED GA
Our IIDA Illinois member spotlight for April is Michael Isaac, a manufacturer’s rep for Jack C. Smith & Associates. Michael is extremely involved in IIDA and serves on our Chicago City Center (CCC) and Professional Development committees and is also moving into the CCC Co-Director role on the board this summer.
Michael started out in the hospitality industry but left in 2007. Two years later, he returned to school at Harrington College of Design and received his BFA, followed by attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to obtain his MS-Architecture with a specialization in Interior Design. His favorite part of his current role at JSA is being able to work with a wide variety of vertical markets. He has always enjoyed meeting people of different backgrounds and perspectives and enjoys working alongside designers with different processes.
Because he places such a high value on community, Michael was motivated to join IIDA as a student at Harrington, which allowed him to connect with peers and coworkers through fun events and service, building lasting relationships that feel much more organic. He has realized over the years just how much the A&D industry provides all those who are part of it, and feels it’s our responsibility to give back so we can ensure its integrity for years to come.
Outside of work and volunteering with IIDA, you can find him with friends and family, bringing a comical side bar to any conversation. He also enjoys traveling, devoting a great deal of time to reading and researching his next great adventure, which he finds stimulates his creativity and says shows in his sketching, drawing, and artwork after a trip.
Member Spotlight March : Jamie Cavalier
Jamie Cavalier,
NCIDQ, IIDA, LEED GA
Our IIDA Board Member spotlight this month is our VP of Sponsorship, Jamie Cavalier. Jamie has served in this position for the last two years, building financial and in-kind support to allow the Illinois chapter to, in turn, support our vibrant design community. Without our sponsors, we could not do what we do! Jamie ensures sponsor recognition is provided and relationships are maintained for our chapter.
Alongside her IIDA duties, Jamie is a project manager at BOX Studios in Chicago, IL. She has 11 years of commercial interior design experience, which includes work in the healthcare, municipal and workplace sectors. She graduated from Harrington College of Design and has also worked with Designs 4 Dignity as a volunteer designer.
Jamie is an NCIDQ certificate holder, a Registered Interior Designer with the state of Illinois and holds a LEED Green Associate accreditation. She was also a very active advocate for the interior design profession last year. She headed to Springfield in the spring to educate legislators about the value of the profession and was also as a panelist for the IIDA/ASID Advocacy Forum last fall.
Quarantine status update:
Pros: full-time non-structured pants, short commute and video happy hours with friends
Cons: redlines are hard!