David C. Babcock and Professor Doug Stout, Visual Arts

As a senior in the Department of Visual Arts: Industrial Design program I elected to design and build a series of creative furniture pieces as a senior B.F.A. project. The Industrial Design program at B.Y.U.. is a product design program with a slight bent towards transportation design. My particular interest in furniture aspects of product design led to a self-initiated education experience. I received a great deal of help and support from: Neil Hadlock and Brian Christensen of the Visual Arts Department Sculpture Program and Kip Christensen of Industrial Education Program.

I designed and created 92 pieces; furniture and household products. I produced everything from a queen-size metal bed to a vase for a single flower. I had a final show open-house on several different nights in the month of April.

Promotional materials that I produced for the work were a large part of the project. I created posters and flyers for the open house, with the title “Fence Sitter”. I created a color spiral bound catalog highlighting 40 of the pieces. In collaboration with my wife Julie Babcock, I produced a web site with digital images of the work and statements pertaining to my philosophy of product design for the home.

I feel that my project “Art Furniture” was highly successful. It was my intent to use the ORCA grant funds to help carry me through an complete process of furniture and home product design and manufacture and promotion. I was able to sell a few of the pieces from the show. I am now in New York, where I am using the promotional materials that I produced to find jobs or other contracts with furniture showrooms where I could market the designs I have created.

I learned that it is most helpful if you can collaborate with others in the process to free yourself up to handle the things that are essential to the works uniqueness or quality. Pieces where I was able to design and have someone else build were great learning experiences. I still have a lot to learn about marketing designs. Here in New York I have run into the problem that people like my work but without the funds or facilities to produce more of the designs a buyer’s interest is limited.

I am very thankful for the “safe” B.Y.U. experience that has given me such a head start and helped to clarify plans regarding my future as a product designer.