West Coast Bright Design Challenge picks winners
Design students soak up surface finishing knowledge to compete for thousands in prizes.
The Metal Finishing Association of Southern California held its West Coast version of the “Bright Design Challenge” in Pasadena, Calif., last week in an event sponsored by the MFASC and the National Association for Surface Finishing and hosted at the Art Center College of Design.
Three students from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena were awarded $15,000 in scholarships in the West Coast Bright Design Challenge, which was incorporated into the college's Material Explorations class.
Led by Art Center instructors Catherine McLean and Krystina Castella, a trans-disciplinary team made up of students from the product design, environmental design, fine art and graduate industrial design departments spent the fall term learning about surface finishing technologies and applications, and worked with local electroplating companies to enhance their understanding of the process.
"Students were challenged to create innovative works utilizing these technologies," says Daniel Cunningham, MFASC Executive Director.
At the end of the class, students presented finished 3-D prototypes and presentations to a panel of faculty and MFASC judges. The students with the top three concepts as judged by the panel were each awarded $5,000 scholarships, and two additional students received honorable mentions and $2,500 scholarships.
