Marywood University’s School of Architecture Students are Heading to Market

Interior Architecture and Architecture Students will take part in the High Point Market—the Largest Home Furnishings Industry Trade Show in the World

Marywood University interior architecture and architecture students will be exhibiting their works at the world renowned High Point Market in North Carolina from October 18 – October 23, 2019. Marywood University School of Architecture students have been exhibiting their works at the High Point Market since 2014.

Students will pack up their designs and equipment and set off for the High Point Market, which takes place each fall and spring, and travel to North Carolina. The High Point Market is the largest Home Furnishings Industry Trade Show in the world, bringing more than 75,000 people to High Point, North Carolina, every six months. Serious retail home furnishings buyers, interior designers, architects, and others in the home furnishings industry can be found in High Point twice a year, because if you can’t find it in High Point, then it probably doesn’t exist.

In addition to the student works being exhibited, Marywood’s interior architecture faculty member and president of the University Hall of Innovation and Job Creation, Stephen Garrison, will also be accompanying Marywood students who host, ‘A Student’s Perspective’ webcast.

Mr. Garrison said, “Design is such a vast field with various associated disciplines, it would be impossible to teach about all of it in a university curriculum. Through the University Hall of Innovation, the ‘by Design Challenges’, the industry mentorship, and the ‘A Student’s Perspective’ webcast, I hope to introduce my students, as well as students from other programs around the country, to opportunities and experiences that they may not have thought possible. The industry wants to mentor students, and they understand that they have as much to learn from the students as they have to teach.”

‘A Student’s Perspective’ co-hosts, Natasha Gillott, Carbondale, Pa., first-year master of interior architecture student; and Natalia Colasurdo, Bloomfield, N.J., senior interior architecture student, are excited to be sharing their perspectives about the interviews they conduct with industry leaders. Ms. Gillott and Ms Colasurdo pre-record questions that other Interior Architecture and Architecture students have. Interviews with industry leaders are held, and then the students share their perspectives with other design students throughout the country.

Ms. Gillott said, “It has been an invaluable experience to be a part of the High Point Market and the University Hall of Innovation & Job Creation. It has given me the courage to not be afraid to ask questions of designers and those in the industry.”

At the 2018 High Point Market, Ms. Gillott and Ms. Colasurdo participated in a contest run by the National Kitchen and Bath Association, through which selectees were randomly announced using the hashtag #perfectpairwinners. By receiving the most likes, along with publicity, the pair was selected to take part in an all-expense paid trip to Las Vegas. Ms. Gillott and Ms. Colasurdo will leave for Las Vegas in January.

Ms. Colasurdo said, “We are further utilizing the Las Vegas trip as an opportunity to connect with younger students. We are already lining up interviews in Las Vegas that we will then add to our “A Student’s Perspective” segment and share with students.”

For additional information about the High Point Market or the University Hall of Innovation & Job Creation, please visit Marywood University’s School of Architecture, at www.marywood.edu/architecture/about/, or call (570) 961-4536.