Design it Digital

The Association of Woodworking & Furnishings Suppliers introduced the first Design it Digital contest at IWF 2018, a CAD competition open to students in North America.

Participants were tested with a furniture commission that required a design solution using CAD and rendering software. They also had to estimate for materials and labor, work within a budget, and arrive at a price.

Projects were judged by Don Bigelow from Cabinet Vision, Doug Hague from the Architectural Woodwork Institute, and Saul Martin from Architectural Woodworking Co. in Los Angeles, on quality of design, CAD drawings and renderings; manufacturing and marketing aspects, and overall concept. The six best projects received prize packages.

“We only had 30 total entries into the 2018 Design it Digital contest. We were certainly hoping for more entries, but we were very impressed with the quality of the entries that we did receive. This being the first year of the contest, it was hard to predict how many we would actually receive,” says AWFS education manager Adam Kessler.

The next Design It Digital competition is planned for 2020. For more, visit www.awfsfair.org.  

The top six prize winners were:

First: Patrick Duckett, North Cobb High School in Kennesaw, Ga. Instructor: Michael Barcarse.

Second: Holli Welcker, Snohomish High School in Snohomish, Wash. Instructor: Brad Johnson.

Third: Shraddha Sekhar, Wheeler High School in Marietta, Ga. Instructor: Valerie Bolen.

Fourth: Caidell Davis, Lincoln East High School in Waverly, Neb. Instructor: Jon Heithold.

Fifth: Ingrid Gres, Passaic County Technical Institute in Wayne, N.J. Instructor: Michelle Ferreira.

Sixth: Gareth Thompson, Wheeler High School in Marietta, Ga. Instructor: Valerie Bolen.

This article originally appeared in the October 2018 issue.