Art School as Product Development Company

During our walk around the NY Gift Fair the design of this lime green booth caught our eye. Our initial thought was that it was another gift vendor who got creative with their booth architecture. But in fact it was from the Savannah College of Art and Design(SCAD). The products featured inside were developed by students who took part in a unique program at the school.

The ‘Working Class Studio’ is a product development venture of SCAD that cultivates and promotes the work of talented student, alumni and faculty artists. The studio is an innovative concept for an educational institution. Students work on developing ideas for new takes on existing products, like picture frames which then go through an internal review. The strongest ideas are refined and put into production. Students also have the opportunity to develop new product ideas that don’t yet exist. SCAD sets a budget for the program and product sales are used to pay the school back. Students are compensated for their ideas in a one time payment so even if the products don’t meet sales expectations, they are still paid for their creative work.

The Fall 2009 line was debuted at the Gift Fair and features a range of products from ceramic plates to a silicon rubber clock.