“When you connect with design students, educating and inspiring them with your material samples, you have a specifier customer for life.” —Rene King, associate professor of instruction at Columbia College Chicago, and president-elect, Interior Design Educator’s Council (IDEC)
On average, four-year design students get only one, three credit-hour course dedicated to direct materials instruction, which is tragic, because their very first positions are often managing a design firm’s materials library. Throughout their career, designers are tasked with solving problems. Student designers are learning how to ask the right questions and evaluate the needs of all their stakeholders. And they’re learning how to go out into the world to source materials solutions that:
- Meet performance and market needs
- Fit the design vision
- Remain sustainable and budget-friendly
It’s a tall order that engineered wood products can easily fill, but only if designers understand their benefits and know how to source them. That’s why Material Intelligence has partnered with the Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC) as an official provider of live and on-demand materials and sustainability content for students. Here’s what one student said after a recent presentation:
“You just totally changed how I feel about particleboard.” —Materials and Objects Testing Laboratory student, Florida State University
As part of its partnership with IDEC, Material Intelligence has curated a new section for students on its website where visitors can link to a wide breadth of free educational content and an invitation to IDEC member educators to book a sustainable materials education presentation for their classroom. For more information about classroom presentations, material guides for commercial specifiers, climate-positive resources and more, visit materialintelligence.com.
