Four BYU students received recognition at a student furniture design competition in Atlanta last month.

Design Emphasis is a student furniture design competition held in conjunction with the International Woodworking Fair. The fair is held every other year at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta and receives 43,000 visitors from 80 countries and all 50 states.

The competition invites students from universities and colleges around the country to design furniture and have their work judged by industry professionals, designers, executives and retailers. This year more than 300 applicants represented 37 schools, and 75 finalists were chosen to have their work displayed. Of the 75 finalist designs, five were from BYU.

"A lot of good work doesn't make it into the show, so we were pleased to have five pieces accepted," said Kip Chistensen, a technology and engineering education professor.

The BYU students' entries were spread across several categories.

Jonathan Cox, a senior majoring in technology and engineering education, won first place in the design creativity category with his bed frame design. Cox also had a second design accepted into the competition. Fellow student Brady Cutler received a merit award for his clock in the contract furniture design category, which includes furniture designed for offices, homes, health care and university markets.

"My wife, Rachael, gave me the idea for the design of the clock," Cutler said. "I love working with wood and creating new things."

In addition to the two award recipients, students Jesse Taylor and Justin Anderson also had pieces accepted into the show.

"Each of the students from BYU were required to put at least 135 to 150 hours into their furniture pieces, and some put in even more," Taylor said.

Other furniture design students who did not participate in the competition also recently received recognition by having their work published in several books. Mark Davis was recognized for his work, "Flat Steel Chair," in "Fresh Wood: Vol. 3" and "500 Chairs: Celebrating Traditional and Innovative Designs." "500 Chairs" also featured student Sean Favero for his work, "Big Boy Sofa Chairs" and student Jacob Knudsen for his work, "Rocking Goat."

The students involved honed their skills in the Ira A. Fulton School of Technology's furniture design class. Christensen said the classwork prepared the students for the competition.

"In the class we make design sketches, models, real working plans and eventually build a piece of furniture from start to finish," Christensen said.

Copyright Brigham Young University 23 Sep 2008