By Vicki Matranga, Design Programs Coordinator
It’s Back to School Time Again…And the kick-off for the 19th annual IHA student design talent search!
Innovation propels our industry. At each International Home + Housewares Show, retailers and news media ask “What’s New?” and year after year, attendees come to the Lakeside Center lobby to see fresh ideas and meet the energetic young people who win IHA’s annual student design competition. Next March, the new Hall of Innovation will introduce the 19th group of winners.
In September, industrial design students from coast to coast (and in other countries as well) are pondering new product concepts for homes of the future. By Thanksgiving, they will be “pulling all-nighters,” racing the calendar to complete their entries to send to IHA’s office by New Year’s Eve. In mid-January, 10 product development professionals gather at IHA’s office to review the entries and select six winners. I have the great pleasure of phoning the winners to tell them the news that will change their lives. I smile as I hear their shocked squeals and grateful gasps. The excitement begins as we prepare them for their trip to Chicago for five days at the International Home + Housewares Show. AT the Show they are on duty and dressed for success, demonstrating their models to thousands of Show attendees, appearing in the media and collecting pockets full of business cards. At the Show, their heads spin as they dive from college life into the world of business. It may not be the same as winning American Idol, but close to it!
The Murray Jay, Martin F. Zorn, Meyer and Norma Ragir Awards
In 1990, the NHMA Board of Directors established one $2,000 scholarship for a talented industrial design student and to encourage interest in the housewares industry. This scholarship, named in memory of NHMA members Murray Jay, Martin F. Zorn and Meyer J. Ragir, expanded its scope in 1993 to become a national competition, endorsed by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), that awarded $10,000 to several winners. Norma Ragir served as a juror in the first year of the competition. After her passing, the NHMA Board added her name to the award’s title in recognition of her contribution to the creation of the student support program.
Now IHA awards $12,000 to students, distributed to six top winners and about a dozen honorable mentions, plus $2,500 to the winners’ schools. IHA’s program is hailed as a model for other student competitions and is recognized by the design profession for its contribution to education. Past winners have become entrepreneurs, educators, and design managers at housewares and other consumer products companies.
A Long-Term Commitment to Excellence
IHA’s student design competition receives 225-275 entries each year, over 18 years totaling 3,737 entries from 70 universities, most in North America, and in recent years, also from Europe, South America and Asia. Some professors have assigned this project as part of their fall semester curriculum since the very beginning.
Our judging panel includes professors, product development managers at retail operations and housewares manufacturers, as well as past winners who are now established in their careers. Design managers from many IHA member companies—Lifetime Brands, Focus Products, Whirlpool/KitchenAid, Hamilton Beach/Proctor-Silex, Sterilite and others—have contributed their time and expertise to judging and advising the program.
Our network of winner alums grows larger every year. These talented young people are now in leadership positions in our industry and other consumer product categories. The group also includes teachers and successful entrepreneurs. They report that the confidence-building award inspired them to achievement during their remaining time in college and their experience at the Show brought them contacts that gave them unusual access to high-level people in business that led to jobs. And sometimes even patents and royalties!
Valuable Judges and Students, Housewares Industry and Design Profession
Christopher White, Technical Design & Innovation Director – Home, JCPenney Purchasing Corporation, judged the 2010 and 2011 competitions. He stated, “Being a judge for the student competition has been a great experience. At jcpenney, we value innovation and students today are amazingly resourceful in their approach to problems. They love the feedback and it helps us stay relevant to today’s young consumers.”
Mike Elwell, a 2005 third place winner, served on the judging panel in 2010 and 2011. Elwell’s winning product concept, a pill bottle opener with a magnifier, has been licensed to and is being manufactured by Jokari/U.S., Inc. The Medi-Grip is sold nationally and was voted Personal Care Best in Category in the 2010 Housewares Design Awards sponsored by HomeWorld Business magazine. As an instructor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Mike required his junior design students to enter the 2011 competition. His success story inspired the students and one of these students merited a third place. Mike now teaches at University of Notre Dame, his alma mater, and will be working with students to enter the 2012 competition.
Trevis Kurz, 2010 first place winner while a junior at Ohio State University now is employed at a Chicago design firm, Beyond Design. He recalled his time in the spotlight,
“IHA’s competition is one of the best ways for students to get their name and work out in front of professionals and the general public. Having the opportunity to present at the International Home + Housewares Show gave me the chance to speak face to face with thousands of people about what I love… DESIGN! While at the Show I made many valuable business connections which have helped me get an internship, a patent, and eventually a job. IHA is a fantastic student design competition and overall a great way to get to know new designers and friends.”
Thanks to IHA’s firm commitment to discovering and supporting young talent, this competition is the longest-running of its kind in the U.S. The Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design maintains the archive of this competition. MIAD librarians have catalogued the 18 years of entries—nearly 4,000 submissions—and allow study onsite. They are considering how to make a web tool available so that the results of this talent search can benefit current students and others interested in the history of innovation.
Be sure to visit the Hall of Innovation in the Lakeside Center in March and get inspired by the winners of our competition. You’ll meet the next generation of design rock stars in our industry.
To learn more about the competition,Visit http://www.housewares.org/show/sdc or contact Vicki Matranga at 847.692.0136 or email at vmatranga@housewares.org.
