SCAD joins with ‘Pinnacle’ of design

By: Ally Hughes

Published: Friday, February 29, 2008

When Justin Cox (B.F.A., furniture design, 2002), head designer for Pinnacle Design, considered working with students to develop concepts to take into the marketplace, he knew that returning to his roots at the Savannah College of Art and Design would result in innovative and fresh ideas.

“Justin came to us this summer and wanted to do a project with us,” said furniture design professor Richard Prisco. “We wanted to do an industry-related project, and the goal was [that] the student who had the best design [would have] their design … hopefully placed in production. Some of the No. 1-selling products [move] roughly 80,000 [units] a year and so that’s obviously our goal, to have a student gain experience and sell that sort of quantity.”

Prisco assigned the project for Pinnacle Design, which is the major supplier for furniture products sold through retailers such as Circuit City and Best Buy, to students in his winter quarter Senior Project 1: Ready to Assemble course. The project challenged SCAD furniture design students to come up with concepts and provide marketing plans for a shelving unit designed to be easily assembled and appeal to the mass market.

Pinnacle Design representatives said they were pleased at what they saw throughout the process.

“I think overall this project definitely exceeded our expectations,” said Cox. “It was really great to see the new ideas and the excitement and dedication that went into the designs. I think we really have a good portfolio … to present to our customers.”

“If we can get one of these designs through the system and place it at Best Buy … [we may include the designer] in our instruction sheet booklet so that there’d be a picture of them and tell [customers] a little bit about the designer,” said Todd Frodluy, vice president of Pinnacle Design. “It is planned to be a partnership between SCAD and Pinnacle, and that’s something that Best Buy seems to be interested in — something where [they are] really helping the young designers of America get their first product in place.”

And the students had the opportunity to capitalize on a valuable and marketable skill — working with mass-production pieces instilled with their own design sensibilities.

“It’s very interesting to see. We have a lot of people come in and either do presentations or come with their companies like Justin has. It’s optimistic for us to see that there are so many different places and things that we can do [with our degrees],” said undergraduate student Ashley Wedekind. “SCAD is really good about presenting projects in different areas that we can concentrate on and different types of fields and different types of companies through the whole process, so we know demographics, we know materials, we know manufacturing processes. That’s one great thing about this school — we really get the hands-on.”

“It’s reassuring to … see what people can do with a major like furniture design and be successful and provide people with decent products,” said senior Adam Johnson.

And Cox enjoyed his return to Savannah. “There is definitely growth in the furniture department since I’ve left,” he said. “I’m almost kind of jealous that I’m not still here; I’d like to definitely come back if I have the opportunity, just to expand my knowledge and learn more from the technology side.”


Hughes is acting assistant director of communications.