Prisco emphasizes strengths of furniture design program

 
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By: Monique Bos
Published: Friday, March 7, 2008

Richard Prisco is an award-winning furniture designer whose work has been exhibited all over the United States, and he was a finalist for the NICHE 2008 Art Educator of the Year.

But Prisco, who has been a furniture design professor at the Savannah College of Art and Design for 14 years, doesn’t want to talk much about his own accomplishments. Instead, he wants to focus attention on the furniture design department, which provides a comprehensive approach to the discipline — and one that has equipped students well to succeed, he said.

“It’s a design-based program, but on the flip side, for the most part, everything students design they build,” he said. “They come here because they like to get their hands dirty; they like to create … We feel that to be a good designer, you need to know how to make something, and how to make it economically and profitably.”

He added, “Our students have been commended for that at job interviews. Employers say it’s refreshing to have students who know what goes into building a piece of furniture.”

That’s not the only advantage students have when they leave the furniture design program at SCAD. While many recent college graduates eagerly accept the first job offer they receive, Prisco said furniture design alumni are — and can afford to be — more selective.

“I think our students really have an entrepreneurial mindset. All of them really want to have their own businesses,” he explained. “The goal is not just to get a job. In fact, they often turn down their first job offer because it isn’t right.”

And with current industry trends, going into business for themselves is a realistic goal for many students, he said.

“I think that the field of furniture design is really moving toward an individual aspect, where designers become recognized. There’s a certain personal touch being put to a lot of designs going into the market,” said Prisco, who earned an undergraduate degree in industrial design and worked in that field for several years before pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree in furniture design. “I think [this trend] creates a good avenue for blending my industrial design background with my craft background to help students promote that individual aesthetic.”

Like many departments at SCAD, members of the furniture design program are concerned with green design, but it isn’t a new development, Prisco said.

“We almost don’t have to implement it because the students are so interested in it that we just support it within the structure of the classes,” he explained. “We’ve always promoted [sustainability]. We question students on some choices they make, and ask them to think about options. We always encourage them to design with economy in mind. If they’re using too much material or toxins, we’ll ask them to defend their decision.”

He said the way faculty listen to and interact with students is another strength of the department.

“I feel like there’s a really good relationship between faculty and students,” he explained. “It’s nice when you can gain experience from students as well as them gaining it from you. What they bring to the table helps inform us.”

He also is excited about the exhibition design minor, for which he teaches some courses. “It’s a great supplement to a design degree. It just opens up so many opportunities for you to get into … a huge, high-dollar field. There are a lot of positions open, and it’s a competitive market,” he said.

And as a furniture designer himself, he knows firsthand the satisfaction that comes from the creative process and the completion of each piece.

“It allows you to be a designer and to see your work produced immediately,” he said. “There’s a huge sense of satisfaction for students at the end of the quarter. To end the quarter with tests and papers and even drawings, versus to end the quarter with all these things plus a full-scale piece from your own design — I think it’s an immensely rewarding process.”


Check back after March 17 to read more about Prisco's work.