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Designing puzzle pieces

Cal State Long Beach’s annual junior design show, “Works In Progress,” features past and present concepts of 21 interior design, engineering and architecture students who were admitted into CSULB’s impacted interior design program last year.

This year’s show features hundreds of puzzle pieces scattered around the design gallery entrance and floor. Ashley Dowell, a junior interior design major and one of the show’s main organizers, said the puzzle pieces correspond to the roles of each designer and his or her design concepts.

“Each [designer in the show] is an individual piece of the puzzle,” Dowell said. “The same goes for projects. Each piece comes together to make a room.”

Located in the design building on lower campus, the junior gallery takes place at some point in ever spring semester. The 21 featured designers were selected out of a pool of about 35 applicants.

Applicants were required to have a portfolio reviewed prior to their admission into the upper-division studio program.

Those not initially let into the program are given another chance to enter into the major the following year by retaking classes they have done poorly in. Otherwise, they must change their major.

“[Our design program] has a very high recognition standard,” said Ashley Arnold, one of the junior interior designers whose work is featured in the show. “We have one of the top schools in the field. People who graduate from our program have a very good chance of finding jobs.”

Dorothy Ottolia, associate professor and chair of the design department, said she considers her students well-prepared and excellent artists ready to enter the industry.

“As students, these shows are really important because companies might see our work and hire us,” Dowell said.

According to Ottolia, the design department emphasizes theoretical and practical approaches in industrial design, interior design and design. For the past 30 years, CSULB’s interior design program has been strongly focused on interior and architectural design.

San Jose State University is the only other California State University that offers a bachelor’s of fine arts in interior design.

Sandra Flores, a junior liberal arts major, is friends with one of the designers in the show. She marveled at how much work the designers put into each project.

“The fact that they plan it and see it before it’s up [is amazing],” Flores said. “It seems very complicated. I didn’t think there were going to be so many designs.”

Already a senior in design, Michelle Orourke plans to declare a focus in interior design in the near future.

“These projects are amazing. I can’t imagine doing all the detail and work that goes into making it look as good,” Orourke said.

Alice Yoon, another junior interior design student, hopes that more acknowledgments arise from the show.

“I want to show the people who didn’t get in and our professors how much we’re doing. It’s rough work,” Yoon said.

Yoon said interior designers create their work with the aim of bringing a special feeling to a space. She said her goal for her designs are “not just about looking pretty.”

The gallery will be open in the Design Building from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from March 9 to 17. Admission is free.

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