Design Students Attend the Pittsburgh Glass Center
During the Fall 2021 semester, nine undergraduate students from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Design received scholarships to attend classes at the Pittsburgh Glass Center. Each semester, the School of Design partners with the CFA Dean’s Office to co-sponsor four students to attend classes at the Pittsburgh Glass Center. After taking a hiatus last year due to the pandemic, the School and the Design Experience Fund sponsored all nine students this semester. The recipients range from Freshman to Seniors with representatives from both the Products and Environments tracks.
Students attending the Pittsburgh Glass Center this semester included:
Andrea Benatar - Senior, Product Design
Melissa Cruz – Freshman
Zimmy Kang – Junior
Julia LePoer - Sophomore
Dorcas Lin - Senior, Environments Design
Holly Liu - Junior
Maggie Ma – Junior
Annalisa Pao - Senior, Product Design
Samantha Rauch - Sophomore
Samantha Rauch has been loving her experience at the glass center and describes it as being one of the most fun classes she’s taken since starting at CMU.
“Hot glass is such a surreal material to work with, and there's something so refreshing about being able to leave the abstract world of academics I occupy for most of the week and work with something that's so intriguingly tactile and conducive to creativity,” said Rauch. “As a design student, it's also been very fun for me to explore a whole new realm of craftsmanship -- there's stuff you can make with hot glass that I couldn't make with any other material if I tried. I've also loved the format of the class -- it's very much a learning by doing model, which lends itself to so much creativity and legitimate enjoyment in learning the new skill.”
Holly Liu, a junior in the School of Design, echoed Rauch’s sentiments and especially enjoyed exploring the materialism of glass.
“It's not an easy medium to get started with,” said Liu. “Getting to fiddle with glass has also opened up lots of options going into the holiday season; I like to make gifts for others, and having the option of making glass pieces has been really exciting for me.”
The Design Student Experience Fund aims to help subsidize expenses Design students can incur while pursuing opportunities outside the School of Design.