Art Van Furniture and CMU collaborate on chair design competition


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Two chairs designed by CMU students for a contest organized in collaboration with Art Van Furniture. Courtesy of Taylor Lee

Art Van Furniture is partnering with Central Michigan University’s Department of Fashion, Interior Design, and Merchandising on a design competition to support Mount Pleasant organizations.

Students in the fashion design program are creating personalized slip covers for 10 chairs donated by Art Van Furniture. Upon completion of these designs, the chairs will be displayed in the Bovee University Center.

Community members will be able to vote for their favorite chair designs through the Art Van Furniture Facebook page. Prizes will be awarded to the top three slipcover designers, with the first-place winner receiving $400, the runner-up receiving $300 and the third-place finisher receiving $200. 

Once the chairs are on display in the UC, voting will begin during spring break and continue through the end of March. Signage indicating how to place a vote will be posted in the UC. Biographies of the student designers will be placed alongside their chairs.

The collaboration seeks to aid community organizations in the Mount Pleasant area with fundraising efforts.

“We get donation requests, probably four to five a week, so it’s impossible to meet the needs of everyone," local Art Van Furniture franchise owner Taylor Lee said. "I was trying to come up with a creative idea of how we could reach out to more organizations."

The 10 chairs will be donated to organizations such as the women’s shelter, the community center, Sacred Heart, the local soup kitchen, American Red Cross and United Way.

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