Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture

VPA Senior Experiences ‘Real-Life’ Design Through Fellowship

Wednesday, November 30, 2016, By Liam Sullivan
Share
College of Visual and Performing ArtsStudents
chairs on a wall

Karina Campos ’17 was selected a Be Original Americas Fellow to go behind the scenes of design firms. She visited Kartell’s showroom in New York City.

Karina Campos ’17 was “absolutely shocked” to be named a Be Original Americas Fellow for the summer of 2016. When she found out that she was chosen from countless applicants to be one of just two design students from across the country to take part in the program, Campos knew that she was about to embark on the experience of a lifetime.

“The experience was mind-blowing. In school, you theorize how the industry works and what it’s like to work outside the classroom setting—and this design fellowship had me up close and working alongside professionals across multiple design firms and companies,” says Campos, an industrial and interaction design major in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. “I got to learn about the design process from concept development to manufacturing and sales and distribution and that’s pretty rare—I got to see where design intersects with other departments.”

Karina Campos

Karina Campos

Be Original Americas’ seven-week Summer Design Fellowship program introduces two college students to all facets of creating innovative, high-quality products, from research, design and manufacturing to marketing and distribution through hands-on, in-the-field learning.

Each section of the fellowship focuses on a different aspect of the process from the perspective of Be Original Americas member companies, supplemented by visits to their showrooms, headquarters and factories in New York City and throughout the United States.

Campos and Sarah Ahart of Virginia Tech were the first-ever fellows in the new fellowship program. They went behind the scenes at leading design companies and Be Original Americas members across the U.S., including Bernhardt Design, Carnegie, Chilewich, Design Within Reach, Emeco, Herman Miller, Ligne Roset and Vitra.

With hands-on experience at these top companies, the Be Original Americas Fellowship offers exposure to both iconic firms with global heritage and game-changing new brands. Throughout the program, discussion moves from how each area of concentration contributes to the integrity and the originality of designs that are intended to improve quality of life and foster creativity.

“It’s important to engage with professionals, be curious and absorb all the knowledge possible,” Campos says. “School teaches you the design principles and skills, but knowing how all those skills come together in a working environment is where the true learning begins.”

placemats in a store

Inside the Chilewich store in New York

Campos says that while she is focused on “user experience design,” she isn’t sure exactly what she wants to do following graduation.

The senior enjoys lots of different aspects of design—from fashion to graphics to computer-aided drafting, which is the reason she choose the all-encompassing industrial and interaction design program in VPA. The design internship helped shape her thoughts about her future and, with help from some mentors she met through the program, she’s accepted that it’s OK to be uncertain about her future.

“This experience has introduced me to incredible people and showed me the value of talking to those who are more experienced and well-versed in the field than me,” Campos says. “Together with my degree, I feel ready to take on whatever lies ahead.”

  • Author

Liam Sullivan

  • Recent
  • Setting the Agenda in Biology Research: 2 Professors Join NIH Peer Review Committees
    Wednesday, September 27, 2023, By News Staff
  • iSchool Student Selected for Highly Competitive Data Librarianship Internship
    Wednesday, September 27, 2023, By Anya Woods
  • Exploring the Existence of Life at 125 Degrees Fahrenheit
    Tuesday, September 26, 2023, By Dan Bernardi
  • How Climate Warming Could Disrupt a Deep-Rooted Relationship
    Tuesday, September 26, 2023, By Dan Bernardi
  • College of Visual and Performing Arts Welcomes New Full-Time Faculty
    Monday, September 25, 2023, By Erica Blust

More In Arts & Culture

Cool Class: Mona Awad’s Art of the Fairy Tale

From an early age, fairy tales enter our lives and shape our view of the world. The classics like “Cinderella,” “Rapunzel” and “Beauty and the Beast” help to build literacy and expand our imagination. But young children aren’t the only…

Annual Lecture Honoring Physics Professor Kameshwar C. Wali to Be Held on Oct. 5

The Wali Lecture is an annual event where the sciences and humanities converge, fostering dialogue and new perspectives on current topics for all who attend. The 2023 Kashi and Kameshwar C. Wali Lecture on Thursday, Oct. 5, will honor the…

University to Hold Public Symposium Exploring Role of Monuments in Society

Scholars, artists, curators, activists, local historians and members of the public will convene at Syracuse University Oct. 6-7 to discuss the rightful place of monuments in our society and the increasing complexity they represent today in terms of their cultural,…

Human Rights Film Festival: Changing the World, One Conversation at a Time

From the rural landscape of Michigan, to the devastated landscape of Bucha in the Ukraine, to the virtual landscape of the African diaspora, filmmakers address social issues and the fight for human rights around the globe at the 21st annual…

20 Years of Syracuse Symposium

Even if you haven’t participated in Syracuse Symposium offerings yet, the intriguing and provocative annual themes still may have caught your eye. Topics like Justice (2007-08), Identity (2011-12), Repair (2022-23) and this year’s Landscapes, offer a kaleidoscopic platform for timely…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2023 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.