Cal State Long Beach student Alix Armour found inspiration to create an award-winning cocktail table when a falling pine cone dented her picnic table.
Armour, an industrial design major, won first prize in the nationwide 2011 Student Design Competition, sponsored by the American Society of Furniture Designers (ASFD).
Armour’s design will be prototyped and displayed at the High Point Market in North Carolina in April. In addition to receiving her first prototype, Armour also received $1,000 and a one-year student membership to the ASFD.
“I was happy that other people could appreciate my design,” Armour said. “Many amazing designs don’t get made. When somebody actually wants to produce it, it’s really a great feeling.”
Armour’s “Pine Scales Table” embodied the criteria of the competition, which asked for a production-friendly conversation piece inspired by nature that fits in well with the rest of the collection.
“I asked my students to make their designs abstract enough that someone seeing it could not immediately guess the source on inspiration, but once told, could never see it any other way,” said David Landells, part-time CSULB lecturer.
Armour’s inspiration happened while hiking with her aunt and uncle. They were sitting at a picnic table surrounded by Coulter pine trees when one of the giant pine cones fell, narrowly missed Armour’s aunt and slammed into the table, denting it. Armour was inspired by the incredible shape and natural design of the pine cone.
“People don’t really look at a pine cone and think of a design piece,” Armour said. “I thought it could be a table.”
There is also room for expansion, as Armour said a whole line of furniture could be created based on the form, shape and colors of the pine cone.
Armour said she always tried a little harder to come up with something better. In fact, there were a few concepts that were rejected before she came up with the final product.
“Alix went through several concept studies before hitting the final one,” Landells said. “When she brought in the Pine Scales table, I think she knew she had hit it.”
Armour described this as the best competition she’s won because it’s not just in her class, it’s across the entire country — including students in the top design schools in the U.S.
Armour is graduating this semester, and hopes to find work in the Los Angeles or San Francisco Bay areas.
“Alix is going to do well wherever she goes,” Landells said. “She is driven, serious about design, very smart and talented too.”
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