On Thursday, students and alums of the Rhode Island School of Design’s Industrial Design Department showcased their work at the opening reception of the department’s triennial student work exhibition. The exhibit, which happens every three years, will be on display to the public at the Woods-Gerry Gallery until Dec. 7.
Students in the department learn how to research user experiences in order to create “well-conceived and executed objects, products and systems that make everyday tasks easier,” according to the department’s website.
RISD senior Zohar Kennard chose to display her piece, “Modu,” as part of the exhibition. The piece comes in the form of a simple children’s chair, he said.
But, he noted, the chair can be assembled in five different orientations, creating versions with different heights and forms tailored for children of various ages. In one orientation, components of the chair are moved around to become a shelf for toys.
In designing the piece, Kennard said she drew inspiration from the modularity of Legos, building blocks, magnets and fortresses.
“I was really kind of playing off of fun colors, geometric shapes (and) thinking about the toys that I grew up playing with, and trying to translate that into furniture,” she said. From there, she turned those ideas into “sketches, models, mock ups, (computer-aided designs) and then eventually into 3-D prints.”
“This was also my first time doing upholstery,” Kennard noted, adding that learning to work with fabric and foam posed a challenge.
Another piece displayed in the exhibit, “Linea cups,” is a collection of three slender glass goblets designed by RISD senior Anthony Zhang.
The piece was “inspired by traditional Venetian form language and goblet making,” Zhang said. He noted that his work makes the stems and feet of the glasses “as delicate as possible to match the quality of the glass.”
“But still,” he added, the stems should be thick enough that they “roll through your fingers.”
Zhang knew he wanted to work on tableware, and ultimately decided on glasses because he enjoyed “radial forms” — circular collections of objects that center themselves around a focal point.
The process of making the glassware, he said, involved sketches and digital production, as well as having others test his designs.
“In the end, it was really just about deciding the correct ergonomics for a goblet this skinny, because you want to grab it, but it’s almost impossible to grab,” he said. The central question for him was “how to force the hand to sit underneath the cup itself.”
RISD alum Sophia Ponomarenko chose to display her senior thesis “Intima” — Latin for “intermost or most intimate” — at the gallery. The project consists of three purses made of suede, red leather and silk with white bronze castings, she explained.
The piece “was really inspired by how a person interacts with the objects they have,” said Ponomarenko, who graduated in 2025. “These bags were kind of a reflection of our own bodies through the material use and the forms.”
Ponomarenko said she first became interested in incorporating metal in her work when she took a RISD course on investment casting, teaching students the process of melting metal into a mold to create parts.
The course was the first time she “worked with metal and was able to make metal into any shape I want,” Ponomarenko said. “That was just so fun for me.”
Ponomarenko then took ID 20ST-09: “STS: Introduction to Soft Goods,” a class which teaches students different sewing and soft goods techniques, where she developed an interest in designing a project related to clothing or bags, she said.
The class “forced me to actually sit down and sew and do the work,” she said. “I loved it.”
Zhang also credited the department for his approach on usability, function and production feasibility. He added that his classes “encouraged” him to explore “untraditional routes” within the department.
For Max Pratt, a critic in the department, the student work reflects “a big emphasis on craft that is sort of being rekindled,” he said, noting that a push toward digital manufacturing has resulted in “an elevation of the craft.”
