With the school year almost at an end, Ryerson’s interior design students will finally have a moment to display the product of all of their hard work.
The year-end show, a three-day event titled in[sid]out (“inside out”), will be held at the Ryerson school of interior design (RSID) on April 24 and will display the creativity and vision of design students.
Every year, a committee comprised of seven fourth-year interior design students creates an idea out of the term “in[sid].” This year, the committee decided to create a show that bridges “two mutually defining terms, ‘in’ and ‘out,’” said chair of the committee Pooja Ramaswamy in a previous interview.
They will be reflecting this theme by displaying the projects inside, then projecting this interior view onto the outside of the building.
Ramaswamy explained that the show is all about exploring what the students have learned during their time at Ryerson.
The main focus will be on graduating students’ thesis projects, with the show aiming to bridge the gap between grads and industry professionals. The first day of the show will even feature an invitation-only gala night, where industry guests will mingle with the grads while exploring all three floors of the exhibit.
The committee’s entertainment and media director Samantha Brocca explains that “for two days after the gala, the building is open to the public free of charge where everyone can explore and enjoy.”
Each year explores a different theme, including featured works that must reflect the selected esthetic. At last year’s “RAW-in[sid]” show, the committee focused on a more raw esthetic, where the venue was unfinished and the projects related to that particular theme. In 2012, the theme was titled “in[sid] Impression,” where the contents of the show aimed to expose how the school has influenced the students themselves.
This year, professors selected the best class projects from the first three years to be displayed in the show. All 220 projects featured, including the grads’ thesis projects, have been worked on since September.
The thesis projects are independent studies designed completely by the fourth-year students, with anything ranging from residential, corporate, hospitality, health care, or retail design. Students are encouraged to use their imagination and can even create a product as their thesis.
Brocca said the committee started planning the event in September. So far, they’ve created the design, layout and floor plan for the exhibit.
Once all the furniture is removed from the building, the committee will then lay out 130 projects from students in their first, second and third years, plus the 90 grad thesis projects.
“Everything gets moved, the walls are painted, and some of the furniture we have can be painted or reupholstered to create the look we want,” Brocca said. “This year we have done something completely different. It’s going to be a labyrinth, in a sense, with a set route. This has never happened before.”
Hugo Soo, co-director of the showcase, is now in the process of finalizing the show. He said he feels honoured to work with talented designers in the years before him. Working with them “enables” him to become more engaged in his own life, said Soo, as he is able to learn from their work and better his organizational skills.
“I feel excited at this time of year because I see people establishing their unique approach to design after passing the experimental threshold of RSID in the past four years,” he said.
The in[sid]out showcase will run from April 24 to April 27 at the RSID. Tickets will be available for the industry gala for $10 at the door. All other days are free to the public.
This story was first published in The Ryersonian, a weekly newspaper produced by the Ryerson School of Journalism, on April 9, 2014.
Graduate of the Bachelor of Journalism program at Ryerson University 2014. Aspiring feature writer with a passion for local news. Reporter for the Ryersonian in print, online and broadcast. This is me, and always will be.