Interior Design students Dyonne Danielson and Casandra Behnke traveled to Las Vegas to take part in the annual retail trade show
Two Dakota County Technical College Interior Design students received recognition at GlobalShop 2016 in April for their work to design a retail display for Under Armour.
Interior Design students Dyonne Danielson and Casandra Behnke traveled to Las Vegas for the show as part of the PAVE Challenge and were honored as the Fan Favorite for the design in which they partnered to create with Chandler Inc.. GlobalShop is the largest annual visual merchandising trade show and conference for the retail design industry.
PAVE, also known as Planning and Visual Education Partnership, is an organization that enables young talent to build careers in the all aspects of the retail industry. Pave offers a unique design challenge that engages retailers, manufacturers and design schools. The design challenge provided an opportunity for DCTC students in the architectural and interior design programs to work with professionals from manufacturer Chandler Inc. to develop a creative project for Under Armour. Ten DCTC teams of two created designs and presented them for Chandler representatives.
Overall, Chandler representatives reported that they were impressed with the diversity and unique approaches students were headed towards. Instructor Meghan Hendrickson said at the beginning, “This was an unbelievable opportunity for our students. They get to work hand-in-hand with a real manufacturer/design partner for a real client, who they are familiar with, and is very popular.”
Chandler representatives chose Dyonne and Casandra’s concept to develop for GlobalShop. The two women then had the opportunity to be involved in the process in which Chandler took their design from conception to reality, building the tradeshow booth for Under Armour.
Working with Chandler, Dyonne said was a great experience. In particular, she added working with Chandler representative Jeremiah Albrecht was inspirational.
“He’s brilliant and for him to let us into his exceptional brain was an amazing opportunity.”
More than 12,000 people in the retail industry attend GlobalShop annually. From the opening seminar to the close of the show, Casandra said they were on their feet talking to people from all over the world about Under Armour and its signature products.
“It was a lot of work but we nailed it. We did a ton of education for our client,” said Casandra.
Dyonne added that people attend GlobalShop to learn about upcoming trends. In particular, Dyonne and Casandra educated show attendees about Under Armour’s Health Box technology and Gemini shoe.
“You can’t be shy and you really have to work to inspire people.”
The event ended with an awards ceremony in which Dyonne and Casandra as well as Chandler were honored as the Fan Favorite. Casandra said being recognized in front of industry professionals was an honor.
A unique experience, both women said the PAVE Challenge expanded their view of what an interior designer can do.
