FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 16, 2019
IIDA FOUNDATION, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH IA INTERIOR ARCHITECTS, ANNOUNCES 2019 DIVERSITY IN DESIGN SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
CHICAGO — The IIDA Foundation, a not-for-profit philanthropic organization that works in collaboration with IIDA, in partnership with IA Interior Architects (IA), is pleased to announce the 2019 recipients of the IA Interior Architects Diversity in Design Scholarship.
“We are honored to be actively supporting and uplifting diverse voices within the design community through this scholarship,” said IIDA Executive Vice President and CEO Cheryl S. Durst, Hon. FIIDA. “The recipients, all from various backgrounds and areas of expertise, are true representatives of where the future of our industry is headed.”
The scholarship fund was established as a part of a five-year partnership between the IIDA Foundation and IA Interior Architects to enrich and advance the interior design profession by recognizing outstanding students.
“We are pleased to be partnering with the IIDA Foundation for the second year in a row on a scholarship that promotes the power of diversity and the need to support design students across all walks of life,” said Co-CEO and Presidents of IA Tom Powers, AIA, and David Bourke. “We received a number of outstanding entries from around the world, and we extend our sincerest congratulations to all of the winners. We can’t wait to see the impact these young professionals have on the design industry.”
Students enrolled in a design or architecture program were encouraged to participate by writing a 500-word essay on “The Influence of Diversity on the Future of Design Thinking.” Essays were required to address the ways designers can reshape norms and ideate on the future of the industry, and how the profession can prepare for the unexpected at the intersection of interior architecture and technology.
All essays were reviewed by the IIDA Foundation Board of Trustees and IA Interior Architects.
Jieyi Li, Student IIDA, of Art Center College of Design (Pasadena, California) was awarded this year’s first-place scholarship of $5,000 for her essay, “Space + Experience + Collaboration.”
University of Wisconsin-Madison’s (Madison, Wisconsin) Shayna Krizan, Student IIDA, received the second-place award of $3,000 for her essay, “Thinking Outside the Box.”
There were four additional $500 scholarship awards granted for essays that received honorable mentions; the recipients were:
Liwam Beraki
Purdue University (West Lafayette, Indiana)
“Building a Bridge Across Disciplines, People and Thoughts”
Martha Duque, Student IIDA
Interior Designers Institute (Newport Beach, California)
“Deepening Design through Diversity”
Karla Perez
New York Institute of Technology, (New York)
“Voices in the Industry”
Mahzad Soheili, Student IIDA
Pratt Institute (New York)
“To Reach Beyond”
All IA Interior Architects Diversity in Design Scholarship recipients will be featured in the IIDA newsletters Design Matters and QUAD, and both winning essays are available in full on IIDA.org. As part of the recognition, scholarship recipients are invited to visit an IA office near their school, all expenses paid, for lunch and to spend time with designers for a real-world learning experience.
For more information, contact Aisha Williams, senior director of industry relations and special events at IIDA, at awilliams@iida.org.
ABOUT IIDA
For 25 years, IIDA, the commercial interior design association with global reach, has been a leader in defining, supporting, and enriching the interior design profession. We support design professionals, industry affiliates, educators, students, firms and their clients through our network of 15,000+ members across 58 countries. We advocate for advancements in education, design excellence, legislation, leadership, accreditation, and community outreach to increase the value and understanding of interior design as a profession that enhances business value and positively impacts the health and well- being of people’s lives every day. www.iida.org
ABOUT IA INTERIOR ARCHITECTS
Founded in 1984, IA Interior Architects is the first and largest global architectural firm focused exclusively on interior architecture and strategies. IA collaborates with clients in diverse markets worldwide to align their business strategies and core values with the dynamic use of space. IA’s global network includes offices in Austin, Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Dublin, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Orange County, Portland, Raleigh, San Francisco, Seattle, Silicon Valley, Toronto, and Washington, DC, as well as partner affiliates in Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia and Australia, Canada, and Latin America through the IA Global Alliance. For more information visit www.interiorarchitects.com.
Ciara Merouan
Jo Chicago Communications
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