Hill Studio

Hill Studio is a design and development studio that provides creative, thoughtful and lightly engineered solutions in partnership with companies. They provide sketch concepts, physical prototypes, and 3D models to the clients. The businesses they work with are furniture and lighting manufacturing businesses in North America with some overseas.

I was offered this internship by my supervisor, we had already discussed this position over the summer, and I pursued it and continued the conversation before the semester. My direct supervisor is the owner and principal designer of the studio. I’m not able to discuss the details of the projects because I signed an NDA but they range from furniture, lighting, and household products. I helped develop concepts, create 3D models, 3D renderings, and 3D prototypes as well as designing presentation decks to present to clients. I am most proud that one of my designs for a product was approved by the client.

I have many key takeaways from my internship, a few which are:

• Listen to what everyone has to bring/say, a fresh perspective is always good
• Process and progress are not linear
• Networking is one of the most important things in design
• Always try and explore new things, set design challenges for yourself from time to time to be active and experimental
• Understanding manufacturing methods is extremely important and helpful for a designer
• Be on top of things, don’t push things back, but prioritize
• Design is storytelling, get better at articulating ideas, thoughts, values

Some new skills I have acquired from this internship include: communication, active listening, manufacturing methods, design processes, problem-solving methods, holistic thinking when designing a new product, rapid prototyping, and keyshot rendering. I have learned so much more about the world of furniture and industrial design, and I have a clearer understanding and vision of what I would like to be a part of in the future.