Working Class Studio

In an industry built on innovation, enterprise and entrepreneurial spirit, talented people launch new giftware businesses everyday. In doing so, they bring fresh ideas, new designs and new direction to the industry. Of course, many are just a blip on the radar, disappearing as quickly as they arrive. Others, however, find a niche, and prosper.

It's often difficult to recognize the up-and-comers — companies with the vision and business sense to become the leaders of tomorrow — until they are well on their way to becoming industry icons. Still, there are those rare bright lights that outshine the competition from day one. The Working Class Studio, a division of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), is one such company.

Working Class Studio burst onto the scene at the winter gift shows in Atlanta and New York one year ago, and continued its momentum at the National Stationery Show. “The products are bright and eye-catching with broad appeal … a little retro influence with a modern edge twist. The collection includes a range of lifestyle accessories from notecards to pillows to dinnerware that all merchandise well together,” Gifts & Decorative Accessories reported in a “Direct from Market.”

First established in 2003, Working Class Studio is both an academic program and an interdisciplinary cooperative product development venture. Each quarter, five students from different academic majors are selected to work as a team to create new designs and products. Under the direction of Anna Burgard, director of new product development, and the studio directors, student interns work together to design and create product prototypes in the studio while learning about industry standards. In addition, before they can take their product to market, they're given real world business experience by sourcing manufacturing facilities that meet their production standards. Students are also involved in the design of packaging, attend trade shows, and even write orders. In other words, they take part in the whole process from concept to finished product; from manufacturing to marketing to sales.

As a testament to Working Class Studio's emerging reputation — and to the quality and creativity of its products and designs — in March of this year, Barnes & Noble entered into a product development partnership with the Studio. The team developed a back-to-school line of notebooks and journals, file folders, pencil pouches, a messenger bag and a sketchbook “designed for students, by students.”

“We wanted to offer a collection that spoke to high school and college students,” explains Bill Miller, vice president of gift for Barnes & Noble. “We couldn't find a better partner than SCAD, whose students have created for us bold and innovative designs,”

For it innovative program, which designs, manufactures and markets modern gift and lifestyle products created by the college's emerging artists (who may well become the industry leaders of the future), Gifts & Decorative Accessories names the Working Class Studio of the Savannah College of Art and Design its Industry Rising Stars for 2007.