Metaproject
The RIT Metaproject initiative pairs students with industry partners to develop products and solutions consistent with the Design is One philosophy espoused by the Vignelli Center for Design Studies. Student output is showcased in a global venue and in some cases, put into commercial production.
Videos
Industrial design students at RIT found their way to the Sesame Street as they celebrated the culmination of a thrilling collaboration with the widely beloved brand. Students spent the fall 2018 semester working with Sesame Workshop to design modern.
In the fall of 2017, Chuck Cerankosky, RIT ID alum and owner of Good Luck Restaurant in Rochester, NY challenged our students to design a pop-up restaurant within a restaurant.
In the fall of 2016, Umbra - a Toronto-based designer and manufacturer of housewares selling more than 2,000 home products through 25,000 retailers in 75 countries - challenged the students of Metaproject to create a design for small spaces.
In the spring of 2016, a relationship was created between Metaproject and Poppin, the New York based one-stop-shop rethinking every type of office product in new, colorful ways.
Latest News
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August 27, 2021
![group of people wearing face masks around a table examining a modern cat litter box.]()
RIT’s Metaproject features ‘purr-fect’ pairing with alumnus’ Modkat
Metaproject 12 promises to be the cat’s meow this academic year. Students in RIT’s industrial design program will spend the semester designing products for Modkat, the award-winning maker of cat litter boxes. Metaproject pairs students with a different industry partner each year.
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June 17, 2021
![Tiree Walker shows sketches of his The New Statue design to archivist Ella von Holtum.]()
Student design added to RIT Archives
Tiree Walker '21 (Industrial Design) created a pedestal that collects suggestions from the community that drive informed discussion and decisions on monument construction. His process work will be preserved and studied by future generations.
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May 12, 2021
![two presenters standing on either side of a TV screen that says: metaproject 11.]()
Podcast: Metaproject 11 with Staach
Intersections: The RIT Podcast, Ep. 48: Design must play a critical role as society faces difficult discussions and works to create a new balance in a troubled world. Josh Owen, director of the Vignelli Center for Design Studies, and Seth Eshelman '06, founder of sustainable design firm Staach, discuss their Metaproject collaboration.
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April 23, 2021
![Eric Avar speaking at a podium.]()
RIT alumnus, Nike VP Eric Avar appointed second 2021 commencement speaker
Eric Avar ’90 (industrial design), Nike’s vice president and creative guide of innovation design, has been selected as a 2021 commencement speaker on May 14 and 15. Avar, who was honored with the College of Art and Design Distinguished Alumni Award in 2016, joins Andrea Ghez—a 2020 Nobel Prize winner in physics—as the university’s first-ever dual commencement speakers during a two-day celebration of the Class of 2021.
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