In the second year of AIAVT’s Furniture Design Competition, participants were asked to design and build a “free standing illuminating device”. Pieces were required to be created using a majority of reclaimed, reused, and recycled material. 

Tensubmissions interpreted this prompt in ways that ranged from integrating materials like felted wool, to the incorporation of unique elements like the salvaged scraps from infrastructure projects in Vermont. 

The submissions were shown for a three week exhibition, open to the public June 13th to the 27th at the Montgomery Center for the Arts, in the historic Kelton Hall, situated at the top of Main Street in Montgomery Center, VT. 

The majority of the pieces entered in the show were available for bidding in the silent auction, with 50% of the proceeds going to the makers.The remaining funds were split to help fund future AIAVT events and to go toward the MCAVT’s historic building renovation projects. Two competitions ran simultaneously, with a people’s choice award closing on the last day of the exhibition, and a jury-selected winner announced at the close of the opening reception. The jury included Alli Pappalardo, Talia Roberts, and Chi Nguyen, who scored each piece on creativity, Innovation, Aesthetics, and Functionality. The jury selected Joshua Deutsch’s “Weathered” as the winner, a pier-inspired free-standing lamp reimagined reclaimed materials through the lens of Burlington’s waterfront, drawing directly from salvaged scraps collected during a recent hotel renovation. 

Logan Roth-Longe’s “Salvaged Infrastructure Lamp" was the winner of the people’s choice award. This desk lamp was built from reclaimed and repurposed materials drawn from critical infrastructure work: a concrete core cut from a reinforced stormwater catch basin during Burlington redevelopment and stainless-steel rebar normally reserved for Vermont bridge projects requiring the longest service life.

AIAVT would like to thank all of our participants for sharing their creative works with us: 

• Kristen L'Esperance
• Rolf Kielman
• Arthur Chukhman
• Tanya Chen
• Michael Marciel
• Logan Roth-Longe
• Anne Jones
• Sarah O Donnell
• Josh Deutsch
• Don Marsh
• Pia Yarnell
• Melissa Haberman

We would also like to thank the Montgomery Center for the Arts for partnering with us to host this year’s exhibition, and to our sponsors for their support:  Gold Sponsors: Bowman, Engineering Ventures, Silver Sponsors: Freeman French Freeman, Efficiency Vermont, AMP Electric. Special thanks goes to Chi Nguyen for organizing the competition and exhibition.