Funded Opportunities
VCAM Design + Making Collaborative
Three summers ago, the VCAM Maker Arts Space launched its inaugural Design + Make Summer Collaborative, an eight-week immersion in design, prototyping, and digital fabrication in partnership with local community designers, artists and organizations. The goal of the program is to learn design and prototyping skills and to challenge students to fully realize their ideas.
Furniture and Architectural Design // Summer 2023
Deadline: March 5, 2023 by 11:59 p.m.
This summer, The 2023 VCAM Design + Make Fellowship will be focusing on furniture and architectural design. We will be learning software’s like Revit and Autodesk Fusion 360 and creating 3D models which we will then make at scale and full size. Students will both be working independently and in groups on designs and utilizing the Maker Arts Space and the Fine Arts Sculpture’s woodshop to translate their ideas from the computer into physical things.
The fellowship is led by Maker Arts Manager Kent Watson and co-taught by Digital Arts and Sculpture Technician, Zach Hill. We will also be working with an architectural graduate student who will help teach the software, Revit.
Four students will be fully funded for the eight week program that runs from June 1st through July. By the end of the fellowship participants will have an understanding of methods of digital fabrication and they will have several refined prototypes. Read more about this fellowship. Articles about the past fellowships can be read here: 2022 Toy Design Fellowship, Playful Design 2021 Fellowship, and the Prosthetic Design 2020 fellowship.
How to Apply
Interested applicants should send application materials to dwatson1 [at] haverford.edu (subject: Summer%202023%20Fellowship%20Application) . Please send a cover letter explaining your interest in the fellowship and any previous experience you have in design, maker spaces, architecture, woodworking or other experiences you think might be relevant. Also include your resume and one or two images of a previous projects that you are proud of. This can be a school project or a personal project that you put a lot of effort in.
Application Timeline
- January 17, 2024: Applications Open at Noon
- March 5, 2024: Application Deadline by 11:59 p.m.
- March 13, 2024: Committee Reviews Applications
- March 16, 2024: Interviews begin
- March 28, 2024: Selected Fellows are Invited
- April 3, 2024: Acceptance Commitments Due
Past Fellowships
Summer 2023
Photo by Paola Nogueras.
Photo by Paola Nogueras.
In 2023 the Design + Making Fellowship focused on chair design and architecture. Four fellows learned practical design and fabrication tools and applied those techniques to chair making.
Read about the 2023 fellowship
Summer 2022
Luca Ponticello's modular dollhouse. Photo by Holden Blanco '17.
Dylan Ioffreda's "mini city maker" toy. Photo by Holden Blanco '17.
In 2022 the Design + Making Fellowship focused on toy design. Four fellows learned practical design and fabrication using the tools, techniques, and software of the Maker Space.
Read about the 2022 fellowship
Summer 2021
Children playing with the shadow flowers said the petals looked like two fidget spinners stacked on top of one another.
Silvan Sooksatan '21 and Julia Coletti '21 pose with their shadow hopscotch prototype. Photo: Holden Blanco '17.
In 2021 the Design + Making Fellowship partnered with Playful Learning Landscapes (PLL) an organization dedicated to creating educational interactive objects of play. Students participated in designing, prototyping and creating playful learning landscapes. The work was informed by the design principles and ethos of the PLL team. Students worked hands on and digitally with the ultimate goal of creating safe and durable physical objects that encourage play.
Read about the 2021 fellowship
Summer 2020
Over the summer of 2020 students partnered with members of E-Nable. E-Nable is a group of dedicated volunteers who work within the medical community to 3D print prosthetics. E-Nable provided guidance and feedback as students prototyped a proposed medical device that gave more autonomy to a double amputee.
August Muller '23 designed a utensil-holding prototype from home in Salt Lake City as part of the inaugural Design + Make Collaborative.