Product Design senior creates furniture line for Chicago firm
MIAD’s product design major was a good fit for Samantha Shappell’s longtime love of interior design and furniture.
For the MIAD Senior Exhibition, Samantha designed a four-piece furniture line for Third Coast Interiors, a Chicago-based interior architecture and design firm. The firm recently was formed from a merger of a Chicago interior design studio with an architecture firm owned by an architect from Mexico. The furniture line celebrates the company’s rebranding and the intersectionality of Mexican and Scandinavian cultures and its location in Chicago.
This Senior Exhibition project was the first time Samantha had built furniture. She designed and built:
- a lounge chair featuring custom upholstery.
- a side table, featuring a concrete tabletop embedded with black and white mirror pieces.
- a coffee table featuring a concrete top and woven cord shelf.
- a concrete terracotta planter.
Samantha received a MIAD Alumni Thesis Scholarship Award for her project. “A lot of the materials were really expensive to source. The scholarship helped offset the cost of material exploration, which is very important in furniture design,” Samantha said.
Samantha was hired full-time by Third Coast Interiors and plans to continue to develop the furniture line further for the company.
Samantha’s project is currently on view in the virtual MIAD Senior Exhibition at seniorexhibition.miad.edu. The MIAD Senior Exhibition is generously sponsored by BMO Harris Bank.
News
National Society of Illustrators honors 13 MIAD students
First-place winner Sophia Simonson ’28 created Refractions as part of her MIAD studies in Interior Architecture and Design. She is one of 20 students studying at MIAD through a cross-registration program with Concordia University. MIAD students Kaitlyn Powers ’26 (Illustration) and Natalie Spetell ’27 (Product Design), both of whom have minors in Communication Design, received Honorable Mentions.
Pallas Textiles competition provides real-world experience
First-place winner Sophia Simonson ’28 created Refractions as part of her MIAD studies in Interior Architecture and Design. She is one of 20 students studying at MIAD through a cross-registration program with Concordia University. MIAD students Kaitlyn Powers ’26 (Illustration) and Natalie Spetell ’27 (Product Design), both of whom have minors in Communication Design, received Honorable Mentions.
2026 First-Year Exhibition showcases professional growth
An annual tradition at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design from late March through September, the juried First-Year Experience Exhibition celebrates students’ yearlong personal and professional growth.
Meet Carmen Briones and 2026 Senior Exhibition Project Echo
Carmen Briones ‘26 (Product Design) is a President’s (Honor) List student from Cambria, Wis., president of the MIAD IDSA student chapter and an intern at SI Jacobson Manufacturing. Briones designed a device called “Echo” that removes ovarian cysts without surgery.
Meet Eeshaan Dutt and 2026 Senior Exhibition Project Indra Supreme
Eeshan Dutt ‘26 (Illustration) is a President’s (Honor) List student from India and a recipient of a 2026 Alumni Thesis Award. Dutt’s work centers on visual storytelling through sequential art, where he explores how narratives can engage and connect with audiences.