Cover girl


 

For an assignment in her introductory computer-aided design (CAD) class, Cornell fashion design freshman Rachel Powell was mainly concerned with receiving “a decent grade.”

She got that and more: Her piece, a colorful pattern of interlocking cubes, won the 2014 International Textile Market Association Educational Foundation cover competition. “Awakening,” which was derived from a picture she painted in high school, will grace the cover of the spring/summer issue of a publication distributed to home furnishings industry executives around the world.

Powell will receive a $500 prize, and the Department of Fiber Science & Apparel Design (FSAD) in Cornell’s College of Human Ecology will also be featured in the magazine.

As she experimented with patterns and colors for her piece, Powell said a theme struck her. “The colors reminded me of waking up to a sunny morning. The more I looked at the print, the more I couldn’t get the image of bacon and eggs out of my head because of the color combination… and the idea of waking up in the morning to beautiful sunshine and a delicious breakfast.”

Last year, fashion design student Jill Austin ’15 was a finalist in the contest, according to FSAD assistant professor Huiju Park, who leads the course.

“Considering Rachel and our students are freshmen and many of them just learned CAD, I am proud of their creativity and confidence in their visual communication skills,” he said.