Schools Workshop

The WANTED Design Schools Workshop is a collaborative design challenge for international design schools with the contributions of guests and industry experts.

This year’s workshop, “Eating in NYC: Reconnecting and Redesigning Food Systems”, was conducted with school partner RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) and supported by Haworth, Core77 and molo.

In a dedicated workspace at ICFF, the 30 + students coming from different schools and countries worked together organized by team. At the end of ICFF, they presented their projects to a Jury of industry leaders on the main stage.

The winning team, “Re Compost”, including Florence Grace-Castonguay Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), RIDA Zeng School of Visual Arts, Gabriela Mestriner Pratt Institute, Gabriela Mierkalne California College of the Arts and Sebastian Arce re imagined New York’s composting system to make it truly circular.

“I really appreciated how well they worked together, despite coming from different backgrounds. Everything felt cohesive and on the same level. The team clearly understood how to collaborate effectively. I also liked how they presented very practical, thoughtful solutions — and again, everything was very well balanced within the team.” Commented Nicolai Czumaj-Bront, Senior Principal Designer Haworth, who was part of the Jury.

View the Winning Presentation Here >>>

The 2025 Participating Schools are:
CCA (California College of the Arts)
CENTRO (Centro de Diseño y Comunicación Mexico)
Escuela Monica Herrera (El Salvador)
Ohio State University
RISD (Rhode Island School of Design)
Pratt Institute
SVA (School of Visual Arts)

The Jury was conducted by Allan Chochinov, Founding Chair of MFA Products of Design graduate program at SVA and co-founder of Core 77, Nicolai Czumaj-Bront, Senior Principal Designer Haworth, Jean-Jacques L’henaff, leader of Global Design Americas LIXIL, Jane Nakagawa, Honda Design LA, and Stephanie Forsythe, Lead Designer and Director of molo.

Group photo with the participating students.

Image Courtesy of California College of the Arts

California College of the Arts (CCA)

California College of the Arts educates students to shape culture and society through the practice and critical study of art, architecture, design, and writing. Benefiting from its San Francisco Bay Area location, the college prepares students for lifelong creative work by cultivating innovation, community engagement, and social and environmental responsibility.

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Image Courtesy of Centro de Diseño y Comunicación Mexico

Centro de Diseño y Comunicación Mexico

CENTRO is a collaborative and diverse learning community that trains professionals with a social, sustainable and entrepreneurial approach in the fields of design, film, technology, communication, architecture and fashion. Understand
creativity as a catalyst for innovation
and value creation.

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Image Courtesy of Escuela Monica Herrera

Escuela Monica Herrera

Escuela Monica Herrera is a private, non-profit higher education institution established in El Salvador and founded 30 years ago. As a specialized institution, they have built a strong reputation in the fields of communication, marketing, and strategic design, with a current undergraduate student population of 500. Their mission is to provide learning experiences that train entrepreneurial and innovative professionals capable of driving change and shaping their environment. At the core of their educational approach, they place students at the center of the teaching-learning process. All class activities are designed as experiential learning opportunities, fostering a deep understanding that ensures meaningful learning. Key competencies such as Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Innovation, Effective Communication, and Teamwork are fundamental to their students' development.

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Image Courtesy of The Ohio State Unversity

Ohio State University

The Department of Design at The Ohio State University prepares students to play key roles in the future of design practice and research; creates critical design-related knowledge; advances interdisciplinary collaboration; encourages open-minded exploration, risk-taking, and freedom of expression; embraces an ecological perspective; and serves the social good.

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Image Courtesy of Pratt Institute

Pratt Institute

Pratt is an institute, an experience, and an idea. What started as a radical experiment to expand access to creative careers is now a community of 5,137 grad and undergrad students working across 48 programs with 1,200 dedicated faculty. 135 years in the making, this is Pratt.

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Image Courtesy of RISD

Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)

The mission of Rhode Island School of Design, through its college and museum, is to educate its students and the public in the creation and appreciation of works of art and design, to discover and transmit knowledge and to make lasting contributions to a global society through critical thinking, scholarship and innovation.

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molo paper softwall and benchwall

Spacial Thanks: molo

Led by Stephanie Forsythe + Todd MacAllen, molo is a design and production studio based in Vancouver, Canada. Balancing between realms of art, design and architecture. Best known for inventing a flexible system of paper walls, building blocks, furniture and lighting, molo products are grounded in multi-sensory aspects of sustainable space-making and range in scale from tea set to museum.