They worked with Lees on the new rbn (pronounced urban) flooring collection, which is tailored for use in commercial facilities. The new product won the Silver Award in the broadloom carpet category at the 2003 NeoCon World’s Trade Fair held in Chicago in June.

Executives from Lees Carpets recognized the students by presenting product samples of their award-winning carpet to Marvin J. Malecha, dean of NC State’s College of Design, during a special ceremony in September.

"What is exciting and unique about the rbn carpet collection is that we utilized students of different design disciplines, people outside of the carpet or interior design industries, to provide us with young, fresh talent who were not afraid to think outside the box,” said Rita Godfrey, assistant general manager of broadloom for Lees. “The students looked at the design of carpeting as something energetic, kinetic and fun, which resulted in designs that create energy and surprises. It is what urban life is all about.”

A promotional brochure produced by Lees highlights the new carpeting line as well as the six students who helped develop it. The students involved in the project were: Harriet Hoover, a recent graduate who was an Anni Albers scholar, which combines studies in art and design and textile technology; Peg Gignoux, a graduate student in art and design; Kerry Robinson, a junior in graphic design; Shawn Sowers, a graduate student in industrial design; Mia Blume, a junior in graphic design and Rachel Potenziani, a recent industrial design graduate.

The rbn collection was inspired by the vibrancy of city life and urban living. It utilizes neutral metallic background colors and a variety of complementing accent hues to create a sense of movement and energy. When standing in one place, only the background color is visible. But as one walks across the carpet, the tufted fibers come into view in the distance, which creates a sense of movement and energy. To create the rbn collection, Lees developed a new tufting process called Simplex ™, which allowed the company to utilize shadowing techniques with the carpet yarns.

"Lees always seeks to bring to market the most unique and innovative carpet options, and our collaboration with students from NC State’s College of Design allowed us to once again raise the bar in terms of product technology and aesthetics,” said Jim McCallum, president of Lees Carpets.

The student design team was given free reign throughout the production process, which took approximately one year to complete. Early in the process, the team worked together to turn brainstorming ideas into conceptual drawings and models. The team shared their ideas with executives from Lees, who turned them into product samples.

The group also toured Lees’ manufacturing facilities in Glasgow, Va., and met with Bob Hutchison, Lees’ vice president of product development, to learn more about the production process. The students made presentations to top officials at the company’s corporate headquarters in Greensboro, N.C., and met with sales and marketing executives to develop strategies on how best to pitch their new product. The students even came up with the product name, rbn flooring.

"What’s special about this project is that the intent was to go to market with a product from the very beginning,” said Vita Plume, assistant professor of art and design at NC State and a faculty advisor to the student team. “This project surpassed anything these students could have done in a classroom. It gave them insights into how industry actually works, how the design process works and how a product goes from concept to production.”