IAD’s Visual Merchandising Class Visits High Point Market

As part of one of IAD’s new mini-mester courses titled, Visual Merchandising, Professor Stephanie Sickler traveled with 13 students to High Point, North Carolina for the Fall High Point Market from October 12-16th.  The goal of the course was to develop an understanding of the principles and practices of visual merchandising through an immersive and experiential learning opportunity.  The student group was comprised of juniors, seniors, and grad students in our program.

The group met with a variety of vendors, designers, visual merchandisers, showroom managers, and manufacturers, toured dozens of showrooms, and sketched and photographed their way through one of the country’s largest visual merchandising display.  Students learned first-hand the value of merchandising, branding, and the design process from seasoned industry professionals. For the second year in a row, students toured the Wesley Hall furniture factory and added on a tour through Vanguard’s casegoods finishing facility in Conover, NC, a short distance away from High Point.  During the trip, students interacted with Advisory Council President, Michele Wiebe, who was able to connect them with her many contacts in High Point as well.