Unfortunately, the majority of the headlining exhibitors, including a large number of furniture manufacturers from Holmes County’s Amish community, are unable to participate in the May event due to unexpected conflicts with their business schedules.  Out of great respect for our exhibitors and their business obligations, we have decided to postpone the Cleveland Furniture Fair 1.1.  We are actively working with our partners to identify a new date for this popular design event.”

The Spring Design Show is just a part of the annual Spring Show that is an art fair in three buildings during the whole month of April. The fair celebrates the full array of work being conceptualized and produced by Cleveland Institute of Art students. Following is an overview:

• Craft + Material Culture: April 1 to 30 at the George Gund Building.
• Foundation: April 18 to 22 at the George Gund Building
• Integrated Media: April 18 to 22 at the Joseph McCullough Center
• Visual Arts + Technologies: April 18 to 22 at the Joseph McCullough Center

There will be a public reception in all three buildings on Tuesday, April 19 from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. For details go to www.cia.edu/springshow.

Douglas Steidl, Kent State University’s new dean of the College of Architecture and Environmental Design says the CUDC offers a wonderful experience for the college’s architecture students. “Our graduate students have the opportunity to work in an urban setting and work on real-world projects,” Steidl said. “By studying at this facility, they are engaged in real-world design challenges and investigate new planning and development opportunities in collaboration with our very creative staff.”

 A driving force behind the CUDC is Terry Schwarz, Director of the CUDC. Schwarz points out the CUDC’s new location is very attractive. “Our new location in in the District of Design, which is the area in downtown Cleveland surrounding PlayhouseSquare, envisioned to include architecture, engineering, design and planning firms and programs,” Schwarz explained. “We are part of the steady, but accelerating, progress of the District of Design by becoming one of its new, key tenants.”

For more information regarding the Kent State’s Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, visit www.cudc.kent.edu.

The museum’s goal is to celebrate Schreckengost’s career as an industrial designer, as well as Cleveland’s history as a center for industrial design. Schreckengost, who died in 2008 at age 101. designed a vast array of consumer and business products, from trucks and bicycles to chairs, printing presses and gas stations.

The Viktor Schreckengost Foundation homepage indicates “Every adult in America has ridden in, ridden on, drunk out of, stored their things in, eaten off of, been costumed in, mowed their lawn with, played on, lit the night with, viewed in a museum, cooled their room with, read about, printed with, sat on, placed a call with, enjoyed in a theater, hid their hooch in, collected, been awarded with, seen at a zoo, put their flowers in, hung on their wall, served punch from, delivered milk in, read something printed on, seen at the World’s Fair, detected enemy combatants with, written about, had an arm or leg replaced with, graduated from, protected by, or seen at the White House something created by Viktor Schreckengost”.

The museum will display a collection of Schreckengost’s designs that are now in storage at Cleveland State University. Admission will be free. The Schreckengost Foundation has said that part of the museum’s purpose is to spur interest from manufacturers in creating products based on the artist’s original designs. 

Visitors can admire a delicate fish-shaped soap dish, a powerful Remington 3.5 chainsaw or a quirky wooden iPod case–all evidence of the versatility of the Cleveland-based design firm.

SmartShape is not just versatile when it comes to its product range. The Cleveland-based firm, with 16 employees including two offices in China, also offers a host of services to help manufacturers get their products to market.

The firm will provide engineering and production services as well as design expertise at its new headquarters, a 10,000-square-foot, newly renovated space on Rockwell Avenue near East 12th Street. The facility includes a design studio, engineering test lab, prototype shop and manufacturing sample showroom.

Prior to relocating to Rockwell Avenue, SmartShape was located on Superior Avenue near East 21st. Employees of the firm are happy to be closer to the amenities at the city center.

“We like being downtown,” said President and Founder Mike Maczuzak, a graduate of Kent State University. “We can walk to East 4th Street and the public library and we’re right on the edge of the District of Design.”

SmartShape’s two offices in China help provide engineering expertise and connect the firm to the manufacturing industry and large consumer base in the rapidly developing country. Maczuzak recognized early that China was becoming an indispensible partner in product manufacturing. The company first established a presence in the country almost ten years ago.

As the 20-year-old firm continues to evolve, it has developed a specialty in biomedical product design–a niche that fits nicely with the local economy.

“The medical industry has grown to be the biggest segment of our business,” he said. Creating these types of products is rewarding beyond just profitability, Maczuzak said, because “ultimately is could save peoples’ lives.”

The firm is happy its new headquarters will put it closer to the proposed downtown medical mart, Maczuzak said.

SmartShape is also proud to at the cutting edge of green product production. The firm is currently designing Northeast Ohio’s first electrical vehicle charging stations.

“We like working on projects like that,” said Maczuzak. “We’re all very sustainability minded.’

For more information visit smartshapedesign.com.