from FSU Art BA ’20 Brandon Garcia:
This past fall semester, I had the privilege of being able to intern at the Master Craftsman Studio located in Tallahassee. This studio specializes in metal fabrications, installation works, and many others. Established in 1999 , the studio has created many of the iconic sculptural works around FSU and in Tallahassee. My role for this internship was working with a small team to work on conceptualizing and sketching design drafts for various projects. This was done remotely this semester and presented itself with the responsibility of attending meetings, interacting with a creative team, providing critical feedback, and collaborating to bring about a finished piece of design for clients.
The main challenge that arose from the internship was the process of coming up with new concepts and different ideas to add to each other’s designs. Overcoming, “creative block” and finding different ways we as a team can make the conceptual designs please and satisfy the clients. Learning to contribute to a creative process in a space where your ideas and work need to help the team bring a final design forward. One of the most enjoyable parts of this internship was to be able to collaborate with other intern designers. It was fascinating to see the evolution of an idea to be finalized into a piece. Developing a piece with new tweaks and adjustments each meeting. Another aspect of interning was the opportunity to observe how meetings were conducted. Whether it was a team production meeting or seeing how the studio operates with clients on their commission projects. This gave insight to the business process of how a studio handle’s their teams and working with clients to come to a clear vision of the product.
I would recommend this internship to students who are sculptural designers of some kind or inspiring product designers. You are working with a team to invent new ideas for interesting sculptures. Figuring out how each piece of conceptualized designs on paper is going to operate in a space and interact with it’s environment. Considering not just how it’s designed but how will it be created to replicate to what is created on paper.