Interior designer Volpe shares successes
Steven Volpe, rated a top-100 interior designer by Architectural Digest, has traveled to many places such as Paris, London and Italy. This week, Volpe traveled to Utah for the first time, speaking to 17 third-year interior design students at USU on Thursday.
“I was intrigued when I saw the list of prior speakers,” Volpe said. “It made me want to find out about what the school was doing.”
Prior to his speech Volpe spent several hours with the interior design students. A month ago, these students received a hypothetical project from Steven Volpe Design. Their projects, which were displayed on a screen before Volpe’s speech began, were critiqued by Volpe on Thursday.
“Discussing their work that they were presenting, that was really fulfilling,” Volpe said.
Volpe spoke in the Performance Hall about some of the projects his company, Steven Volpe Design, has overseen.
“I just thought it was really cool that someone that famous would actually come here,” said Trent Yeates, a freshman majoring in pre-interior design. “It’s nice to have the interactions. I mean Utah’s pretty small, so knowing people that famous, I guess, is just really powerful.”
Volpes speech was one of many events celebrating Arts Week. The Arts and Design department head, Laura Gelfand, introduced Volpe to the audience.
“Stevens finely-tuned eye is the result of his work with several accomplished designers,” Gelfand said.
Volpe said such designers helped to inspire his projects.
“I think it’s really important to have inspiration, because you need to grow from something,” Volpe said
Following Volpe’s speech there was a reception in the lobby of the Performance Hall where students spoke with Volpe one on one.
“I guess it’s cool to me that I can come see someone like this,” Yeates said. “I can learn from them when I’m just nobody right now, but hopefully I can become someone like him.”
– jerawood@aggimail.usu.edu