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With a new kind of campus store, RISD makes a very smart statement about
a school's worth.
By Ken Shulman
The Metropolis Observed
February 2002
What's in a name? Lots, it seems, at least by the quantity of mugs and mouse
pads that high-profile universities are able to peddle simply by stamping
their names on them. But take away the "Harvard" or "Yale"
or "UCLA" and these avidly sought items suddenly look like everyday
tchotchkes. Not so at Risd/works, the Rhode Island School of Design's newly
opened retail store. Here it's not the name that sells--it's the objects
themselves.
"We wanted to create a retail venue that would demonstrate what makes
RISD such an extraordinary institution," president Roger Mandle says.
"And the only way to do that is through what we make. It isn't through
a glossy brochure that blathers on about the value of a RISD education.
Our best advertisement is through the products made by our faculty and alumni."
Inaugurated this past October, Risd/works occupies 1,300 square feet on
the ground floor of a nineteenth-century neoclassical brownstone in
downtown Providence. The store's offerings of fine art and products
by alumni and faculty span the school's impressive creative spectrum: postcards
by Jenny Holzer (class of '77); figurines by Vernon Thornblad (class
of '84); a Cuisinart designed by Marc Harrison, late professor of industrial
design; and videotapes of the film To Die For, directed by Gus Van
Sant (class of '75). There's also a Web site for online commerce:
www.risdworks.com.
Offsite:
Check out the
alumni-designed products for sale at the Rhode Island School of Design
gift shop at
www.risdworks.com.
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RISD has always had a traditional campus gift shop, as well as a store that
sold art supplies to students. But Mandle realized that the school also
needed a retail outlet that spoke to the larger community. Two years ago
he formed a committee to seek out alumni talent, who were thrilled to participate.
"It's like being included in a museum show," says illustrator
and writer David Macaulay. "It's a sign of having achieved a certain
level of recognition for the quality of your ideas." Macaulay graduated
from RISD in 1969 with a degree in architecture; two of his books--Cathedral
and Unbuilding--are part of this year's Risd/works collection.
In its first month of business Risd/works made triple its projected
revenues. Mandle admits that the store is an exercise in branding--but it's
branding through the school's contributions, not just through its name.
While other colleges capitalize on, say, crimson or blue and gold, RISD
cashes in on its creativity. "People sometimes ask me what our school's
official colors are," says Mandle, who came there in 1993 from
the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, D.C. "I say our colors
are all the colors of the rainbow. RISD is a panoply of all these creative
people doing these extraordinary things."
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