Design students at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, got a special coming out party February 22 at the DWR Georgetown Studio in Washington, D.C. The students have spent the school year designing furniture in a special program shepherded by Sean Yoo, an industrial design instructor at James Madison and designer of DWR’s Matera Bedroom Collection.

Eight designs were shown during the evening event, ranging from a magazine rack to book shelves. The designers hail mostly from Virginia.

A program accompanying the show introduced the designers  and offered each a chance to describe their pasts and lay out their dreams.

“I aspire to create things that reinvent our current perspectives and everyday routines,” wrote Nathaniel Cook, the designer of the Moon coffee table from Richmond, Virgina. “I am still hungry for knowledge, thus as a short-term goal, I am interested in learning new methods of product and concept design.”

DWR was a co-sponsor of the event.