The Revolutionary Initiative of Laura De Pegna, co-coordinator of the Interior and Product Design Major, in Support of the Local Product Industry

Chavonera to the bone, Laura De Pegna is also one of the group of talents who emerged from our school and then submerged herself in the classrooms of Parsons School of Design to specialize in the area of product design.

As a professional interior and product designer, she worked in New York for designers of the stature of Jonathan Adler, Vicente Wolf, and Nan Swid (with the Calvin Klein Home collection). And the incomparable experience she obtained in the United States corporate world designing collections for the home for such well-known brands as Target, Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Kmart, Sears, Bed Bath & Beyond, Kohl’s, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, and West Elm goes without saying. She further left her personal imprint on collections produced for factories in India, China, Turkey, Vietnam, Indonesia, Portugal, France, and South America.

In recent years she has collaborated and shared her broad experience with the textile communities of various countries that are preserving their traditional crafts with products made by hand, that keep their focus on social responsibility with an eye toward their craftspeople, that value Latin American roots, and that prioritize ecological design.

Laura proudly admits it: she feels a strong attraction for textiles, ceramics, porcelain vessels, lighting, and household utensils. Her focus and style are marked by the exploration and creation of new concepts and production techniques. Soit’s no surprise that many of her designs, ideas, and concepts have been presented with great success at numerous galleries, exhibits, and local and international fairs.

Knowing full well the importance of designing objects in conjunction with spaces and furniture, today she is co-coordinator, together with Andreas De Camps, of the Interior and ProductDesign major at the CHAVÓN School of Design. Laura heads the Product Design specialty, hoping to develop projects that “educate, raise consciousness, and promote change in local industry.”

“Toward this dream we’ve gathered a marvelous group of professionals, Dominican and international, at a high level of design,” affirms this consummate professional, who has plans to implement a student program comprising the tools necessary for the process of design development and the fundamentals of concept and functionality, with the goal that the CHAVÓN graduate will know the techniques of creativity and research analysis as well as styles of consumption, the demands and needs of the market, and the importance of social responsibility.

For this creative woman, “The Interior and Product Design major at CHAVÓN goes beyond esthetics: we focus on bettering not only our environment but also the wellbeing of people through space, furniture, and surrounding objects.”

While the first year of the major is centered on providing the basic concepts of design, which will strengthen participants’ skills in research and critical thought through exploration and work (individual, collaborative, and multidisciplinary), the second year will focus on the development of personal creativity and will introduce the tools of the specialty. That’s why Laura proposes that her groups have the challenge of developing complete, innovative, and finished projects with solid conceptual fundamentals.

And so it is that this woman—passionate about the esthetics of the home and about design brands, and with more than 10 years’ experience in the market of luxury items and lifestyles and almost five years’ experience in the stages of product life cycles behind her—is supremely clear about it: “My aspiration always aims to create an environment that is sufficiently  healthful, harmonious, and functional.”