This course combines the business of art and design, transforming the creative impulse to a marketable deliverable. Students are encouraged to think beyond the confines of traditional markets, working collaboratively toward the goal of employing inventive thinking in the workplace with the goal of an independently owned and operated enterprise. A fundamental objective of this class is for students to understand a basic business vocabulary, to explore how design-driven business and creative studio thinking overlap, and to understand how creative skills can be used to identify and execute business opportunities. Students will be introduced to business concepts through lectures, case studies, assignments and class discussion. Assignments will work off the classroom pedagogy and topics covered will be business models, marketing, finance, and strategy as they relate to studio activity.

Elective

Three Critics will offer graduate students the opportunity to get inside the art critic's head and learn how writers think about the visual. Students will be exposed to a wide range of viewpoints and discourse on contemporary art issues as defined by the interests of three different, practicing critics. Each critic will become part of the RISD community for approximately one month, conducting 3 sessions on campus and one in New York or Boston. On-campus meetings will consist of lectures, reading and writing assignments, group critiques and one-on-one studio visits. Off-campus trips will include visits to museums, galleries and artist studios. Small groups of students will be expected to lead several classes. Outside coursework and full participation in class discussion required for successful completion.

Major Requirement | MFA Painting

This course examines Chinese Ming dynasty furniture as a system of material intelligence that challenges dominant Western industrial design paradigms. Through the study of Chinese woodworking traditions, students engage with alternative ways of making, learning, and knowing—rooted in handcraft, material sensitivity, and structural logic. Using primarily hand tools, the studio emphasizes making and drawing as methods to understand joinery and structure as generative design frameworks.

In contrast to dominant narratives of design innovation, Chinese furniture demonstrates a continuity of form across time, where transformation occurs through subtle variations, adaptations, and cultural layering rather than radical formal reinvention. This course frames such continuity as a critical alternative to prevailing notions of progress and authorship.

Students will also investigate questions of knowledge production, cultural visibility, and the conditions under which certain design histories become legible or overlooked.

Hands-on making is approached as an embodied method of inquiry rather than technical mastery. Students will produce a series of studies, including joinery prototypes, material investigations, and analytical drawings, leading to the final project. Outcomes may take the form of furniture or spatial/system-based proposals that reinterpret these principles in a contemporary context, articulating a clear design position grounded in structure, material logic, and cultural understanding.

This studio is a Reassembling Industrial Design (REID) Special Topic Studio, which meets the graduation requirement for an SEI tagged class.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

This course will explore the technical and conceptual fundamentals of computer programming in the broader context of a sustained studio practice. In addition to teaching basic software coding skills from the ground up, the course will focus on the social and historical backgrounds of these technologies and how they shape the growth of media, identity, politics and the everyday. Related works from the contemporary art and design fields will be examined, ranging from visual, performance and sound art to architecture, product design and beyond. Students will be expected to engage with computer coding and related technologies conceptually or technically in their studio work. The course will consist of introductory exercises in computer programming, discussions of articles related to contemporary digital media, frequent critiques, and an intensive final project that pushes the boundaries of computer coding as a creative tool. Mistakes, pitfalls and frustrations will be expected and encouraged as students navigate this quickly changing medium. No prior programming experience is necessary. Open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of the department.

Elective

The purpose of S301 is for students to engage in scholarly exploration of topics that are of interest to them (including topics that directly impact their studio practice). Students will be guided by the particular expertise of their faculty, and the epistemological frameworks of a given HPSS discipline or interdisciplinary area, to build a liberal arts-based practice that deepens and expands understanding of their area of focus. Placement in the junior year is scaffolded to allow students to have had the time to take several liberal arts electives and be far enough along in their major to start to develop specific interests and questions that could benefit from deeper exploration and integration across bodies of knowledge. The project-based focus of the course should allow students to start to gain background understanding of a topic of interest that may serve them as they enter their final year of study at RISD, including optionally a reflection about the relevance of the project to their studio work.

Major Requirement | BFA, BArch

Introduction to means of representation of ideas for Interior Architecture through various types of drawings: orthographics, axonometrics, perspectives, freehand sketching and mixed media. Work will be done on site from existing structures as well as in the studio concentrating on concept development through drawing.

Major Requirement | BFA Interior Studies

Introduction to means of representation of ideas for Interior Architecture through various types of drawings: orthographics, axonometrics, perspectives, freehand sketching and mixed media. Work will be done on site from existing structures as well as in the studio concentrating on concept development through drawing.

Major Requirement | BFA Interior Studies

This course offers a unique opportunity to study ceramic traditions and contemporary studio practices in Jingdezhen, China—the historic center of Chinese porcelain production for the last 1000+ years. Students will explore the expressive and functional possibilities of clay through hand-building, wheel-throwing, and surface decoration, as well as gain experience in clay mixing, glazing, and kiln firing. Instruction will combine lectures, demonstrations, critiques, and studio assignments to build both technical skills and conceptual understanding. As part of the course, students will also participate in the International Academy of Ceramics Conference hosted by the Jingdezhen Ceramic University, engaging directly with global perspectives in the field.

Registration is not available in Workday. Students must complete an application through RISD Global Summer Studies. A minimum GPA of 2.5 is required for all RISD students. Failure to remain in good academic standing can lead to removal from the course, either before or during the course. Additional information including deadlines and travel costs can be found on the Global Summer Studies website.

This studio course introduces materials commonly used in furniture making and the foundation skills necessary to integrate them into furniture. Emphasis is on techniques, structures and materials properties. These are integrated with theoretical exercises that focus on design.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Sophomore Furniture Design Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Furniture Design

This studio course introduces materials commonly used in furniture making and the foundation skills necessary to integrate them into furniture. Emphasis is on techniques, structures and materials properties. These are integrated with theoretical exercises that focus on design.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Sophomore Furniture Design Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Furniture Design

Make you own paper for printing or three-dimensional constructions in this hand on experimental studio course in making paper. Curriculum will include: paper specifications, basic sheet formation, Japanese Plant fibers, recycled materials, paper modules and screens, along with paper structures for installation based work.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $175.00

Elective

This course explores the principles of construction and design detailing. The student will detail the construction of a previously designed studio project. Finish materials, window treatments, light fixtures, and furniture will be selected. Construction methods and materials will be examined as well as the performance and appearance retention of finishes. Individual presentations will be made on a variety of traditional and nontraditional materials.

Major Requirement | BFA Interior Studies

This 3-credit elective centers around the Sustainability Lab, an initiative between LDAR and INTAR departments to explore creative material approaches to sustainability. Looking specifically at materials common to New England, this skill-building seminar will explore one selected material each year and expose students to different techniques and methods of researching and working with the region's intrinsic materials.

In tandem with the co-requisite studio, students will collaborate with expert scientists, artists, craftspeople, and designers to refine their material literacy and develop multiple hands-on explorations that go beyond our disciplinary conventions to generate innovative fabrication techniques and applications for the built environment. This process includes becoming familiar with a material's inherent characteristics and behaviors, its composition and connection to vernacular and craft, and finally, developing novel research methods for design that rely on physical experimentation. 

This is a co-requisite course. Students must register for LDAR/INTAR-500G - Sustainability Lab: Advanced Research Studio and LDAR/INTAR-501G - Sustainability Lab: Material Explorations.

Students are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Landscape Architecture and Interior Architecture Graduate Students.

Elective

While introducing students to the principal concepts of structural design and mechanical systems, the course will attempt to provide a direct link to the built environment with focus on the rehabilitation, preservation and adaptive reuse of existing structures, both historical and contemporary. The presentation of case studies, focus on the structural and mechanical aspects of students' individual studio projects and the excursion to a construction site will bridge the gap between class room and the world of building.

Major Requirement | BFA Interior Studies

In this studio, first-year graduates begin to recognize and develop personal areas of interest. Direction is given to bring structure to the exploration of various processes, materials, concepts, and formats. Weekly individual meetings focus on student's progress and response to assignments, as well as independent research.

Students are pre-registered for this course by the department; registration is not available in Workday. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Jewelry + Metalsmithing Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

In this collaborative studio between furniture design and architecture, students will create furnishings that respond to and engage with the body of work of a significant architectural practice. Students will study the history, cultural influence, and works of a creative practice that encompasses both architecture and furniture. Upon completion of a coordinated field trip to visit the built work of the selected practice, a regional building will be selected as the architectural context for students to respond to. Although the emphasis of the class will be on designing and making furniture, it will operate as an interdisciplinary collaboration between furniture design and architecture students, with each discipline contributing its distinct expertise, skills, techniques, and knowledge. The studio is offered in partnership with Form Portfolios, a local design business that works with the estates of renowned designers to steward their legacies. Representatives from Form Portfolios will contribute their knowledge and expertise in the selected practices and the design industry more generally to support the development of student projects.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $150.00

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16O-yKq_vjwfiPuPCrJhXfykpiuflUQE5/view?usp=sharing to access the syllabus

Elective

Afterschool Special adds another layer to the MFA Sculpture curriculum in relation to the work done in Graduate Studio and Graduate Critique. The class will be divided into 2 six-week sections taught by an artist and a curator. Through these differing and connected perspectives, students will develop a deeper understanding into the ways that art is displayed, viewed, contextualized and experienced. The course will explore the many roles that the artist plays in society in addition to elaborating the ways that visual art influences contemporary thought through the history of curation and exhibition-making.

The course will consist of lectures, discussions, group critiques and one-on-one studio visits. The first half of the semester will focus on professional practices in the field of fine arts. Students will be introduced to a variety of resources and skills necessary in preparing for upcoming and future opportunities such as residencies, granting applications, and fellowships. There will also be discussions about maintaining post-graduate art practices and cultivating thriving creative communities.  The second half will focus on curation with emphasis placed on current trends and shifts in artistic and curatorial production, theory, and criticism. Students will examine case studies of a range of curatorial practices and consider examples of artist curated shows. Both sections will involve the topic of exhibiting works in various spaces such as galleries (artist-run, for-profit, university, etc.), museums and alternative art organizations. 

Enrollment is limited to 2nd-year Sculpture Graduate Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Sculpture

Part I of a two-semester course that will survey major topics in the Histories of Photography. Emphasis will be given to the diverse cultural uses of photography from its invention to the present day. Such uses include: the illustrated press; amateur photography; studio photography; industrial, advertising, and fashion photography; political and social propaganda; educational and documentary photography; and photography as a medium of artistic expression. Much attention will be paid to how photographs construct histories, as well as being constructed by them.

Major Requirement | BFA Photography

This course focuses on issues in the professional textile field, such as the effect of production parameters and end use on design decisions. While helping students become more familiar with the wide ranging market, from the most innovative to the traditional, this course aims at providing an awareness of how one's own work fits into this context. Lecturers include professionals from the field, who advise on the studio work required in this class.

This course is a requirement for second-year Graduate Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Textiles

Graduate Thesis Communications I is a studio course run in parallel with our sibling studio course which focuses on design research methods. Together, we will spend the fall semester casting about, planning and prototyping towards some kind of design proposal or product for execution in the spring. We think about writing in two ways. First as a design tool and second as a communication tool. On the tool for design side, we think about the many ways that writing can help clarify and quickly test out ideas. We think about writing as a form of rapid prototyping alongside sketching, model making, etc. We talk about what writing is good at, when other methods might be more useful, and when to combine methods. We use writing to help clarify and crystalize the thesis plan. On the communication side, we think about the many ways that writing surrounds a designed object (as a proposal, as sales copy, as instructions to users, as specs for manufacture, as criticism, etc.). We think about the audiences for those various kinds of writing and how to think about what they want and need. We talk about the thesis as a tool for explaining the design but also as a tool for helping you advance your career goals. At the end of the course, you will have a partially complete draft of your thesis. which will set you up for an excellent spring.

Enrollment in this course is limited to Graduate Industrial Design Students.

Major Requirement | MID Industrial Design