Second-year Interior Design students are creating Shaker tables as part of their Furniture Design course taught by Profs. Natalie Ellis and Tracy Howard. Shaker furniture is known for its careful attention to proportion, form and function.
Under guided supervision, they are crafting the tables from start to finish in the Gibbs College of Architecture’s Creating_Making Lab. Once finished, the students have the opportunity to take them home if they purchase the wood used to produce their projects.
A student constructs a table.
“Most of the students come into this class with little or no furniture crafting experience; as interior designers, we are used to drawing out our ideals but most often, we aren’t building the object,” said Ellis. “The table encourages the students to see the material of wood as an artistic material source.”
The opportunity to construct a piece of furniture allows insight into the way that we conceive and document furniture designs.
“It’s one thing for you, as a designer, to pick out a table that matches your design, order it from a manufacturer, and put it into a space,” said Ashley Schlepp, a student in the course. “It’s an entirely different perspective when you get to experience the hard work, critical thinking, and elbow grease that go into making that table yourself.”
View a video feature exploring the students' work below.
The OU Institute for Quality Communities (IQC) 2024 collaboration with the Historic Threatt Filling Station has been recognized in the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's newly released Byways Report: The Scenic Route to Rural Prosperity – a story-driven publication exploring how road trip culture and place-based tourism can fuel economic growth in rural communities.
The Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to announce that Camille Germany, Chief of Staff, has been named the 2026 recipient of the university-wide Jennifer L. Wise Good Stewardship Award.
Gibbs College faculty Ken Marold and Bryan Bloom were recognized at the 2026 ACSA Architectural Education Awards during the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) 114th Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois, held March 26–28, 2026.
