Senior Success: Interior Designer Constance Chu Looks Back at her Amazing Time at NJIT
Constance Chu’s passion for interior design started at a young age, assisting her mother — an interior designer — in picking samples and colors. Thanks to this early exposure, Chu trained a design muscle that has evolved into an education and career.
“That's just kind of always been what I've been surrounded by,” said the interior design senior and Albert Dorman scholar. “It instilled in me a sort of eye for design that I've been training over the years like picking out details in spaces that maybe other people don't see, and really understanding what that does to space.
“I’ve been slowly training that muscle, and it has evolved into this education and career,” she said.
Chu remembers that first studio with senior university lecturer and interior design program coordinator, David Brothers, as one of the key moments in her time at NJIT. It’s special to see Brothers in her last studio before graduating.
“It's kind of metaphorical, seeing you enter the program and seeing you off. I feel like that first studio was very formative for me, it shaped a lot of my design thinking and conceptually what design means and my vocabulary and how I talk about my work and design in general,” she said. “I can't be more than grateful for that first studio.”
Since then, Chu has gone on to win multiple awards with her designs, which have been showcased across the world, like in London and Budapest: 2021 LICC Best in Decorate (Interior), 2021 LICC Shortlisted in Decorate (Interior), 2021 LIV Hospitality Awards Interior Design-Historic & Heritage, 2021 BLT Design Award Jury’s Top Pick, 2021 IIDA PA/NJ/DE Showcase 3rd Place, 2022 NJIT HCAD 3rd Year Art + Design Designer of Distinction Award, 2022 NJIT HCAD Art + Design Director's Scholarship, 2022, 2020 SIGGRAPH Faculty Submitted Student Work Show Reel and 2023 Formica FORM Student Innovation Competition Finalist.
She also won a team award recently in the IIDA PA/NJ/DE Fashion Meets Finish 2023 held at NJIT, where her team won the Best Interpretation of a Concept award.
“It was really fun. It was something that we've never done before, so it was really outside of our comfort zone,” said Chu, who also acted as NJIT IIDA co-president this past year. “Also to work as a large team of eight people was really challenging, but it was a slow and steady process. Towards the end, we sort of crammed it all in, and we were struggling with if this was going to work in the real stage or not, and then the day of was like a whirlwind. It all happened so fast, and then suddenly, we're on the stage receiving the award.”
The cliché that success requires 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration is perfectly embodied in the way Constance approaches her educational life
Chu recently received the great news that she was selected for Metropolis's Future 100 Program and featured in their March/April 2023 Issue.
“The designs she presents do not rely upon mere superficial beauty but embody a committed process of thoughtful research and iterative exploration,” said Brothers. “The cliché that success requires 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration is perfectly embodied in the way Constance approaches her educational life. I have witnessed only a handful of students who are as relentless in the hard work and diligence she brings to her studies.”
Born in Queens but living in Denville, New Jersey since 2017, Chu has traveled to different parts of the world. She uses those experiences to learn more about how people live, and to guide her designs. “I think that makes me more aware of how different people do things,” she said. “You can go there and see the architecture and their own design strategies, but also different societies and their cultural values. There’s more than one way to live, so I think that makes you a more informed designer. You're more conscious about your decisions.”
The 2021 LIV Hospitality Awards in Interior Design-Historic & Heritage allowed her to recently visit Budapest. Delayed because of the pandemic, the celebration event combined multiple-year winners that allowed her to meet a lot of other fellow designers and students like her.
Taking that global aspect [in mind], I want to see more things, how the world is
Her experience at NJIT has been both local and global. “It feels surreal, I guess that I’m still just a student, but to have had so many opportunities beyond this little bubble of school, and into not just the local community, but the international community, it's hard to believe,” she said.
She’s recently visited Iceland and Portugal and expects to travel more after graduation as she decides what her next professional move will be. “I'm taking a bit of a break and will travel a bit more,” she said. “Taking that global aspect [in mind], I want to see more things, how the world is, and maybe look into some different programs out there, or maybe start in training. Just really taking the time to think about my priorities and what's important.”
As she prepares for graduation, Chu has mixed feelings but is overwhelmed with gratitude for her time at NJIT’s Hillier College of Architecture and Design.
“It's a mixed feeling of excitement and nervousness for the uncertainty of what's beyond graduation,” she described. “I feel immense gratitude for the past four years and how much I've learned.”
