National Student Winner- SUB-ZERO/WOLF Kitchen Contest

This is a very big win for me! I couldn't say it better than the article below, written by Mike Morris for the Houston Chronicle.

Design Student Wins National Competition

By Mike Morris

A Humble student has bested 600 other competitors to win a national interior-design competition for a project he developed based on the needs of his large family.

Art Institute of Houston senior Frankie Dziedzic, 22, learned last month he had won the lone student prize in the biennial National Kitchen Design Contest put on by manufacturers Sub-Zero and Wolf Appliance.

One of 12 children, nine of whom are adopted and several of whom have learning or speech disabilities, Dziedzic designed the kitchen with his family in mind.

Dziedzic also is working with his father, Frank, a general contractor, to finish designing a new house the family hopes to build with the kitchen as a centerpiece.

The space, titled “Laughter Through The Rafters,” features two central islands and a wide cooking area flanked by two concealed refrigerators. Most of the appliances, in fact, are hidden within the green cabinetry, a color Dziedzic chose to give the space a light, fun ambiance.

“My whole intention was, by having the design clean and concealed, that the actual art of cooking and being in the kitchen is shown better,” he said. “That is the canvas for actually living in there.”

In the family’s current home on Pinehurst Trail Drive, small rooms with low ceilings make the space feel even smaller, so Dziedzic raised the ceilings to the rafters and removed most walls. Because those choices might raise the noise level, Dziedzic also included hanging fabric-coated disks that also would be lights, and cork flooring, both of which dampen sound.

“This is the first project I’ve done where I’ve actually looked at it and felt what I was trying to achieve,” he said. “I just picture my family in there and you hear kids laughing, and there are people sitting over there at the table. It looks beautiful to me.”

Dziedzic’s teacher Rex Spencer said his student is a mature, “one in 100” student with a special ability to think in three dimensions and has a unique understanding of lighting, the most crucial element of interior design.

“He lives design — it’s his passion,” he said. “He’s not just designing a project to be published or to win a competition. He’s designing it caring about the person who’s going to use the space. If you don’t have that humanity, you can’t be a great designer.”

Dziedzic’s father described his son as an organized perfectionist, with an impressive ability to mold designs in his head.

“He was able to take the ideals that I had, his mother and others, and he just put it all together,” Frank said. “A lot of people can do nice work. To take somebody else’s thoughts and put them down on the paper, that’s unique.”

Having worked as a general contractor and designed the family’s current home himself, Frank is in a unique position to appreciate his son’s talent, and says he’s tremendously impressed and excited about his potential.
“I’ve been around some talented people, and I compare him equal to a lot of these guys that have been around for years,” he said.

As part of the competition win, Dziedzic, with his mother as a guest, will travel to a Florida resort next week on an expenses-paid trip to enjoy the ocean and network with design professionals.

March 18, 2010

The Houston Chronicle