In this course, internationally recognized designer and maker Marc Fish will guide students through his approach to designing original furniture and sculptural work. Rather than working toward a predetermined project, students will learn a design process they can apply to their own work and future creative practice. The course will begin by examining where ideas come from, with inspiration drawn from nature, architecture, art, engineering, materials, and everyday objects. Students will learn how these references can inspire original work without simply copying existing designs. Students will develop their ideas through sketching, experimentation, and model making. Marc will demonstrate how quick drawings and physical models can help explore proportion, form, balance, and structure, often revealing details that are difficult to understand on paper or a computer screen. A major part of the course will focus on design development by repeatedly questioning, editing, and refining an initial idea. Students will also explore the relationship between materials, processes, and design, learning how the behavior of a material and the making process itself can influence the final form. Marc will share the development of his own work, from early sketches and experimental models to prototypes, failures, and finished pieces. The emphasis throughout the course will be on thinking through making. Students do not need to be accomplished artists. Sketches may be rough, models may be crude, and experiments may fail. Their purpose is to communicate and test an idea. By the end of the course, students will have a clearer understanding of their own design process, a collection of developed ideas and models, and a practical approach they can continue using to create original work.