Day in the Life: Exhibit Designer and Fabricator
Sarah Ahart at Design Within Reach during the 2016 Be Original Americas Fellowship. Photo by Alexander Kusak.
We’re back with another Day in the Life! This time, we are featuring one of our very first fellows from 2016. A graduate from Virginia Tech with a major in Industrial and Product Design, Sarah now helps make exhibits come to life.
Name: Sarah Ahart
City: Easthampton, MA
Job Title: Exhibit Designer and Fabricator
Company: 42 Design Fab
What does your job title mean?
I design and fabricate exhibits. Our company works with a variety of museums, artists, and other clients. We are a full-service design and fabrication shop, meaning that we work with clients from the early stages of design all the way through the final product.
For example, a client may come to us saying that they want an interactive math exhibit for a children’s museum. We will work through design iterations with them until we land on a final design, then we will build the interactive element and install it at the museum. Depending on the project we are working on, I am constantly changing roles and taking on new responsibilities. I may be the project manager and lead designer for one project while also aiding in fabrication for a different project.
What does your morning look like?
I usually start off by checking my email and looking through our project management system. I’ll look at the projects we are working on, deadlines that are coming up, and the tasks that are assigned to me. I do a lot of project management as well, so I will send emails to clients to update them on projects or find out any information that we need to move forward.
After lunch, what are you working on?
After lunch I am usually working in one of the shops. Depending on the project we are currently working on I may be in the woodshop running the CNC machine or down in the sculpture studio doing a fiberglass layup. I often am jumping back and forth between shops throughout the day. We tend to have multiple projects going on at once, so there is a lot of time management and planning that goes in to getting everything done efficiently and on time. I also do work at my desk including 3D modeling, concept sketching, graphic design, and project management. I would say I am at my desk about 30% of the time and hands-on in a shop the other 70%.
How does your workday end?
My workday ends by making sure all the working spaces are cleaned up. That means sweeping up, turning off machines and equipment, usually blowing my clothes down with the air hose, and turning off the lights and locking up! I usually end at my desk for a few minutes to log my time for the day and look through the project management system and my emails. If there is anything I didn’t get done and need to get done the next day, I will write myself a sticky note and leave it on my desk.
Sarah Ahart at our charter member Alessi’s showroom. Photo by Federica Carlet.
What do you do after work?
After work I do a variety of things. I am a member at a local pottery studio, Easthampton Clay, and I often go there after work to make pottery. I mostly throw on the wheel and I love experimenting with different glaze combinations. If it’s Tuesday night then my boyfriend and I go over to our friend’s house for dinner and game night. We are currently playing Gloomhaven, so each week we complete a different quest. Other than that, my boyfriend and I will cook dinner a couple times a week and watch an episode of our current show each night.
What do you know now that you wish you knew in school?
You don’t have unlimited time to work on projects like you did during school. Sure, in school we had deadlines, but before the deadline you could literally spend 24/7 working on the project if you wanted to. In the real world, all projects have budgets and hours associated with them. Even if a deadline is 6 months from now, you may only have 30 hours budgeted to that project. That means that you really have to manage your time well and focus to not only meet the 6-month deadline, but also complete the project within the 30 hours that were budgeted.
Is there anything else about your job you’d like people to know?
I get to do such a huge variety of things at my job, and I am constantly learning new things every day. I’m so glad I was able to find a place that has allowed me to grow as a designer and fabricator. I feel like there were a lot of preconceptions about what jobs were available after college, but I was able to find something out of the ordinary that really fit my interests and skill set. When doing your job search, get creative with key words. Don’t just type in your major and then “jobs” after it. Think about what you are really interested in doing and you’ll be able to find things you never knew existed.