KEY POINTS:
A group of Massey University industrial design students have been invited to show off their furniture in one of the style capitals of Europe.
Calling themselves the Albany Collective, the fourth-year students at the Albany campus are looking for sponsors to help them attend the Milan furniture fair, from April 18-23.
Design heavyweights Ikea, from Sweden, and Vitra, from Switzerland, regularly display their latest works at the annual fair.
The group are still pinching themselves after a panel of experts for the fair decided their work was at the standard required and accepted their application.
"They took ages to get back to us, and we were checking our emails three or four times a day - it was so nerve-racking," said Neaam Alhaseny.
The collective have their sights set on the high end of the hotel furniture industry and have designed pieces ranging from an olive-shaped bar stool to a very funky, adjustable coffee table/sofa.
They will exhibit their designs at the fair's Salone Satellite show, which more than 200,000 visitors are expected to attend.
"It's only a small part of what is happening at the fair and is basically the place where students or emerging designers exhibit their work," said Kent Hodgson.
The group are well aware of what opportunities await as exhibiting designers are often flooded by international manufacturers to buy or license their work.
"It's very, very exciting and probably even more so because we have had to do this ourselves outside of the university," said Mr Hodgson.
But to get themselves and their work there will cost them about $40,000.
"That should set us up fairly comfortably, but we don't have $40,000," said Ms Alhaseny.
* The Albany Collective are holding a fundraising evening for their trip to Milan featuring theatresports supremos the Improv Bandits at the Bruce Mason Centre tomorrow night.
