Last summer, James Cradit completed an internship at CVS Health in Woonsocket, RI, where he worked as an experience design intern on several CVS initiatives — the HealthHUB and Beauty IRL. He delivered a research presentation to the Chief Marketing Officer in collaboration with another intern in his department. James explains, “That presentation focused on a company-wide initiative that will (hopefully) see funding in the next year. It went very well and he was excited about our ideas. “
This fall, James began his senior year at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he is majoring in Industrial Design with a concentration in Jewelry. He had classes in jewelry casting and forming, lighting design and advanced CAD (computer aided design) methods. “The jewelry class focused on chasing, repoussé and vessel forming methods. This refers to hammering and forming metal into shape with hand tools. The second half of the semester revolved around lost-wax casting where I cast several rings. My final for that class was a chain that had to respond to gravity in some way,” James reports.
“My lighting design class focused on candleholders, children’s lighting and the design of a series of lights. They had to be working lights, which meant some troubleshooting with wiring and materials. These are still in progress, although I have attached photos below,” James adds.
“My advanced CAD class focused on responding to a series of prompts that pushed the class to explore different methods of modeling and rendering products. While this class was more technique focused than design focused, it was still an excellent set of skills to learn,” James explains.
In addition to schoolwork, James continued working on a project he started last winter with a former RISD instructor. This involved the design and fabrication of window displays for the Ross-Simons Jewelry stores. The project involved illustration, layout and laser-cutting paper panels to fit inside a lightbox.
This winter, in cooperation with another RISD student, James will be working on a small production batch of jewelry to be sold at several small art sales in the spring. “After graduation, I plan to work full-time as an experience/retail designer, but I also want to start a small jewelry studio on the side. I have started an Instagram account to show some of my process and work. New pieces will be shown there. The handle is @jcradit.jewelry,” James says.
Looks like James will have a full schedule for the coming year. We wish him much success!
