Louisiana Design Works is..
the first student-centered design incubator and design consultancy in the state of Louisiana. We are housed within the School of Architecture and Design in the College of the Arts at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. As such, we strive to provide students with a diverse set of professional opportunities that supplement and enhance their educational goals. These opportunities include fostering student-led design-based startups by assisting students in developing their own products, ideas, and businesses; acting as design consultants for other student entrepreneurs; and serving as consultants to local, national, and international industry partners in need of design services. Louisiana Design Works also designs, develops, manufactures, and sells its own product lines. In short, we work to create opportunities based upon the goals and ideas of our team members, our students, and the design community. Our mission is accomplished by providing employment and internship opportunities for design students and in fostering the work of student entrepreneurs.
Our Mission
The mission of Louisiana Design Works is to create a student-centered design environment that fosters creative product development leading to the fabrication of viable and market-ready products and to nurture the development of new, design-centric companies. By educating and mentoring design students in our region, Louisiana Design Works strives to improve the existing design community, bring new design-related jobs to the Acadiana region, and continually work to retain local design talent.
Our Vision
The vision of Louisiana Design Works is to ensure that students will be immersed in a professional design environment that prepares them for future careers in design.
Thomas Cline
Thomas is the principal director of Louisiana Design Works. He is an assistant professor of Industrial Design and the Industrial Design Coordinator at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. As such, he prefers to be thought of as our resident Design Overlord. Thomas has a Bachelor of Architecture degree, a B.S. in Building Science, an M.F.A. in Furniture Design, and a Ph.D in the Philosophy and History of Design Education. He obtained his undergraduate degrees from Auburn University in 1991, his M.F.A. from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2009, and his Ph.D from the University of Oklahoma in 2017. Thomas has extensive educational and professional experience. After a productive stint as an architect, he has been teaching design—in one capacity or another—since 2003. Thomas is currently a member of the design faculty at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and has served as Beginning Design Coordinator at the University of Oklahoma, as a Special Foreign Lecturer at Chang Mai University in Thailand, and as Studio Manager at the Savannah College of Art and Design. He is also a member of the Industrial Design Society of America and the American Educational Studies Association. Thomas’s interests include theorizing and writing about the philosophy and the history of design and design education, pondering the philosophy and history of technology, and fabricating design objects in wood, fibers, plastics, and metals. He is also interested in design entrepreneurship, vintage German cars, gardening, travel, and little things. Thomas’s personal strengths include product design, design development, design retailing, and rapid and traditional methods of fabrication.
Victoria Roux
Victoria is the Social Media and Marketing Director of Louisiana Design Works. Victoria, a passionate and hardworking Industrial Design major, is from New Orleans, Louisiana, and will graduate in May of 2019. She is a member and former VP of the Industrial Design Society of America and enjoys rock climbing, puppers of all kinds, and photography.
Siena Rozzelle
Siena is Louisiana Design Works Outreach Coordinator. From Nashville, Tennessee, she is an inventive and open-minded Industrial Design major planning to graduate in May of 2022. Siena is a member of the Industrial Design Society of America and an avid lover of dogs. In her free time, Siena enjoys drawing and watching bad sci-fi movies.