Raquel Raney and Brennan Broome must be doing something right.
The graphic designers-turned-Florida-International-University-interior-design students are racking up their share of accolades and internships.
Broome, a master’s candidate at FIU, won a $5,000 scholarship in 2017 from the Tile Contractors Association of America. “I learned about the sustainability of tile and wrote about it and got exposed to the brands, and the people of the industry embraced us,” he says. “Tile’s durability works great in South Florida – it checks all the boxes for us.”
Now they’re interning at EOA, or Edge of Architecture, Malcolm Berg’s experiential design firm based in Coral Gables.
That’s not their only internship, however. They spent last summer living and interning at the Bauhaus in Dessau. They followed that up with visits to Berlin, then Copenhagen.
They’re also the first students to win a concept for a café for a Miami retail store, to highlight fashion brands. “There are a variety of levels from luxury to street fashion – like skateboard fashion – showing Gucci and Reebok in the same setting,” he says.
“It changes out every six months, so it’s an interactive experience,” Raney says.
And if that all weren’t enough, in 2018 the pair were the first-ever to win the student category of the Ceramics of Italy Tile Competition. It came with $3,000 cash, and an all-expense-paid trip to Orlando, for Coverings, to present their project. Not to mention the five-day CEU-accredited trip to Bologna, Italy to attend Cersaie, the world’s largest exhibition of ceramic tile and bathroom furnishings.
That’s slated for Sept. 23 – 27 of this year, by which time the couple will be celebrating the birth of a new baby.
And they’re in their final semester at FIU – so their own branding, graphic design and interiors firm is right around the corner. “We’re focused on branding through every element of design, from a logo to interiors,” Broome says.
Chances are, more success waits in the wings. These two are on a roll.
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