As an individual who prioritizes vulnerability in life experiences, I vigorously emphasize that in my work. As an Interior Design major and Sculpture minor, I create interior spaces and sculptures that unify individuals through sensory stimulating spatial experiences. I execute this by highlighting transcendent and resilient experiences that spark an understanding of one’s and others’ authenticity.
Spatial experiences are rooted in vulnerability, to design them, taking risks in my creative realm is important. I persistently experiment with mediums and processes, enhancing my skills and understanding of my identity as a designer.
Ewura Esi Eghan
Education
Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
Bachelor of Fine Arts expected May, 2025
Major in Interior Design
Minor in Sculpture
Interior Design Study Away Program, Eastern Shore, VA
Hands-on experience through developing site analysis methodologies for landscapes, buildings, and patterns
Experience
Mobius Architecture, Accra, Ghana
Architecture Intern
Developed a set of permit drawings, assisted with various phases of design development, welded and casted furniture
Artivity, Accra, Ghana
Artist Assistant
Lowes, Richmond, VA
Sales Associate
Increased sales through active listening, excellent product knowledge, and dedication to assisting customers
2018 - Present
Metropolis Future100 Class of 2025
Selected as one of the top 100 emerging talents in Interior Design and Architecture across North America, recognized for showcasing innovation and future design potential
Robert F. Hester Interior Design Scholarship
Interior Design Award of Disntinction
Undegraduate Juried Exhibition
Betty McKay Memorial Scholarship
Dean’s List
Exhibits and Installations
Interior Design Open Call Exhibition
Curators: Ewura Esi Eghan, Euodia Asmerom
Blind Juror: Jessie Gemmer, Acme Architecture
The Anderson Gallery, Richmond VA
Tommorow Tomorrow and Tommorow
Undergraduate Juried Group Exhibition - Selected
Curator and Juror: Misa Jeffries, Associate Curator, Contemporary Art Museum
The Anderson Gallery, Richmond VA
Black Fidelity: From The Roots Up
Group Exhibition - Formally Invited
The Anderson Gallery, Richmond VA
Growing Pains
Undergraduate Juried Group Exhibition - Selected
Curator and Juror: Kaitlin Garcia Maestas, Director of Exhibition, Socrates Sculpture Park
The Anderson Gallery, Richmond VA
The Art of Interiors
Interior Design Group Exhibition - Selected
The Anderson Gallery, Richmond VA
Study Away Program: Art & Music on The Farm
Group Installation
Barrier Islands Center, Eastern Shore, VA
Reconciliation + Celebration
Group Exhibition - Formally Invited
Middle Of Broad Studio, Richmond, VA
Leadership for Women of Color Black Minds Matter
Kenopsia To Rememory
Junior Studio - - J. Gemmer
Kenopsia To Rememory is a liminal interior experience which seeks to impell individuals into spaces of ambiguity, allowing for restoration of one’s authenticity.
This experience takes place within the NBTWN airport, located on the Midway Islands, an unincorporated territory of the United States, which hosts one of the largest Albatross colony
NBTWN serves as a liminal stop -- over location for singular travelers who need to spend time in the in--between, -- passengers who run from discomfort -- the unkown --
A passenger must wander through austere, sacred and hidden spaces, eventually gaining a better understanding of their present state and capabilities to withstand life’s hardships
Kenopsia
Twilight Zone
Rememory
The eerie forlorn atmosphere of a place that is usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet
an area of ambiguity between two distinct states or conditions
Revisiting and recontructing one’s repressed memories of the past
as the unkown evokes qualms that we evade, the impelling of individuals into spaces of ambiguity allows for restoration of ones authenticity
midway island view
The eerie forlorn atmosphere of a place that is usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet.
Singular passengers exit the aircraft and are met with a desolate and austere environment, which places one in a state of awareness of self, void of distractions from the outside world.
austere and disorineting spatial qualities bring about the awareness of a lack of authenticity
Kenopsia Entry - - Arival Gate
Twilight Zone
an area of ambiguity between two distinct states or conditions
Upon entering the twilight zone, the passenger encounters warm light that looms through floor to ceiling glass
This is a resourceful realm where the passenger may sit with themselves, reflect and allow their authentic to revisit and renew itself.
To exit the Twilight Zone - - the passenger must go through a sensory experience, consiting of a veil of beads, a blast of cold air, a choice of an aroma dear to the passenger, and a final stage that engages one’s vison and hapticity, all meant to yield authentic reactions that awaken and heighten a sense of self
Movement through the unknown Building of resilience
Movement through the unknown sense of nostalgia, remembrance of oneself
Movement through the unknown
The strength to find a path within those patterns - a guide back to oneself
Beads
Phase VI
Phase II IV
Phase I, III, V
Beads
Cold temp
Beads
Aroma
Beads
Pattern
through sensory experiences, authentic expressions create a sacred experience that energizes, and leads one back to themselves
Twilight Zone Entry
Rememory
Revisiting and reconstructing one’s repressed memories of the past to understand their current state
Upon exiting the Twilight Zone, with a better understanding of self the passenger is reintegrated back into society, and welcomed by Tea House and Airport Staff.
Rememory houses a teahouse -- where passengers may “drink to remember” - and a resting area that allows one to reflect on their reconstructed self while having acces to the island and its albatross
Custom Ergonomic skylight viewing chair
Teahouse + Display View Rememory Entry
Hidden Exploration
Rememory Seating Area through reintegration, hidden exploration, and acceptance, a better understanding of one’s present state is achieved
Twilight Zone Preliminary Design + Thinking
Preliminary Twilight Zone design, iterated and developed to integrate into NBTWN Airport
Form Follows Ritual
Sophomore Studio - - T. Hamnett
Through measured studies of the body while walking, climbing, and resting, a space was created showcasing each of these ativities.
This space was achieved through iteration of stereotomic and tectonic sketching and model making techniques
Walking
Climbing
Resting
Final Model
Final Form -- Chipboard, Basswood
The Verb Container
Sophomore Studio - - J. Andamasaris
Based on Richard Serra’s Verb List, the objective was to and sculpt containers for a stone that was found. Writings and paintings of the stone and its imagined environment were made and the spaces that were sculpted per verb showcase the dynamism or representation and movment
Through the process of creative problem solving and iteration with model making, ideas, therories, scale, and tolerance were tested, allowing for the sculpting of several spaces for the stone
Studio Objective Chipboard , Rock
This introduction to Design Studio commenced with looking at scale and the human body’s interaction with the surrounding environment. With a simple beach stone, explorations between the scale of a container and the scale of an environment were conducted. Eventually, the environment was translated into a space inspired by Michealangelo’s Laurentian Library to create iterations of an Urban Bath House. What is the role of water to a community? The restorative properties of thermal bathing have strengthened communities for thousands of years and everyone who experiences this relationship with water. But is it only water that one can bath in? Are there other properties that can add to this practice of wellness?
Chipboard Manipulation
I spent this day on the beach with a friend I hadn’t seen in 10 years, I was nervous, yet eager to reconnect. We took a long walk on the beach, and found this beautiful mix of a stone and a seashell. This ragged yet smooth rock to me represents the simultaneous feelings of hesitation and desire that distance brings about.
INITIAL ITERATIONS
FINAL ITERATIONS
“BALANCE”
CURVE TO ENCIRCLE TO MODULATE TO IMPRESS TO TWIST
The Environment
This Environment is reminiscent of an experience that evokes comfort, freedom and meditation, yet gives a sense of guidance through its connecting paths and interactive features.
The goal of this space is to to explore shapes that create shelter by carving and indenting. In terms of This environment is one that allows light in through pockets and arrow spaces.
This Environment is an experience that creates conversation all the while promoting solitude.
Sophomore Studio - - J. Andamasaris Blue Foam , Rock
The Exquisite Corpse
Sophomore
Studio - - J. Andamasaris
An exquisite corpse consiting of models made throughout the semster, in order to create a bathhouse
The goal of this corpse is to create a space that induces discovery and innovation by travelling through spaces birthed from representative models of Richard Serra’s Verb List
Individuals who visit the bathouse go through “The Environment,” “To Modulate”, “To Encircle,” and two iterations of “To Twist”
Exquisite Corpse
The Environment To Modulate To Encircle To Twist To Twist --
A whole with many parts
The removal and shedding of any stagnant attributes or thoughts
A sturdy yet fragile state
Propelling and cyclical space
Exploration solidity and flexibility
Small yet sturdy and supportive
In order to allow oneself to evolve, a space that harnesses the processes of shedding, propelling, and solidity within flexibility is imperative
Hybrid Imagined Bathouse Environment
Plan scale 1/4 = 1’ 0”
Section scale 1/4 = 1’ 0”
Longitudinal
Diagram: Sound scale 1/4 = 1’ 0”
Diagram: Light scale 1/4 = 1’ 0”
Exquisite Corpse --Combined Models
Interior Perspective Sketch
States of mind, 2023
6’ x 8’ Wood
Undergradute Juried Exhibiton -- Growing Pains --Interior Design Award of Distinction
Our internal spaces play an enormous role in how we lead our lives. Resillience is built as we find ways to manuever those spaces, eventually allowing the mind and body to rest in chaos, although never forgetting the inflicted impact.
What states of mind do you reside in?
Gallery visitors were encouraged to walk the cyclical path, stop to reflect on each state of mind, and rest their bodies on the “chair.”
Gallery Visitor Interaction
Starting Point Contemplation Stepping Stones
Photographed by Rian Casey Escueta
Larva, 2024
24” X 32” X 30” Steel
Metamorphosis takes place daily in our lives, and as we traverse and inhabit time and space, each day comes to an end. Rest takes over, and then we repeat. As constant transformations take place, what remnants of rebirth continue the cycle?
Larva -- Spatial Exploration video
by
Photographed
Rian Casey Escueta
Cache , 2024
Undergradute Juried Exhibiton -- Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow--Interior Design Award of Distinction
As speedily as our society functions, moments can muddle together. This work seeks to create a slow space by encouraging instropection through the simple act of answering a question.
Cache -- Participatory Spatial Experience
Participants were encouraged to answer the prompt on the provided cards and carefully insert it into the hannging film.
video
3’ x 3’ x 7’
Steel, Cellophane, Paper
Photographed by Rian Casey Escueta
Cache - Imagined Permanent Gallery Installation
In this space, visitors are engaged introspectively. Posed with monthly questions, visitors may answer and proceed to resting to pools to converse with others or further reflect on oneself
