Core77

Maybe you graduate with a degree in ID, but times are tough and you can't find a job. What to do? Would you try to put your hand skills to use and take a job as, say, a metal fabricator on an assembly line to pay the bills?

[photo credit: Gary Porter]

That's the situation ID grad James Woggon found himself in, and after the recession claimed his lighting and furniture design studio he signed on with Wagner Companies on their assembly line. Wagner makes these neat Lumenrails, handrails with a self-contained light, which are essentially aluminum/stainless steel extrusions with a slot to accommodate the on-board LED strip:

One upshot to working in a factory is that you have access to some industrial-grade tooling. So in addition to cranking on the production line, Woggon snags the cut-offs and uses them to create his own art and furniture pieces, which he can make during off-hours using Wagner's equipment. And the ID mind is something that won't sit still when staring at raw materials all day--Woggon has also designed his own stainless-steel lighting fixture, which he hopes to add to the company's product line. Read his story here.

via milwaukee-wisconsin journal sentinel