I used to be a student.

Many years ago, I began my academic studies at HIT in Holon (Holon Institute of Technology).

When I try to recall the experience called student life, many feelings, emotions, and longing come to mind.

So what does it mean to be a design student?

The heart and home of every product design student is the workshop.

The workshop is a building that contains a very large number of machines, tools, and materials.

Most hours of the day I spent mainly there, most of the time covered in sawdust or any other material. I remember we used to order pizza at 8:00 PM, and then all the students would sit down for a moment to eat together, and continue working until midnight, until the lights went out.

It often happened that I stayed a little longer in the workshop even though everything was already dark because I was right in the middle of a process.

The workshop was like a toy store for a child to me, a cool place where products were born, both mine and my friends'.

There's nothing like the moments of cooperation and mutual help, combining forces and assisting the student in the product development process.

Many emotions and feelings arise in the workshop – success, anxiety, frustration, helplessness, breakthrough, and especially creativity.

I experienced tears of success and tears of frustration there.

Submissions

Before every submission, the brain automatically switches to a different mode. Lack of sleep, overload, and the desire to succeed in creating a comprehensive product experience with everything it requires. Standing in front of the class and the ability to pinpoint the essence of the product, to know how to receive constructive criticism and sometimes to contain negative criticism that made me want to disappear, when this situation catches us after hours of sleeplessness and stress. In design, failure and success are in front of everyone, you can't bluff!

After the submission ended, we experienced a drop in tension, but within a short time, I had to pick myself up, find strength, and focus, because there was another project or another product that needed to be worked on.

The Classes

Discussions, sketches, models, dialogue, cooperation, mutual enrichment, listening to all students, enrichment...

In a routine situation, I would call these classes the learning along the way, the journey to a product that will be born from an idea, a topic, and a problem.

Hours of research, broad and in-depth observation, a lot of learning and listening, tools and courses of action.

The classes were a place for sharing and mutual enrichment for me; the mentors and lecturers were a source of inspiration and growth.

Hours outside the faculty:

If you ask a design student if they have a life, the answer will probably be no - attendance is mandatory in classes, they start in the morning and end in the afternoon, and then usually stay in the workshop to continue working.

More than once I found myself without food in the fridge because I simply didn't have time to buy and certainly not to prepare.

Also, there is a lot of equipment and materials to buy for additional projects, and I had to calculate my expenses wisely and carefully.

The longing for home and extended family was great, but I didn't always find the time to go home because I had to use weekends for work and creation.

Partnership and married life as a student couple:

When I started my degree, I was already married to Ilan.

We went through the study period together.

We dealt with the difficulties and pressures, household maintenance, and other challenges as a student couple starting out.

Ilan was my anchor, my sense of proportion, the warm hug, and the belief in myself. I have no idea how I would have survived without him. The ability to contain me as a design student was very challenging.

Now that my design studies are behind me, and it's been about six years that I've been working in the field, it's time, for me, to do something for the place where I grew up and that helped me become who I am today.

From experience, studies are not simple and require a lot of mental resources. I remember how hard it is to wait for that longed-for idea to arrive,

And I can only try to encourage and also remind: to stop for a moment, breathe, and observe

everything from the outside.

Wishing you success in creation and in any path you choose,

Avital.