PAVE – Planning and Visual Education – is an organization dedicated to helping students build successful careers in all aspects of the retail industry. In 2018, PAVE partnered with Target and IVC at GlobalShop in Chicago.

In 2016 and 2018 PAVE invited Dawson College’s Interior Design Department, as the sole Canadian education partner, to participate in a Student Design Challenge. The students would follow a design brief prepared by a major North American retailer. A manufacturer would then join the team and guide the students with the winning entry through the value engineering, shop drawings, and actual construction of the design into a full size working prototype. This prototype was then sent, along with the students and a teacher, to a major trade show GlobalShop.

A design competition was held with the challenge of bringing an e-commerce way of shopping into a special aisle of a Target store. 12 teams of 2 students participated and students Tiara Bucci and Laryssa Belanger were judged the winners. Design coordination and construction meetings were held at IVC- International Visual Corporation- and the students saw first-hand the process of bringing a design concept to reality. Their concept was built as a full-size prototype at IVC in Montreal and shipped to Chicago for the PAVE/ GlobalShop 2018 retail trade show. The students interacted with many visitors including many Interior Designers, architects, and retail industry reps and suppliers.