A new wave of entrepreneurs is emerging this holiday season — University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design students are leveraging their talents to navigate the intersection of creativity and commerce. Using their design education and foundations, students have started small businesses, helped family members run their own, and enrolled in a studio course, culminating in an opportunity to sell their wares at local boutiques.

Getting Crafty at the UH Holiday Market

In November, the second annual UH Holiday Market organized by RED Labs at the C.T. Bauer College of Business's Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship attracted more than 70 student-run businesses. Seven Hines College architecture, interior architecture, and industrial design students participated in the event, showcasing their products and crafts or serving as business partners using their creative talents to manage branding, marketing, and photography.

Learn more about some of these students' work and how they use their design skills in business.

Insherah Alhajrasi (’26)

Major: Architecture
Business Name: Fofo Crochet (@fofo__crochet)
Role: Partner

What type of products does your business sell?
Crochet amigurumis, keychains, car hangers, clothes, and more!

What inspired you to get involved in this business?
My foremost source of inspiration is my mother, Wafa Quttainah. Her journey in crocheting began in 2016, initially making things for family and friends. Over the years, I encouraged her to continue her passion, and to my delight, she restarted and astounded me with remarkable advancement in her craft. I started marketing for her and taking photos of her products, encouraging her.

What did you learn from participating in the Holiday Market?
I learned how UH embodies incredible power and excellence. Within this diverse community, numerous amazing businesses and original ideas were found, showcasing everyone's creativity and potential.

How do your design skills and creativity help with your business?
My photography background and entrepreneurship certificate through the Wolff Center bring a unique blend of visual skills, storytelling abilities, and client-focused thinking to my study of architecture. It enhances my eye for design, attention to detail, and innovative approach to creating compelling and functional spaces.

Jonathan Vasquez (’25)

Major: Industrial Design
Business Name: Gambit Rugs (@Gambit.Rugs)
Role: Owner

What type of products does your business sell?
I sell 100% handmade rugs.

What inspired you to create this business?
I was inspired to start making rugs after seeing videos on Instagram and TikTok. I bought my own rug gun in March of this year and decided to give it a shot.

What did you learn from participating in the Holiday Market?
I learned that even if you do not make a sale, talking to people, sharing ideas, and meeting other people with other businesses can be rewarding.

How do your design skills and creativity help with your business?
As an industrial design student, professors always stress the importance of refining the small details. Those details are what separate good products or designs from great products or designs.

Melissa Amaro ('24)

Major: Interior Architecture
Business Name: Diana's Crochet (@diana._.crochet)
Role: Partner

What type of products does your business sell?
We produce handmade crochet plushies, cup holders, shirts, bags, and jewelry.

What inspired you to get involved in this business?
Diana's Crochet is a business by my little sister Diana, my mom, and me. Diana started crocheting in 2021 and learned to make plushies. After creating an Instagram to document her progress and creations, she sold some items to neighbors and friends. As demand grew, I partnered with my sister to help her financially with the cost of yarn. Since then, she has made more crochet plushies while I handled her financials since she is still a high school student. I also have helped her create business collateral and find market opportunities at my old high school.

What did you learn from participating in the Holiday Market?
We learned how much small business can impact and make customers and students happy. As the generations change, so do their interests — we learned what students and people were most interested in purchasing. People are interested in seeing more markets from us and more variety, so having socials where they can follow and keep up with new additions is important. We also met a wonderful community of student-owned small businesses with so much talent.

How do your design skills and creativity help with your business?
My experience in interior architecture has helped me aid my sister's crochet small business by designing with her. Since I am a designer, I have learned to help her with her business cards, posters, and Instagram graphic posts. Design is anything and everything, even in a small business.

Alexia Orozco (' 26)

Major: Architecture
Business Name: Hook'd Handcrafts (@hookdhandcrafts)
Role: Partner

What type of products does your business sell?
Crochet items, from ornaments to bags.

What inspired you to get involved in this business?
My brother Brandon and I have worked on this business since July 2023. I started crocheting during the summer, and my brother also picked up on it when I started school in the fall.

What did you learn from participating in the Holiday Market?
We met many amazing people at the market and became inspired to work on more projects.

How do your design skills and creativity help with your business?
Having design skills has helped us a lot since we can design the look of our business, from materials to the product. It has also helped us to stay organized and on schedule.

Experience with Industry Partners

This fall, the Hines College's industrial design (ID) program offered a course entitled "Contemporary Objects" led by associate professor Meg Jackson. The seminar class consisted of seven ID students and one senior architecture student looking to learn about product design, production, and working with retailers. "Collaboration with external industry partners has always been an important part of project-based learning in industrial design studio education," Jackson shared.

Students worked with Space Montrose owners Leila and Carlos Peraza several times throughout the semester to review their concepts and product ideas created specifically for the store. The boutique specializes in selling handcrafted goods by local designers and artists. Students were challenged with developing a clever idea while sticking to a timeline; their products had to be both economical and efficient to manufacture. Senior industrial design student Pascal J. Bakari ('24) created Natura Formatus, a line of plantable cards and notebooks where the paper contains wildflower seeds. "I hope to leverage the skills learned in this class on marketing and pitching a product to help me improve my own practice as an evolving designer," he shared.

Another senior student, Nicholas Meyer ('24), designed a collection of dinosaur-shaped objects called "Business Billy" and "Banker Bessie." The former holds cards and the latter acts as a piggy bank. For him, practice was key. "Engaging in mass production, even as an individual, gets smoother and faster the more you make of a given product," Meyer said. "I got a good sense of how ambitious I can be in producing and selling my own product, which I don't have much prior experience with."

Jackson added, "While there is an inherent risk to this process in that the students have to design and manufacture a run of products reviewed by the buyers for the store, participating in this type of learning benefits all the students." 

With risks came rewards. As they considered logistical issues and worked to design practical solutions, students ultimately learned how to take a product from concept to market. "I learned a lot from this experience because of Professor Jackson's approach to the course. It was structured in a way that allowed each student to freely explore products and materials they're interested in, and she kept us on track with developing our ideas into marketable products for the clients," Bakari said. 

Students also learned to reflect on their personal design identity to craft narratives behind their goods. "The value in this semester was the real-world learning outcomes that will hopefully prepare our students for the next phases of their design careers," said Jackson.

The store interviewed each student on social media leading up to the products' launch. The studio concluded with a celebration at Space Montrose on December 7 to showcase and sell the students' limited run of products.