Joy Goldsmith is a big fan of Home & Garden Television. The station is often on at her Ellicott City home and one of her favorite shows is “Deserving Design,” in which interior designer Vern Yip performs home makeovers for deserving individuals.

As a former wedding gown designer and alteration specialist, Goldsmith can even pinpoint her favorite episode — one in which Yip created a “green craft room” for one of his subjects.

So it was a thrill when Goldsmith got to meet Yip Monday, and when he gave her feedback on one of her own designs.

“The timing of this for me has been so wonderful,” Goldsmith told Yip as he visited with interior design students at Howard Community College Monday. “Having the opportunity to meet you is like, ‘Woohoo!’ ... My kids won’t believe this. Someone get a picture.”

Yip, who also is a judge on HGTV’s “Design Star” competition, met with the students before giving the keynote address that evening at the Ulman Cancer Fund’s 11th anniversary celebration.

Organizers at the Columbia-based Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults, which administers a scholarship set up by Vern Yip in honor of his mother, Vera, set the theme of this year’s event as “Designing a Difference.” The event included a charity auction of chairs embellished by students and other participants.

The chair design exercise had special meaning for two of the students, who are cancer survivors.

Goldsmith, a mother of eight, has been cancer-free for about six years after being diagnosed with endometrial cancer during her last pregnancy 17 years ago.

Goldsmith’s experience provided the inspiration for one of the class designs — a chair back transformed into a shuttered window frame, opening to a bird’s nest perched on a tree branch. Goldsmith called the design a “window of hope,” as it is intended to symbolize springtime and new beginnings.

“The night was the hardest time for me,” Goldsmith recalled. “Every night I prayed, ‘Lord, please don’t let me lose my hope.’ I’d wake up in the morning and look out the window and I knew I made it through another night.”

The second cancer survivor, Lindsey Stamps, 24, worked with a group of her classmates to transform a chair into a butterfly with vibrant purple and orange wings. On April 20, Stamps will mark a decade of being cancer-free after undergoing 10 months of intensive chemotherapy for osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) at age 14.

Stamps, of Ellicott City, and her classmates said the butterfly chair is intended to be an organic symbol of life and hope.

A third chair was designed by student Ruth Parks and featured a towering painting of a woman peering out to sea.

During his visit, Yip shared tips and tricks of the trade with the students. Picking the right shade of paint and the most complementary fabrics is one thing, but designers should look beyond those details to the overall feel and function of the space, Yip said.

“A lot of people think the world of interior design is just about making a room pretty. But there’s a lot more the interior designer can contribute, and that’s the ability to improve the quality of someone’s life by improving their living space,” he said.

Some of Yip’s advice sounded pleasantly familiar, according to Stamps. Analyzing a room’s light, space planning, listening to the clients — these were all points her teacher, Arlene Snyder, hammered on regularly in class.

“Just to hear it from another person, especially someone who’s so successful in interior design, makes me feel really good about what I’m doing,” she said.

Snyder said the premise of Yip’s show is similar to projects she’s assigned her students in recent years, including the redesign of a group home for residents with disabilities.

“What better than to learn a skill and be able to give back,” she said. “I really believe in what he’s trying to do.”

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user comments (1)

user zoep says...

InDesign (HCC's interior design club) were honored that Vern Yip took the time to speak with us. He is so down to earth and pure of heart. It is clear that TV fame has not taken that away from him. We love you Vern!

Posted 10:34 PM, 03.20.09

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