The American Institute of Architecture Students at Joliet Junior College has been making and selling merchandise since the spring of 2022, when it decided to launch its first line of creations. Initially, each product was centered around Valentine’s Day, but the latest drop is their newly developed Pride Line.
“We sold necklaces, earrings, charms, keychains for Valentine’s Day,” said Maria Rafac, one of the co-advisors of the AIAS. “We did it again the next year, and then the next year, we moved to more jewelry…That’s when we started doing the rainbow of jewelry.”
The line includes earrings and keychains. Each piece has a selection of patterns, such as the bisexual and transgender flags. It might seem like a perplexing shift, but this change in merchandise came about when the AIAS gained the ability to print more colors onto their items.
“The pride merch started as of last year, the beginning of the fall semester, when we got access to a 4-color printer,” said Alton Richardson, the JJC student behind the project.
Because of the 4-color printer, when it came to deciding which flags to print on the items, Rafac and Richardson looked into the most popular pride flags, then narrowed it down to ones with less than four different colors.
These products are sold exclusively in the JJC bookstore, and they serve as a fundraiser for the AIAS, which receives the proceeds from the sales. With the money raised, the AIAS is able to host a number of events, such as the recently held Dress for Success Runway show.
In order to create the products, the AIAS has to purchase the filament and pay to use the printers, but every product is sold for $5, regardless of if it’s a keychain or a piece of jewelry. The design process for the pride line specifically took less time than any of the previous lines.
“To make this, it was a lot faster,” Richardson said. “It only took an hour to design most of the jewelry. The actual 3D testing, re-testing, prototyping, took two weeks.”
“And they fail, like a lot,” Rafac added. “So you can’t make a whole bunch, and you have to really monitor the machines.”
There have been years where AIAS has made close to $1,000 through these fundraisers, with plenty of effort put in from the members.
“It was an awful lot of work,” Rafac said. “With several events, and several ways to get that money. It’s just a lot of work.”
The supply is limited, but each item is, as stated, on sale for $5. If you’re looking to represent yourself and your identity, or if it’s as simple as liking some of the color palettes, stop by the JJC bookstore and take a look.
