A Day with UNSW Design Students at Krost Sydney Showroom

This week, Krost was glad to host a group of Interior Architecture students from UNSW as part of the university's Industry Insights initiative. The visit was structured to bridge the space between design education and commercial practice, covering the areas most students only encounter once they're on a live project.

The session opened with joinery drawings. We walked the students through the full arc: how an idea gets translated into technical documentation, and why that documentation is often the most under-appreciated part of a project. We covered who the drawings actually serve (not just the manufacturer), and what separates a competent set from a great one. The specifics matter here. Dimensions, joinery details, tolerances, hardware callouts, materials scheduling. Getting them right is what allows a design to land on-site the way it looked in the concept.

To help the students get familiar with the language of joinery, we shared tips and detailed diagrams pulled directly from live project work. The knowledge sits somewhere between design and manufacturing, and it's the kind of thing that's difficult to pick up in a lecture theatre. Seeing it laid out visually, alongside drawings that would eventually become real furniture, made the ideas stick.

From there, the conversation moved into materials, covering laminate, LDF, MDF, and compact laminate, and where each of them earns its place. Not as a spec sheet, but as a working discussion of performance, longevity, cost, and application. Where does compact laminate genuinely justify itself? When is MDF the right call, and when is it a shortcut? These are the questions specifiers face every day, and the students asked good ones.

Midway through, we broke for light refreshments and opened the floor for students to explore the showroom on their own. Time in our material library gave them a proper hands-on run through finishes and fabrics, feeling the weight and texture of the same materials we'd been discussing in the session. There was room to sit in the chairs, walk the workstations, and follow up with our designers one-on-one. A lot of the best conversations happened in that window.

Sustainability was where the room really leaned in. We walked the students through our sustainable range and the thinking behind it. Poppi, made from Ocean Bound plastic. Eko, produced from 100% Australian post-consumer HDPE. We also covered our product stewardship programme, the take-back scheme that applies to workstation systems including Clic, Benchwork, and Keywork, alongside the AFRDI certification behind our pieces. The engagement in the room was noticeable. The students asked questions about raw material sourcing, end-of-life pathways, and how a commercial furniture brand builds circularity into its actual product architecture, not just its marketing.

Q&A ran throughout, which is our preference. Our senior designers and wider team fielded questions on documentation standards, material specification, and manufacturing processes, and the calibre of what came back was a good indicator of where the industry is heading.

The feedback from their lecturer reflected what we felt in the room. The hands-on exposure and the chance to speak directly with our team was the part that landed. That's the point of hosting these visits. The commercial furniture industry benefits when the designers coming up through it understand what's happening on the factory floor and behind the drawings, not just on the moodboard.

A sincere thanks to UNSW for bringing the students through. We're proud to play a part in supporting the next generation of young designers stepping into the industry.

Browse the event highlights in the gallery below: