GFU Interior Design Students Take On Real-World Rebuilds after Eaton Fire

NEWBERG, Ore. — Local college students are helping neighboring California communities after a devastating January fire.

After the Eaton Fire roared through Southern California, interior design students at George Fox University stepped in to help.

George Fox Interior Design Professor Casey Martin has personal ties to La Salle College Preparatory in Pasadena and is spearheading a local initiative to support three single-family home rebuilds, as well as a fire-resistant commercial project in Altadena.

“My parents live in Pasadena and my dad is the president at La Salle College Preparatory, so the fires were very personal to me,” Martin said. “The Eaton Fire actually came within 0.5 miles of my parents’ house and La Salle … it was a really traumatic experience for the families of La Salle and their community.”

Martin’s design clientele for her company, Reverie Design Studio, spans Southern California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Asia. She said she does frequent design work for La Salle, and it was heartbreaking to watch the fires from afar while the community struggled.

“Once things settled a bit and families started figuring out if they were going to rebuild, I knew I wanted to help,” Martin said. “I’m a big believer in how designers can use their unique skill sets to really provide for communities in need.”

Three Pasadena families connected with the GFU design students, who are helping them rebuild — and save money.

One family’s home burned completely to the ground, and the students are helping select finishes, furniture, and built-ins.

The other two families’ homes suffered severe, toxic smoke damage, forcing them to throw away all of their interior belongings. For those homes, students are creating comprehensive finish and furniture packages.

“We ended up doing a massive furniture and finish package with links so that the family could buy things as they could,” Martin said. “We also have talked with other manufacturers who will continue to help our clients there, using my connections as a designer to help these families that are completely starting over.”

Sherwin-Williams, for example, gave one family a significant discount on all of their paint purchases.

In September, Martin and 22 students took a day trip to Los Angeles for site visits, noting the landscape of the projects, driving through the fire zones, and hearing firsthand experiences directly from the families.

“I wanted (my students) to understand the scope of the trauma that was felt by the community there, to understand that natural disasters like that are going to be part of their lives and especially part of their careers as designers,” Martin said. “I wanted a project that would allow them to not only be able to give back as designers, but also to understand how their unique skill sets as designers can learn from and innovate new ways to design for disasters like this.”

Students are learning about healing, safety, renewal, fire-resistant materials, and sustainable planning. They are problem-solving for real clients in GFU’s interior design lab, STUDIO, which supports nonprofits, schools, and residential remodels.

One student in the program, Kya Kearns, said she first became interested in interior design after feeling disconnected from her business major at Pacific University. She met Martin while visiting the GFU campus, where Martin, she said, consistently pushes her to grow into the best version of herself as a designer.

Kearns was assigned to the Eaton Fire rebuild project in early August.

“I understood the weight of that loss, but it didn’t fully hit me until our class visited the burn sites in California. Seeing the devastation firsthand completely reshaped my vision for the project. I wanted the new home to honor the memory of her old one, but also feel renewed, resilient, thoughtful, and intentionally designed with fire-conscious, sustainable materials,” Kearns said. “This project pushed me to think more deeply about my responsibility as a designer and how the materials and choices we make truly impact people’s lives.”

Martin said the two main lessons for her students are understanding how communities need designers to help solve real-world problems, and recognizing how their skills can serve communities in need by focusing on both the technical and empathetic aspects of the work.

“The rebuilding process is going very slow, so we’re working over a long timetable with these families, continuously helping and jumping in as they need us to,” Martin said. “I wanted to focus on how we could help the business community also build back, but build back completely fire resistant so that if something like this were to happen again, it wouldn’t be as devastating.”

Within the program, students have also worked with Portland nonprofits designing tiny pods for people experiencing homelessness, as well as tackling refugee housing for people around the world.

“We’ll continue to serve as we can as designers and go where people need us,” Martin said.