Carol Fountain Nix, Project Lead
Carol Fountain Nix is an artist, designer, educator, and visual storyteller whose work explores the relationship between landscape, memory, culture, and identity. Born and raised in the mountains of Western North Carolina, she draws continual inspiration from the natural beauty, rich traditions, and resilient communities of Southern Appalachia.
Working across calligraphy, mixed media, sculpture, installation, and environmental design, Carol creates work that seeks to uncover the stories embedded within people and places. Her practice is grounded in observation, research, and a deep respect for the cultural and ecological forces that shape our sense of belonging. Whether working with ink on paper, reclaimed materials, or large-scale installations, she is drawn to themes of transformation, impermanence, resilience, and renewal.
A lifelong student of language and form, Carol often uses written text as both image and metaphor. Her calligraphic work moves beyond traditional letterforms to explore memory, movement, and the passage of time. In recent years, her practice has expanded to include large-scale environmental works that investigate the intersection of art, community, and place.
In parallel with her studio practice, Carol has built a distinguished career in design, communications, entrepreneurship, and higher education. She was the founder and principal of NIXdesign, an award-winning creative firm specializing in branding, design strategy, and interactive media, and currently serves as Director of the NC State University Crafts Center and C:LAB makerspace, an interdisciplinary creative and digital fabrication laboratory. Throughout her career, she has led multidisciplinary teams, developed innovative programs and public initiatives, and fostered collaborations that bridge art, design, technology, and community engagement.
These experiences continue to inform her artistic work, reinforcing a belief that creativity thrives at the intersection of disciplines and that meaningful work emerges through curiosity, collaboration, and a deep understanding of context.
Throughout her career, Carol has maintained a belief that art should do more than decorate a space—it should reveal something essential about the human experience. Her work invites viewers to slow down, look closely, and reconnect with the landscapes, histories, and shared stories that bind us together.
For Carol, creativity is an act of stewardship: preserving what matters, honoring what has been lost, and creating space for new meaning to emerge.
Hassan Pishahang, Lead Designer
Hassan Pishahang is an industrial designer, material specialist, and fabrication lead with more than fifteen years of professional experience across public art, architectural installations, product design, lighting, advanced materials, and large-scale fabrication. His practice combines hands-on making with computational design, prototyping, mold-making, concrete, ceramics, composites, wood, and emerging biomaterials.
Hassan has led and supervised complex fabrication projects ranging from permanent public installations and suspended architectural features to large-scale scenic environments for major film productions. His work includes the permanent Gonbad Mina–Tehran Planetarium exhibits, sculptural ceiling installations, a city-commissioned public sculpture, and international interior projects.
He currently works with C:LAB at the NC State Crafts Center, supporting interdisciplinary fabrication and material experimentation. His doctoral research focuses on biomaterials, computational fabrication, and sustainable design, exploring how natural systems and advanced manufacturing can inform new approaches to sculpture, architecture, and public space.
Maryam Badiei, Designer
Maryam Badiei is an architect, computational designer, and design researcher with more than six years of professional experience across architecture, interior design, BIM coordination, technical documentation, construction supervision, and renovation projects. Her work connects architectural thinking with digital fabrication, material experimentation, and sustainable design.
Maryam has contributed to residential, commercial, cultural, and mixed-use projects, including the architectural supervision of a seventeen-story building and the coordination of complex design and construction workflows. Her experience includes collaboration with architects, consultants, contractors, and fabrication teams from early design development through documentation and on-site execution.
She is currently a PhD student in Design at the NC State College of Design. Her research focuses on ceramic 3D printing, material-driven design, computational fabrication, and sustainable architectural systems, with particular interest in how digital processes and material behavior can shape new forms of architecture, public art, and environmental design.