Student-Made, a program created to help university artists flourish and create their own student business, has officially been established at Winthrop University. The Student-Made mission is “to partner with colleges and universities in providing an effective and entirely student-run platform for entrepreneurial students to reach supporters on their campus, and our growing network of campuses.”
Officially, 12 Winthrop students are currently involved with the local Student-Made program. The program highlights those proficient in illustration, digital art, apparel, fiber arts, and even services, with Winthrop freshman Morgan Henderson partnering with Student-Made and offering creative hair styling services.
Students participating in creating shops through Student-Made started out with “pop-up shops” – small, temporary market stands on campus, downtown or both.
While Student-Made Rock Hill offers an online shop, these pop-ups made it possible for students and customers to have a more tangible shopping experience before they made decisions.
On April 15, Student-Made Rock Hill opened a storefront downtown at The Hickory Post on 202 East Main St. Now, students offering physical products and services have a permanent building they can operate and sell from, instead of strictly relying on small pop-up opportunities for the community to see their businesses.
Highlighting student artists and providing them with an environment to have their work seen and sold is an extremely valuable opportunity for students looking to establish themselves as creators before they graduate.
One student creator in particular, Natalie Staub, is a Winthrop senior and Illustration major with a shop called “Star of Seadust Art.” The name comes from the meanings of her middle and last name, with Marie meaning “star of the sea” and Staub being the German word for “dust.”
“[Student-Made] reached out to me through Instagram, and I decided to join because it seemed like a good opportunity to get my art out there a little bit more and practice running a business in a supportive community,” Staub said when asked about what inspired her to join.
Landon Lucero, a Winthrop sophomore Accounting major, operates his own secondhand clothing business with Student-Made. Called “LandoLakes Vintage,” his business mission is “to provide fashionable secondhand clothing to people in order to reduce clothing waste and provide clothing for cheap.”
“I got involved with Student-Made just by scrolling through Instagram and finding their posts,” Lucero said. “They seemed like something that could benefit not only my school life but also my personal life so I took that opportunity and ran.”
This attention to student creators became even more important following the recent promotion of AI art by Winthrop University, despite the university’s strict guidelines surrounding the use of AI in coursework.
On April 15, the same day the Student-Made storefront had its soft opening, the Winthrop University Instagram page posted an AI-generated image of a Big Stuff figurine, with the caption: “The Big Stuff Starter Pack. Additional accessories sold separately… [Made using AI + Design Chair mods ;)].”
This move evoked frustration and outrage from students across campus. With the way that AI use has generally been regarded by the university, many students were confused at seeing the same university using it.
The post still remains up, but has since had the comments turned off. This has not prevented students from speaking out, as the post has over 150 shares from students frustrated and taking to their Instagram stories to voice their opinions.
Many students also took to Yik Yak to air out their frustrations.
One student wrote, “So here’s food for thought: if you run a design department and want your students to have something to put on their portfolio, have a design contest or something for social media posts.”
Another wrote, “Completely disgusted by the design department’s chair contribution to AI art. Just shows they only want your money at the end of the day.”
One student in particular anonymously created their own version of the Instagram post and posted it to the site as well.
Following the outroar against the university’s use and promotion of AI-generated artwork, now is the perfect time to engage with Rock Hill’s Student-Made program, full of talented, creative, and dedicated Winthrop students.
An upcoming challenge with the rise of computer generated artwork is ensuring that students are still allocated possibilities to both grow and promote their own handmade creations and pieces. Student-Made has chosen a perfect time to begin their program at Winthrop, a notion agreed upon by many of the participating students.
“I think it’s pretty valuable that [Student-Made] has come now, especially with AI as a rising problem, specifically at Winthrop as well, so it’s nice to have an organization that focuses on handmade products and individual businesses,” Staub said.
“Curating a space for student made and produced work/products is amazing because of the opportunities that student made gives to push these small businesses and their handcrafted products into our community,” Lucero said.
The Student-Made Rock Hill online store officially closes on May 2, 2025, for the summer. The storefront downtown will remain open as students will continue to submit inventory in the months to follow. The local pop-ups will also continue, with even more information, specifics, and updates available on the program’s Instagram page, @studentmade_rockhill.
