Guest Blog Post By: Joshua Vermillion, Associate Professor, School of Architecture at UNLV
** This is the third and final installment in our series following UNLV architecture students on their journey to Coverings 2026. Click to read Part 1 and Part 2. **
After months of hard work and invaluable support from our industry partners, architecture students from the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) showcased their custom furniture pieces at Coverings 2026 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, March 30–April 2.
Students arrived the Friday before opening to install their work in The Coverings Lounge—getting a rare, behind-the-scenes look at how a major industry event comes together. We returned on the opening day of Coverings to join a guided show floor trends tour, taking in tile and stone innovations from manufacturers around the world. The tour concluded at the Coverings Rock Star Awards, where the students got to connect with young and up-and-coming leaders in the tile and stone industry.
Wednesday’s highlight was the Coverings x UNLV Architectural Design Studio Celebration, a reception held in The Coverings Lounge where students connected with partners and sponsors and reflected on the collaboration that made the project possible.
When the event closed, the students returned to the convention floor one final time to carefully pack up their installations. The pieces have since made their way back to campus, where they now live in the west atrium of the UNLV School of Architecture – a lasting, tangible record of this experience and the effort behind it.
Thank you again to our generous sponsors —Arizona Tile, MAPEI Corporation, QEP Co, Inc., and wedi Corporation — and to our partners at Coverings, National Tile Contractors Association (NTCA), and the Ceramic Tile Education Foundation (CTEF), whose support made this experience possible.