IIDA Product Runway, influenced by the concept of the hit realty television show Project Runway, pits teams of interior design and architecture professionals and interior design students in an avant-garde couture competition by designing and constructing handmade garments out of standard architectural finish materials such as glass, tile, carpet and wood.

Each of the 20 competing teams are assigned one hard material and one soft material, which must collectively make up 80 percent of the final garment. Each team is also assigned a color paired with an emotion. Their creations are to reflect an abstract interpretation of the assigned emotion, while also reflecting a majority of their assigned color. Final entries, also modeled by a member of the design team, must be designed and constructed completely by the team and may cost no more than $700 in combined hard and soft materials and $150 in supplemental materials such as closures, thread and accessories.

The results are New York and Paris runway-worthy couture with eye-popping appeal.

Funds raised by the evening of inspired designs benefit the Houston Furniture Bank, a nonprofit providing furniture for families in need via 70 agencies in surrounding counties, plus Texas Association of Interior Design and the IIDA Education Foundation.