This semester, the Tyler School of Art launched a new design incubator called the Hatchery. “It’s an initiative by Graphic and Interactive Design at Tyler to promote entrepreneurship and inspire students,” said Bryan Satalino, TYL ’13, assistant professor of graphic and interactive design.

Over the course of a semester, participating students, who are called “hatchlings,” transform their design ideas into actual products under Satalino’s guidance.

“We…come up with an idea, create it, mass produce it and sell it,” explained Max Vandenberg, Class of 2015, who is one of this semester’s three hatchlings. Vandenberg made an iPhone case called Wooden You Like to Know.

The handsome wooden case is laser engraved with information that would come in handy for young graphic designers, such as how to convert inches into picas, a unit of measurement used in typography. “It’s…more or less a cheat sheet,” said Vandenberg.

The other two hatchlings, Lauren West, Class of 2016, and Jess Ruggierio, Class of 2015, respectively created a line of inspiring T-shirts and tote bags and a clock shaped like a chicken.

“I was used to being limited in designs and what I could create,” said Ruggierio, but Satalino encouraged her to pursue her idea. “He said...we can work on making a clock; we will make it work.” And they did. The Cluck went through several iterations before Ruggierio settled on a white, minimalist chicken silhouette for her timepiece.

“The Hatchery really opened me up to what I can do,” Ruggierio added.

Vandenberg agreed: “The Hatchery has given me insight into what I can become, from an entrepreneurial standpoint and a designer standpoint.”

Hatchery products will be for sale at a pop-up shop at Tyler being held in conjunction with DesignPhiladelphia on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 10 and 11, and Thursday and Friday, Oct. 16 and 17. There will also be a reception on Friday, Oct. 10, from 8 till 9 p.m. Visit the Hatchery Pop-Up Market for more details.