Design and Craft
David Scott
BA (Hons) Three Dimensional Design (2009)
I studied BA (Hons) Three Dimensional Design at the University of Brighton, and began an internship with product and lighting design agency Haberdashery London in 2010. With the help of the University of Brighton internship, I was able to undertake a six week placement with Haberdashery design studio in London. Subsequently I was asked to carry on as a freelance designer, and at the start of 2012 that turned into full-time employment.
Alex House
BSc (Hons) Product Design (2007)
I graduated from Brighton in 2007 with a BSc (Hons) in Product Design. Since graduating I have become a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) Associate.
What are KTPs? In my case the ‘partnership’ is between the Centre for Research in Innovation Management (CENTRIM) and Fire Testing Technology (FTT), a manufacturer of scientific Instrumentation based in East Grinstead, West Sussex.
I successfully applied for my KTP associate role in October 2007. The application process was quite stringent. It included two Interviews by a panel of members of both the University of Brighton and the company. I had to prepare presentations on my proposals for how I would tackle the project. The project began in January 2008 and is ongoing until Jan 2010.
FTT specialises in the design, production, supply and service of a range of reaction-to-fire testing instrumentation. The instruments are used by government and private test houses to test construction materials to a wide range of regulatory standards in reaction-to-fire properties. These instruments are sold and used all over the world.
The project focus is to find new products in markets diverse from their core business. The project has many challenges, to analyse the core and threshold skills and competencies of FTT and find and exploit technology transfer channels and build a business case for new products as well as manage the product development process.
I am learning many aspects of innovation management; project management, people management, business practice (both operations and finance), marketing and new product development.
The KTP scheme is not widely publicised or lauded but it should be! As a first role, post graduation from a technical field I cannot imagine a better start. As well as getting learning support and input from the University and company , a Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Level 5 Diploma is part of the package as well as a budget for ongoing professional development training. The projects that KTP associates get involved in are many and varied.
It can be tough sometimes managing conflicts between academic and commercial expectations of the project but that’s part of the job.
Alan Williams
BA (Hons) Three Dimensional Crafts (2001)
Once I completed my course I stayed in Brighton and spent many days trawling the back streets looking for a possible workshop. I also got in touch with other metal workers to see if they had space to rent out. This was all quite uneventful for the most part. I was then offered a job with an ornamental plasterer. It wasn't my ideal job, and at the time I thought it was quite unrelated to what I wanted to do. I did this work for two and a half years, on and off, until someone responded to an advert I had put up about wanting to share a metalwork studio.
This was my first attempt at going self employed. After a year we ran out of funds to keep it on, combined with bad marketing (or a lack of) and the work wasn't coming in regularly enough. So we had to abort.
My second attempt was in a single garage unit in Farm road which I shared on a rota with a stone mason. I scaled down my work and made decorative lamps and smaller metalwork. Again the money pot was never full, but this workshop gave me the opportunity to meet some influential people.
I eventually teamed up with a blacksmiths down the road. They had to move out of their area due to problems with local residents (well, one in particular). I said I was willing to look for a larger space with them that we could all share.
For the last three years we have been based on a farm on the edge of Brighton by the racecourse. It's never easy going into business with others, and there have been many chapters, ups and downs, and changing dynamics.
It has taken me about six years to finally establish my business, and though things are not always perfect, I am now able to produce the work I am passionate about, and combine it with the work that pays the bills.