A huge congratulations to the Product Design Class of 2015 on graduating last week. It was great to see everyone and catch up on their careers to date. Well done.
Tag: Employment
‘Stirring Stuff’
Must read interview in the Top Gear magazine with Marek Reichman, Teesside Graduate and Aston Martin’s design boss, on creating a car for the world’s most famous secret agent.
Click on here to read the article.
Tees Made in London
Last week, in the sweltering heat of London, students from Product Design exhibited their final project work at the New Designers Exhibition in Islington.
Funding for the exhibition was raised by the students through organized events, ‘live’ projects and through sponsorship.
New Designers takes place every year at the Business Design Centre which was once the Royal Horticultural Hall. Over 3.500 graduates exhibited from institutes all across the UK.
New Designers allows students to showcase their work alongside fellow graduates from across the UK with the aim of getting themselves noticed and that first foot on the ladder, which will help shape their future.
It was a great week with lots of interest from both the Industry and potential employers. We also welcomed a lot of ex-students onto the stand who had come along specifically to catch up and to meet the current graduates.
‘Every cloud…’
Graduate Talk and Studio Visit
David Winter, Co-founder of Hull Studio and Teesside graduate has worked widely within the fields of furniture, interiors and the super yacht industry.
After graduating David began work within the furniture industry for Silverlining Furniture based in Cheshire where he was involved in designing bespoke furniture for luxury yachts and houses worldwide. Driven by values of innovation, passion and excellence the company continually redefines traditional design and craftsmanship through cutting edge materials, finishes, techniques and technology.
Leaving Silverlining after 5 years in 2013 David Co-founded Hull Studio with former colleagues. The studio has a multidisciplinary approach with an ethos that lies in exploring the relationship between traditional craftsmanship, modern technology and organic design. Their work is currently being shown by Gallery Fumi in London and is often exhibited at The Pavilion of Art and Design.
David is also currently exploring and challenging what his design practice means through an MA in Product Design at Manchester Metropolitan University.
David’s talk will take place at 1pm on Friday 27th February in A2.01. David will then be spending the rest of the afternoon in the studio.
“Going the Extra Mile”
The world of work is a difficult place for a young graduate to navigate. How do you get noticed?, get taken seriously?, get things done? Everything and everyone is new!
Well, product design graduate Michelle Blackett had some of the answers to those thorny questions when she gave an inspirational talk to our students last week. Michelle graduated in 2010 and her first destination job was as a Knowledge Transfer Associate with Nifco UK. Nifco UK is an injection moulding company, supplying many of the big name car manufacturers.
Michelle was employed through the university and mentored in her role by Peter Reid, Senior Lecturer in Product Design. Her job was to develop a New Product Development Strategy. No small task! Michelle has since gone on to be employed by Nifco in a variety of roles from project engineer where she was responsible for key accounts with Ford and Jaguar/Land Rover to her current position as Marketing Manager with responsibility for Branding, internal and external communications.
One of many great examples of how Michelle has gone the extra mile is when she organised a teambuilding and charity event for Nifco staff to climb England’s highest mountain, Scarfell Pike in the Lake District. http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/local-news/stockton-workers-peak-performance-tsunami-3675240
But now Michelle is about to go a few miles further… Ford have offered her a new role in Essex!
And the secret of Michelle’s success, in a nutshell… “always going that extra mile” and exceeding your boss’s expectations. That’s what quickly builds respect and builds your career.
Designers for the future
18 Year 11 and 12 students from Kings Academy joined us last Wednesday as part of a mentoring programme with our 3rd year students. This was the 1st of three visits over the course of the year. The product design students are acting as clients giving support, advice and direction on a range of projects undertaken by the students from Kings. Project briefs include kettles, interior car parts and lighting.
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As part of the visit they were also given a flavour of what it is like to be a student at Teesside University during a tour of the University campus by our 2nd year student Ambassadors.
New Designers mean business
This year’s stand at the New Designers Exhibition at the Business Design Centre in Islington is starting to take shape. Come and see us on stand FP42 from Thursday.
Ireland abounds…
Product Design graduates Anna Staples and Emma Braham applied for European Placements and both ended up working in Cork, Ireland, on three month internship schemes.
Anna has been working for a company called Quay Designs who upcycle furniture and sell it on in their own shop. Anna says:
“I am really enjoying working at Quay Designs because its allowing me to have a hands on approach with all the furniture, see how timber and oak is treated, we get a lot of different styles of furniture in, art deco and 50s kind of stuff. It’s actually ideal for me at the moment. I also get to see what styles of furniture are on trend and what colours are on trend also.”
Emma has been working for Air Dryer Systems Ltd in their new product development department. Emma says:
“The experience has been really good, working on products to extend their current range”
Anna is hoping to extend her stay in Ireland for a further 3 months, whilst Emma has since secured a new position back in England.
Ben cleans up at Dyson
Product Design graduate Ben Russi has been succesful in securing a graduate Design Engineering position working for British inventor, industrial designer and founder of the Dyson company, Sir James Dyson. Dyson is best known as the inventor of the Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner, which works on the principle of cyclonic separation.
On getting the role Ben said:
“Interviewing for a position at Dyson as a Graduate Design Engineer originally made me quite nervous as to be expected. On the day I quickly realised however that this interview was going to be quite different to others, both days where extremely enjoyable based around demonstrating my creativity as a designer and technical understanding and fundamentally my design process and thinking. The Dyson employees where very friendly, answering all of my questions about the role very openly. On getting the position I was understandably very excited, I have not stopped thinking about what I might be doing since and cannot wait to start my new role. The course at Teesside University prepared me greatly for the interview process, I used all of the skills and new ways of thinking I had learnt over the three year course. The product design course also gave me the confidence to apply and push for a role with such an innovative and exciting company. It is a course I would highly recommend to any aspiring Designer or Design Engineer.”
Tom’s Magic Tips
Teesside ex-student, Tom Crisp, now Design Director at Design Partners in San Fransisco, came back to Teesside last week and wowed Product Design Students with a bundle of stories about life as a designer.
As well as showing his award winning portfolio of work he has done for Wacom ( Cintiq, Bamboo and Intuos), Heinz Ketchup (new squeezy bottle), Intel ( Mobile Metro), Villeroy and Boch, Logitech and Proctor and Gamble, he gave a talk entitled ‘Twenty Things I wish I could have told myself at University‘. Among his top tips for designers were ‘Make Things Constantly, Experiment and Have Fun‘, ‘Make Friends with Criticism’ and ‘Add Magic. Always’. Students were then treated to a master class in drawing and some feedback about an on-going sledge project.
Tom also invited students to submit their portfolios to him for the possibility of working for Design Partners as an intern. It was a truly inspirational day. Tom has promised to come back to share more of his wisdom next year. See more of Tom and teams work at http://www.designpartners.com/.