Designed for Life

Becky is a design researcher and award-winning research team leader at the University of the Arts London. She is based at Chelsea College of Arts where she is Co-Director of Centre for Circular Design (CCD). 

In October 2021 she co-founded World Circular Textiles Day 2050 with a team of like-minded collaborators who all want to create clear roadmaps for circular textiles, by drawing together current academic and industry research into inspiring, shared visions.

Becky's practise research encompasses making materials and prototypes, exhibition curation and writing. She is also a highly skilled workshop facilitator and communicator, specialising in the translation of cross-disciplinary design-led research into commercial contexts for sustainable fashion textiles and other fields. She particularly enjoys the challenge of educating and inspiring all kinds of audiences into more sustainable choices and actions towards circular futures.

She trained as a printed textile designer (BA Hons, Loughborough, 1992) and fashion print designer (MA, Central Saint Martins, 1994), before setting up her B. Earley London-based studio in 1995, with support from the Prince's Trust, Arts Council and the Crafts Council. In the late 90’s she created her award-winning low-impact, ‘exhaust printed’ recycled textiles. Her creative fashion textile work has been widely exhibited over the last twenty years; her prints and garments are collected by museums across the globe including MFIT in New York, RISD Museum, as well as the V&A and Crafts Council in London and the Pitt Rivers Museum (Oxford).

Description

In this episode we are in conversation with Laura Wood and Paul Pentelow, Co-Founders of Invisible Creations a design company with a stated purpose to 'Design for Dignity'.

The idea for Invisible Creations® was created in the National Housing Federation’s innovation programme in 2018.  The initiative was supported by the social housing sector and the company was formally founded as a new startup in January 2020.

Laura, Paul and the team are driven by a desire to bring dual purpose, high-quality thoughtfully and empathetically designed products to the homes of elderly people, enabling them to maintain their independance and to live life to the full.  This quote, taken from their website sums up their value driven approach to their business "Older people have been poorly served for too long with products that are stigmatising, clinical and downright ugly. We’re here to end it. Our aim is to completely disrupt a market that fosters negative stereotypes and makes people feel vulnerable."

What is interesting is neither Paul or Laura  come from Design backgrounds. Paul  left Salford University with a Degree in Sports Management and Laura was an English teacher with a background in Marketing and Comms; yet both have found themselves motivated to work in an area that really makes a positive impact on peoples lives. 

Our discussion takes us through a design process from identification of a design area ripe for exploration, through design to manufacture and marketing. Invisible Creations is a young company with a vision and a passion for what they do that comes over strongly in the podcast. 

Their website details a very personal story of Laura's nan Sheila. Sheila's story describes an independant, proud woman who did not feel that she should submit to ugly, stereotyped clinical design that "labelled me as old and infirm". Sheila's story can be echoed by millions of pensioners nationally, Invisible Creations was founded to help people like Sheila. 

In this, the fifth episode of Designed for Life, the podcast brought to you by The Design and Technology Association in partnership with The Edge Foundation, we talk with Dids Macdonald OBE Co-founder and Chief Executive of ACID (Anti-copying in Design). At the time of recording, Dids was also Master of The Furniture Makers Company, the City of London livery company and charity for the furniture industry. We were joined in the conversation by Anne Sampson, who was the outgoing Educational Events and Campaigns Manager. 

Designers are notoriously bad at protecting their intellectual property, while some are very aware that a good idea is easily stolen and copied, many get so wrapped up in the iterative process of bringing a design from concept to market that they completely ignore or are ignorant of simple actions that they can take to protect their design from being illegally copied. 

As a young designer herself, Dids was outraged by the audacity shown by some who openly copied and replicated her work and the work of colleagues. Instead of moaning about it, she decided to take action and Co-founded ACID, which has been working for the last 25 years to help to protect design intellectual property. 

In this episode, Dids talks us through the relatively simple steps that all designers should take to protect their work. We talk through how this could (and perhaps should) be taught as part of a D&T secondary or even primary education (it is taught to all primary aged pupils in China). 

Dids also takes us behind the scenes at one of the City’s newest livery companies. What is a livery company? How does this work with and for the furniture industry, and what can we do within education to encourage more students to consider furniture design as a worthy option? 

A wide-ranging and engaging conversation that lifts the lid on design theft and how to protect against it. 

In this episode of Designed for Life we are fortunate to be in conversation with Pim van Baarsen CEO of the Silverstone Technology Cluster, a high-tech business group situated geographically within an hours drive of the Silverstone race circuit.

Pim joined the Motorsport Industry Association after completing a Master’s degree in business studies. During his time there he was presented with the AIM Young Business Person of the Year award for his efforts in helping the organisation grow.

He subsequently joined transmission specialists Xtrac where he oversaw their sportscar activities. After two years there he was invited to join Haymarket as Group Marketing Manager.

In 2010, Pim co-founded CMA Marketing, a marketing agency specialising in technical B2B marketing.

In December 2016 Pim was asked to head up the Silverstone Technology Cluster and has been doing what he describes in the podcast as his 'dream job' since.

In 2016, research was published that identified the cluster around Silverstone, an area spanning as far as Birmingham, Oxford, Cambridge and Luton, in which approximately 4,500 businesses reside who specialise in advanced engineering, electronics and software. As a result of this research, the Silverstone Technology Cluster (STC) organisation was founded

This podcast follows Pim's journey from school in the Netherlands through his dual degree taken at Plymouth University to his current post. We talk about how high-tech industries have reacted to the challenges posed by COVID-19 and how we can better join the worlds of education and industry to showcase an exciting emerging job market.  Pim gives his advice to students even vaguaely interested in working in the tech sector - A great conversation with something in there for everyone!

In this episode, we are in conversation with designer and technologist Jude Pullen. 

Winner of the 2020 Alastair Graham-Bryce "Imagineering" Award (Institution of Mechanical Engineers), Jude is a Product Design Engineer with an unparalleled appetite to investigate each subject matter that crosses his path. 

With a passion for bridging seemingly disparate disciplines, he is fascinated by fresh design challenges, be they human, mechanical or virtual. Exceptionally skilled at creating physical prototypes, he uses these models to explore design ideas, be they concepts for Dyson, a medical device for NHS, a fire-fighting robot or a mini space-pod.  

Jude has worked with Speck Design, Dyson, Sugru and LEGO but is possibly best known to design and technology teachers for his appearance as part of the design team on the BBCs Big Life Fix which has become something of an iconic show for design and technology teachers nationally (currently being repeated). 

Jude recently delivered a keynote as part of the Design and Technology Association's Autumn School. In the conversations leading to this keynote entitled "Not a Ted Talk", he was keen to avoid the 'easy option' of delivering a speech detailing his rich career to date. He was instead eager to explore the nature of design and technology teaching and what the future might hold for the subject. 

Teachers attending the Autumn School session were challenged to step forward to help form a group raising a hand to explore what might be possible in school with the support of Jude and some of his professional network of colleagues. That invitation is extended to D&T teachers listening to this podcast. 

This episode has something for teachers, students of D&T and for parents alike. So sit back, plug in and enjoy the D&T Association in conversation with Jude Pullen. 

In this, the fourth episode of Designed for Life, the podcast brought to you by the Design and Technology Association in partnership with the Edge Foundation; we meet Brian Oppenheim one of Her Majesties lead inspectors, a former teacher and head of design and technology and currently an experienced lead inspector with responsibility for the subject. 

In this conversation, we cover Brian's experience at school and what brought him to train to teach design and technology with the Inner London Education Authority. Brian talks us through his experiences as a head of department and how he developed a love for the subject that remains to this day. 

Brian was involved in helping to formulate the 'new' Ofsted framework and has worked to train other Ofsted colleagues in how to inspect design and technology and just what good and outstanding practise looks like in our subject. 

In our conversation, we cover a lot of ground, including:

• How does the revised framework for inspection differ from what came before and how has the first year been working with the new structure?
• What exactly is a broad curriculum offer from Ofsted's perspective and what happens when you inspect a school that has reduced their offer to students?
• What have been the main learning points for the subject over the last year?
• What is a 'deep dive' and how might this look in practice?

 This is an honest and open conversation with an Ofsted inspector that, in my opinion, really does value, understand and care about the subject. 

Michael Omotosho is a freelance Industrial designer based in Bradford and is widely recognised as a young highly talented designer with huge potential. 

In this podcast, the second of a new series brought to you by the Design and Technology Association in partnership with the Edge Foundation, Michael talks us through his foundation years as he was educated in Nigeria. From his earliest years, he noticed how comparatively well off his family was compared to many of his friends at school. His friends compensated for what they were unable to buy through handcrafting toys, Michael was impressed, and an obsession with social design was born. 

Michael's father was in the Nigerian military and was a trained automotive engineer, his mother, a fabric designer. Michael describes his foundation years and how he struggled to find a career pathway. His parents had ideas for Michael to enter medicine or law, but these just didn't flick the switch for a young lad increasingly obsessed with design. 

Following school Michael "blagged" his way onto a degree course in automotive design. He had not achieved the required grades (or subjects) for the course but somehow managed to convince the interviewing panel that he had what it took to make up lost ground. Once on the course, he received a rude awakening as he realised that the course was more about the applied use of mathematics and physics than the drawing and designing that he loved, "they assumed vocabulary that I did not have, what was a washer"? 

Michael dug in deep following a first year at university that he describes as "unimpressive". He realised that to pass; he was going to have to work as he had never worked before. Grit is an overused word; but when you face down your tutor and proclaim that you are going to get a top grade in your final year, despite nothing in your record so far demonstrating that this was a possibility...that shows determination. 

Michael graduated with a first in Automotive Design but had already decided that freelance product and industrial design was where he wanted to be. He has recently launched @Plugull a life product to assist a simple everyday activity. 

This was a fantastic conversation with a very likeable and determined young designer. Michaels story can provide inspiration and guidance for students everywhere!

In the first of a new series of podcasts brought to you by the Design and Technology Association in association with The Edge Foundation, we talk with Jay Blades community worker, furniture restorer and TV presenter. 

Jay talks us through his journey from his education in North West London to working with his ex-wife to set up 'Out of the Dark' a social enterprise created to help disadvantaged young people learn practical skills through furniture renovation and design. Jay very candidly describes how he came through a very dark period in his life when within a matter of months his marriage ended, and he lost the business that he loved and found himself homeless and without direction in his life. 

Chance brought Jay to Wolverhampton, where he refound himself and created a new purpose in life renovating antique furniture. Chance again had a big hand in Jay's introduction to TV work, he describes his journey and what it's like to be the frontman for one of the most popular light entertainment shows on TV right now, The Repair Shop, a show attracting 8 million viewers! 

Through the conversation, one gets the impression of a man who likes to connect with people and is drawn to want to make a difference to those born to a disadvantaged start in life. Jay describes the importance of creativity in education and in life and provides his thoughts on how the simple art of making something can feed the soul! 

This was a delightful conversation and is one that we believe provides a perfect opener to this new podcast series. 

Designed for Life is a new podcast (launch date end of August 2020) brought to you by the Design and Technology Association that sets out to entertain, Inform and Inspire. The podcast takes the format of a series of casual conversations with successful people doing interesting things; be this in education, design, manufacturing, production or any other associated line of business. 

Our intention as the professional association for design and technology teaching and learning in schools is to bring the worlds of education and business/industry closer together; this podcast fully supports that objective. 

Subscribe now and let us bring inspiration and entertainment to your ears!