Category: Alumni

Alumnus Hefin Jones chosen for 2015 Designers in Residence program at the Design Museum

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Hefin Jones is a 2013 graduate of our BA Design course and currently a visiting lecturer in the Design department here at Goldsmiths. We were very happy to hear that he will be one of this year’s Designers in Residence at the Design Museum starting September.

The brief for the 2015 residency program of the Design Museum was “Migration”: “It can be a reflection of objects or processes that imply movement, or transition, of shifting and cross-fertilising cultures, or of mobility.” The other three young designers to be part of the program are Chris Green, Stephanie Hornig and Alexa Pollman.

This is just one of many successes for Hefin, whose Goldsmiths graduation project, “The Welsh Space Campaign”, was exhibited in Rotterdam, covered by iTV and Wired, and won the 2013 Christine Risley award.

Mary Cook of UsCreates: “Starting a business right out of Uni is a great idea. You’ve got nothing to lose”

Mary Rose Cook is one of the founders and managing directors of UsCreates, a creative consultancy with a focus on social change. Ten years ago, Mary and her then-classmate Zoe Stanton started UsCreates after graduating from the BA Design course at Goldsmiths. Read our interview to find out what Mary has to say on strategic design for social change and running one’s own business:

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Q: How did you end up studying at Goldsmiths in the first place and what were your expectations when you got here?

A: I looked at a few different universities and decided on Goldsmiths partly because my family was in London, but also because of the reputation of arts and design from Goldsmiths. I don’t know if I had any great expectations, but I thought the whole experience was eye-opening. I think I arrived with a limited understanding of design, which in my mind was a lot more about art direction and aesthetics, and I left with a new way of thinking about generating ideas and problem solving, which now I know as design thinking.

Q: What was it like for you on the course? Did you enjoy the experience? Continue reading “Mary Cook of UsCreates: “Starting a business right out of Uni is a great idea. You’ve got nothing to lose””

MA graduate Yang Song wins A’ Design Award 2015

Yang Song, a 2014 graduate of our MA in Design: Critical Practice, has won the A’ Design Award for “Familiar and Unfamiliar”, a project developed at Goldsmiths and exhibited at last year’s Postgraduate Design Show. “Familiar and Unfamiliar” is comprised of moving furniture with clockwork mechanisms, handmade in the Goldsmiths workshops.

Yang explained for the A’ Design Awards website the idea behind the project: “The inspiration mainly comes from the memories of daily objects during my childhood. We cherish old objects as our close friends, because sometimes they could recall us the old times of ourselves. […] We are surrounded by thousands of fast-food products, our values as well as perceptions become “fast-food”. Consequently, the modern society is a familiar but unfamiliar world to us. Through this design oriented programme “Familiar and Unfamiliar”, I intend to explore the true meanings of daily objects in our everyday lives and the true meaning of life itself”.

You can read a more detailed description of the project on the website of the A’ Design Awards, where you can also find an interview with Yang Song.

 

Goldsmiths Design graduate program: Candyce Dryburgh

Our last interview concerning the Goldsmiths Design graduate program is with 2013 BA Design graduate Candyce Dryburgh. 

What kind of designer are you?

Most of my work is centred around speculative and critical design which enables the public to discuss and question our current lifestyles as well as how it could be in the future. I am also interested in how future materials, craft and digital technology are important in our advancement.

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What kind of work have you designed during this program period?

I am currently working on a material research and exploration around bone china and how materials can inform the use of particular objects. Continue reading “Goldsmiths Design graduate program: Candyce Dryburgh”