In what has already become a yearly tradition, third year BA Design students at Goldsmiths are, once again, organising a Grand Ball, which will take place at Rivoli Ballroom on November 27th. Tickets cost £15 and are on sale in the Third Year Studios at Goldsmiths Design, as well as in the student shop of the Richard Hoggart Building.
Roberto Feo of El Ultimo Grito has been appointed Professor of Design here at Goldsmiths, starting this academic year. On this happy occasion for all of us at Goldsmiths Design, we have prepared for you an interview with Roberto on his work and his new job:
What will you be doing at Goldsmiths as a Professor of Design?
My position is not really about teaching- I will help with teaching on the programmes, but mainly I will be generating a new design research group. It will be inclusive of staff and graduates, and it will offer possibilities of collaboration. Its focus will be similar to my interests in design and to the interests of the Design department at Goldsmiths: an experimental approach to design, and focusing not just on the end product, but on the meta-structure of design that goes behind that. We imagine the product in the vertex of a pyramid- I’m more interested in the system behind the final outcome, rather than just the final outcome as such. So I think that will be the purpose: how the object influences the pyramid and how changing the pyramid means that we also have a different outcome at the end.
I understand that you didn’t start out studying design yourself; what do you think is the role of design education in forming a designer?
I think design education gives you a focus into what design is. In reality, the design principles are present in many other activities, in terms of how you have to creatively plan and in order to materialise knowledge. We all share the same kind of process, design makes it more apparent, makes you more aware that this is what you’re doing. That’s why, for us ,it is interesting ,having a different background, because certain things are coming through your work in unexpected ways, so it gives you more material to play. But at the same time, education nowadays is not so much about teaching you how to be a designer, but about expanding the idea of what design is. I think that education really investigates design, and both the educators and the students collaborate in the function of the designer as a tutor or a professor in university. It’s not about teaching someone how to be what I am, I have to try teaching them what I don’t know yet. It’s a tricky thing, it requires a design approach to education and being experimental, trying to foresee what are these areas and trying to help students arrive to places you don’t know yet. That’s how you advance what design is. Continue reading “Roberto Feo : “For me, design is everything””
The Goldsmiths Design workshops have been closed for improvements in the past month, and they will open again starting today (although there may still be bits and pieces that need sorting out). Staff have been working hard to create a fantastic space for your creating and making. Faith Denham tells us what has been going on:
“Walls have been going up, others have been coming down, machinery has been moved about, walls and floors have been painted, everything has been rewired. All of this is happening to make the spaces better to work in – with dedicated areas for different types of making and new areas created. There will be a new space for light manufacturing, a completely re-vamped CAD/CAM area, a sizeable expansion of the wood work and plastics workshop.”
We have some work-in-progress photos for you as well:
The PhD students from the Design Department are organizing Phd By Design, a conference on the 6th and 7th of November. There will be more than 100 participants from 14 different countries. It also includes an event you can attend even without buying a ticket for the conference:
PUBLIC LECTURE:
We are delighted to announce that on the 6th of November Professor Bill Gaver will hold a public lecture as part of the PhD by Design conference.
The lecture is open to everyone, outwith the conference and is free to attend.
6th November 2014,
5.30 – 7PM
Ian Gulland Lecture Theatre
Goldsmiths, University of London
FOR MORE INFORMATION
phdbydesign.com
phdbydesign.com/publiclecture
Goldsmiths Design Blog 