Makerversity x Prince’s Trust: Number 10!

Our tenth programme!

Last week, we were incredibly proud to run our tenth Get Started With Product Design programme in partnership with the Prince’s Trust!

Every six months, Makerversity works with our members and community to co-create new material for an intensive week–long design course for 16–25s aimed at teaching the very basics of product design and making, and at breaking down the barriers that prevent many amazing young people get started in the creative industries.

Our unique community at Makerversity gives us a wonderful opportunity to offer a very real and relatable form of learning by creating workshops around the very processes and practices that our members are working through and exploring every day.

 

Textiles, Slipcasting and Furniture …

For our tenth programme, we invited three of our Under 25s alumni (now members) to create workshops and experiences around their widely–different practices. Based around the idea of open-source, non-institutional and DIY forms of learning, we looked at the work of Enzo Mari to explore how design is for everyone and how we can make products without the use of complex methods.

So, the first week of June saw 13 young people setting up in our workshops for a week of sessions with Abbie Adams, Celeste (Made by Celeste), Drew Richards and Marcel (HyperSuper).

Frustrated by the lack of access to a kiln and pottery wheel whilst at uni, Abbie developed her own practice of making beautiful Jesmonite vessels through the process of slip–casting. She showed everyone how she makes her masters and moulds, then led us through workshops in pigment mixing, pattern design and then slip–casting and finishing so everyone got to take home their own vessel/vase/pot.

Before joining our Under 25s programme, Celeste taught herself how to create patterns and was designing and making her own clothing line, Made by Celeste, out of her bedroom. In her workshops, we looked at sustainability and plastic waste and she taught everyone how to pick apart a plastic grocery bag, transfer the shape and structure to pattern paper, and then put together beautiful and reusable grocery bags made from fabric offcuts before adding pockets and lovely extras.

Finally Drew and Marcel took us through two super fun workshops. The first tested our visualisation skills and teamwork by turning flat 2D shapes into giant 3D inflatables. The second workshop took inspiration from Martino Gamper’s 100 Chairs in 100 Days project and explored the dialogue of functional versus conceptual within playful furniture. In the morning each pair constructed a flat-pack stool with only drills. In the afternoon, using only salvaged and found materials, the brief was to recreate the basic stool into something that your best friend would like and use. The results were super weird and amazing beyond anything we expected.

From textiles to furniture to casting, we squashed so many incredible workshops into just a few days of making. As always, we’re grateful and so proud of everyone that takes part!

Up next …

As part of the course, we organise work experience placements with some of our members for the group to apply to after finishing up the course. Check back soon to see what Sion gets up to with Monday’s Child, Shilpa gets up to with Eaten and Rai gets up to with Ksoni.

And, if you’re interested in joining us on a future course and you’re not currently in education, training or employment (and aged 16–25, obv) get in touch with the Prince’s Trust to register your interest for Autumn.