Product Design students and staff help to inspire the next generation of designers

NTU students and staff attend Fernwood School Design Day 2018

NTU students and ADBE technical staff at Fernwood Design Day 2018

Product Design students and Technical staff from the School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment at the Fernwood Design Day 2018

Product Design students and staff members from the School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment Technical Team at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) recently attended the annual Fernwood Design Day event alongside industry experts from companies such as Triumph and Rolls Royce. The Fernwood School is an academy based in Wollaton and holds the annual Design Day to offer Year 9 students a chance to be part of a ‘real life’ industry day.

The day is designed to give students a sense of what real life designing is all about, whilst working with industry experts on a live project brief. The students additionally gained an insight into how design skills can broaden their scope for future employment in a range of career paths as well as contributing to their general education.

The Fernwood students were given the opportunity to create a sculptural installation to be displayed alongside the work of our own Product Design students here at NTU as part of the Nottingham Light Night Festival later this month. The students were also introduced to a wide variety of materials and processes throughout their day of making and enjoyed getting creative and ‘hands-on’ with alginate and plaster casting.

Alongside staff from the technical team were NTU Maker Club student volunteers Sophie Gilpin, a final year Furniture and Product Design student and Lukas Grundstrom, a first year Product Design student, who both offered their support as Design Day mentors.

Senior Technician Kerry Truman commented: “We were delighted to be involved in the Fernwood Design day this year. Inspiring the younger local generation about design is something we are passionate about here at NTU through our outreach team. “

Student Sophie Gilpin added: “It was a great experience to interact with school children who were eager to learn about design. It was a nice change from being in a studio and seeing how creative the students could be.”

For more information on this year’s Fernwood Design Day click here

For more details on the NTU Maker Club click here