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Employer-led project - Howdens

First and second year BA (Hons) Furniture and Product Design students took part in a "design sprint" with trade kitchen supplier Howdens.

This project gives our Furniture and Product Design students the opportunity to engage directly with a company, applying their skills and knowledge to a "real-world" design challenge, and gaining valuable industry experience in the process.

Project background

The students were given a project brief set by James Cole, Product Development Manager at Howdens - the  UK's leading trade-only kitchen and joinery supplier.

Students were first given a small kitchen to build and install in order to identify the particular difficulties that may be faced by trade customers. They were then asked to consider what design improvements could be made to make the build and fitting process easier.

The project brief

Designing for the builder

Explore the fitting and installation process of our kitchens to see if you can find solutions for making the processes more intuitive, focussing on at least one of two key areas:

  1. Wall cabinets - Howdens sell 1.5 million wall cabinets per year. They are safety critical items that are heavy to lift and increasingly have integrated lighting, but the design and installation is relatively unchanged over the past 25 years.
  2. Integrated Dishwasher kitchen frontal fitments - Howdens sell 200K+ units per year and are usually integrated rather than free-standing. Fitting the frontals can be difficult.
Each group was given a small kitchen to install to learn about the product and challenges faced with installation. Then they were asked to feedback their thoughts and observations post-build before developing design ideas.

Project timeline

The students were split into five groups, with mix of first and second years, and began by decided their roles within the group (project manager, CAD designer, model/prototype maker, etc), then started by building the kitchens in the studio, assessing difficulties they found during the build. They then worked on initial design ideas which they discussed with Howdens Design team at the midweek Concept Review before developing their final designs which their presented to the Howdens team and their peers.

The winning Group 4 comprised of Aoife Hitchings, Freya Carlton, Amy Rowe, Eve Perks, Saba Tunbridge and Louis Witney, and they won a prize of £1080. Howdens design team were impressed with both the way they worked as a group throughout the project, during the build and in the development their concepts, and with the professionalism of their presentation and their considered design solution of a knock-in dowel to simplify installation of wall end panels, which could also be used to assemble other panels, facias and cornices.

Conclusion

People sat at tables, discussing.

Following the students presentations in the studio, the Howdens design team showed the students' work to their CEO back at Howdens manufacturing HQ. The company will be progressing with developments on wall cabinets and dishwashers, and some of ideation from the students might help to shape the designs going forward.

Working with Howdens on the Design Sprint over the last three years has been an invaluable experience for the students, giving them the opportunity of working on a live project with a major UK manufacturer, to test build their kitchens, assess the products and suggest ideas for how they could be improved. It's also a great opportunity for the first and second year Furniture Design students to work together and build a cohort across the year groups. Howdens has been a fantastic partner to work with, supporting us with these projects, as well as offering placement and graduate opportunities for our students. We look forward to working with them again on future Design Sprints.

Simon Cahill, Senior Lecturer (BA Hons Furniture and Product Design)