Designed for Life Tony Ryan CEO Design & Technology Association

In this episode, we are delighted to talk with Dawn Foxall and Roy Ballam about the recently released paper commissioned by the Textiles Skills Centre, 'Unravelling the Fabric of Textiles Education'. As we seek to move the subject forward, building from the bottom up being our approach at the Association, we need to carefully look at where textiles fits into primary and secondary education. Our view is that we want to keep textile education within design and technology, a position that ...

In this conversation, we follow Gordon Fraser, Co-founder of the Marloe Watch Company, on his journey from a difficult school experience to co-founding a successful British-designed watch company. With his Co-founder Oliver, whom he met online, the two founded The Marloe Watch Company and produced their first two watches without meeting (and living in two different countries). As the company grew, Oliver was the first to 'give up the day job' and concentrate 100% on the success of their...

In this episode, we are in conversation with Claire Holman, modelmaking professional and lecturer at Arts University Bournemouth. We follow Claire's journey from a fairly nomadic start as her family moved first to Zambia and then to England, closely followed by Scotland as her father's work dictated their journey. This was followed at age sixteen by Claire leaving school and taking on a YTS course (if you are old enough, you know. If not, a government initiative to direct young people into tr...

This episode sees us in conversation with Sophie Hague - 2022 RSA Student Award winner and UX Designer. Sophie found school difficult, not so much academically, but she found it over-stimulating, crowded and overall, just not an enjoyable experience. The one exception to this was design and technology lessons, where she enjoyed the 'open-endedness' of problem-solving activities and just 'clicked'. As she progressed on her learning journey, Sophie found out just how she liked to learn. Experie...

Denim jeans have become an integral part of modern-day life. The majority of us own at least one pair (I personally have to confess to seven)! But how are these garments made? At what cost to the environment? And when they reach end of life how many of us give proper thought to where our once-loved products end up?Josh Myers is on a mission to turn these discarded garments into aesthetically beautiful products that see the material being given a second life, good news for the environmen...

Amanda was somewhat destined to work in fashion from an early age. Influenced by her grandmother, who placed her in front of a sewing machine at age eight, she quickly learned how to use the machine and how to make her own clothes. Her grandmother's throwaway comment, having made her own dress only a short time after being introduced to the sewing machine, stuck, and Amanda's journey into the fashion industry was set. A combination of sheer determination, ability, grit, and, it has to be...