BA(Hons) 3D Design and Craft
Welcome to the 2021 BA (Hons) 3D Design & Craft online Degree Show of graduating student work from our well established design and making course which explores a wide spectrum of three-dimensional practices.
We are so proud of their achievements as they have spent much of the last year and half in restrictions or lockdowns which have really challenged them to change the way they think, make and operate. This year group has responded to these challenges with tenacity, resilience and adaptability to produce a wide ranging and thoughtful body of work.
Throughout this show you will see how the students’ focus and determination to find inventive ways to overcome the problems of making in restricted conditions has resulted in the wide range of creative outcomes which define the spirit of the course and illustrates why graduates from this course are so versatile and employable.
The work in the show often is reflective of this world re-defining period in history and always it reflects of the personalities and aspirations of the makers. On Design & Craft we pride ourselves on helping students find their own voice as a maker/designer through ‘hands on’ development of making and thinking skills. This coupled with the increasing importance of professional context as the course progresses. By the third year we aim for the students to have developed an independence of thought and practice which leads them to developing individual lines of enquiry in readiness for graduation and the next steps in their career.
The course began 47 years ago and has continually evolved to engage with current issues and opportunities and in it’s current form occupying the diverse creative space between art, craft, design and digital manufacturing. It continues to be one of the leading and influential making programmes in the UK helping graduates prepare for the emerging fields of making in the 21st century. Our graduates’ work explores the value of made objects, products and artefacts in the world and the evolving role that making performs in engaging with the contexts of our time.
Work in the show explores the relationship between object, user and location whilst considering issues of sustainability and waste, health and wellbeing, materiality and process, place, gender, social, cultural and environmental issues and narratives such as remembrance, nostalgia and symbolism.
This year’s showcase is a diverse, engaging and inspiring body of work, and is not to be missed.
Jem Ryan
Course Leader
Ba (Hons) 3D Design & Craft
( Feature image – ‘The Messiah of Craft Runs Away” – project by Daryl Haines)