MA Design (Ceramics); MA Design (Furniture); MA Design (Jewellery)

Course detail

MA Design (Ceramics); MA Design (Furniture); MA Design (Jewellery) is part of the Product, Ceramic and Industrial Design programme. Ceramics, furniture and jewellery design share rich cultural histories and traditions of practice. Each is concerned with what can be described as 'intimate architecture' - a physical relationship of the artefact with the body.

The role of design practitioners is changing as a result of emergent technologies, global marketing, the internationalisation of production, and a rising interest in a 'bespoke approach' or 'craft content' within design.

Designers need to be able to think creatively and strategically about the identity of products and their cultural backgrounds and to support their ideas with innovation, commercial thinking and ethical questioning. MA Design: Ceramics, Furniture or Jewellery (by Project) develops your creative abilities, imagination and expertise in relation to real design world demands by linking formal design approaches with practice-led research.

The postgraduate course is achieved in the context of your own personal project, explored and developed according to your individual pathway choice, in a stimulating, supportive, creative and collaborative environment.

• MA Design (Ceramics); MA Design (Furniture); MA Design (Jewellery) lasts 60 weeks structured as three consecutive periods of 20 weeks each (i.e. two academic years) in its 'extended full-time mode'
• The Course is credit rated at 180 credits, and comprises three units. Unit One (60 credits) lasts 20 weeks. Unit Two (60 credits) runs for 10 weeks in the first year and 10 weeks in the second year. Unit Three (60 credits) runs for 20 weeks
• Units One and Two must be passed in order to progress to Unit Three
• The MA certification (Pass, Pass with Merit or Pass with Distinction) derives from the assessment for Unit Three only
• An exit award of Postgraduate Certificate can be awarded on completion of Unit One
• An exist award of Postgraduate Diploma can be awarded on completion of Unit Two
• The student is expected to typically commit 30 hours over three days per week to study, within which the taught input will typically be scheduled over three days. The course has been designed in this way to enable the student to pursue studies, whilst also undertaking part-time employment, internships or care responsibilities
• Teaching will consist of lectures, seminars, demonstrations, workshops, fieldtrips, tutorials and project work carried in groups and individually.

Autumn term
Monday 24 September 2018 – Friday 7 December 2018
Spring term
Monday 7 January 2019 – Friday 15 March 2019
Summer term
Monday 15 April 2019 – Friday 21 June 2019

Course structure Curriculum

The framework for the postgraduate course is an independent study route defined by your chosen project. The project becomes a vehicle for developing your creative abilities, problem solving and analytical skills, and for locating your work within the professional world.

You'll be encouraged to refocus your skills intellectually, contextually and practically, to exploit and extend design strategies from your own and other disciplines, and to question and test your ideas through teamwork and group critiques. On applying to MA Design: Ceramics, Furniture or Jewellery you'll be asked to produce a comprehensive project proposal that you refine during Stage One of the programme. In Stage Two, this proposal becomes an agreement, the blueprint for the MA project submission at the end of the postgraduate course.

• Unit One: Exploring and Designing introduces issues and topics relevant to ceramics, jewellery or furniture, research methodologies and techniques and aims to enable the student to orientate their practice within the course, and to develop contextual, critical and research skills at the onset of MA learning. You will also collaborate in cross course collaborative projects
• Unit Two: Design and Professional Practice, through unit two the student is expected to develop a critical self-awareness of their professional practice by focusing on reflectivity, contextualisation, and positioning practice in response to the action proposal developed in unit one. Throughout the unit, the student is expected to actively engage with, peers, external practitioners, networks and collaborators to produce a body of work which will map and articulate the students position in the field and reflect on their understanding of design industry structures; in particular, contemporary practices in ceramics, furniture and jewellery. The unit incorporates Personal Professional Development, enterprise and contextualising activities
• Unit Three: Evaluation and Resolution brings the project to both a practical and critically reflective conclusion, manifesting the practical outcomes, identifying where the student locates their practice and evaluating the project through the Critical Review. During the final stages of the course there will be further Personal Professional Development activity and professional futures workshops to support your career development.

MA Design CFJ Programme Specification 2018/19 (PDF, 356KB)

Industry collaborations

Working with paying clients on live briefs will give you valuable commercial experience which may mean your work being taken forward for production or, if so desired, in the purchase of your intellectual property. All paid projects are conducted within a carefully developed legal framework, which includes student agreements to protect your work and help you realise its commercial value.

Recent client projects in the Product, Ceramic and Industrial Design programme include: Nespresso, Roche Bobois, John Lewis, Canal and River Trust, Action Dog.

Once you’ve graduated, you may be picked as part of a small team to work on a live creative brief, organised by our Business and Innovation department, under the supervision of an experienced tutor. This can be a valuable first step in working professionally in a chosen discipline and has resulted in graduates being hired by clients.

Staff

Course Leader and Subject Leader (Jewellery): Simon Fraser

Subject Leader (Furniture): Professor Ralph Ball

Lecturer: Professor Rob Kesseler
Lecturer: Dr Ulrike Oberlack
Lecturer: Anthony Quinn
Lecturer: Dr Elizabeth Wright