Ceramic Design

Content

Ceramic Design embraces numerous types of practice. These can be characterized by the work of expressive individual makers who are informed by craft and create bespoke artefacts and product designers who design and produce highly refined products that consider social, cultural and lifestyle choices, market forces and manufacturing opportunities. Between these extremes lie ceramic work that inhabits human scale and architectural space, operating within public, community and domestic environments, creating opportunities for commission and site specific work.

The course curriculum on BA (Honours) Ceramic Design enables you to engage with all these attributes through 'learning by doing' - to design and translate ideas in ceramics, based on a hands-on experience and understanding of a material and how it informs the design process.

Since the 1930s ceramics education has focussed on personal expression as being the main rationale for practice. This resulted in three broad approaches to clay work, one more esoteric in its practice and allied more closely to the fine arts, another that related to craft and batch production, and industrial design for volume consumption.

In the 21st century, however, a good ceramic designer is now required to understand and appreciate the breadth of design. The course offers you an experience that combines a knowledge and understanding of ceramics, design skills and abilities, market and manufacturing knowledge with awareness - raising agenda of responsible design. It offers a life-long learning approach to ceramic design through the acquisition of skills and knowledge, enabling you to develop the essential transferable skills necessary to enter a wide range of employment and self-employment opportunities both within and beyond the discipline.

Structure

The course runs for 90 weeks full time over three years, and is divided into three Levels, (or Stages) each lasting 30 weeks.

Your learning is achieved through experiencing a range of design approaches; in particular, the course focuses on three key approaches, by which your creative practice and learning style can usually be identified and from which projects are constructed.

Stage 1

Design by Practice that focuses on the making experience and the intrinsic qualities of objects and materials is introduced in Stage 1.

Stage 2

Design by Project explores the notion of designing within and to distinct parameters; introduced in Stage 2, the process is often linear with specific points of delivery and outcomes.

Design by Concept, a more flexible approach, highly reflective and research based, focusing on building a framework for design thinking is also introduced in Stage 2.

Stage 3

At the end of the Stage 2 and throughout Stage 3 you will draw on and use these methodologies in your self initiated projects. These descriptions are not exclusive and often overlap and your articulation of them helps you to value your own design process whilst being able to use other methodologies in differing professional circumstances. Stage 3 is the most integrated of all the stages, mirroring as far as possible challenges you are likely to encounter in professional practice outside college.

The course has three closely interrelated areas of study, delivered through project work, lectures, seminars, group tutorials and assignments.

Areas of study

• Ceramic Design Studies (comprising Applied Technical Studies and Contextual Studies)
• Personal and Professional Development (PPD)
• Elective Studies