11.07.08 – My last week at College…

…for the time being.

I spent the week:

• Finishing off the slumped glass insert for a cylinder piece.
• Sorting out my desk, going through all my amassed written stuff, rationalising all the catalogues, essays etc. that I had collected over the 2 years.
• Meeting up with Nadia and Jeremy from InnovationRCA to discuss other sources of funding as I had narrowly missed the Materials Innovation Fellowship. There’s an AHRC Knowledge Catalyst scheme that seems to be perfect for our project. It is going to take some organising as The College and the ‘Enterprise Partner’, i.e. the French company have to complete the application form. I will be the ‘Employee’ so don’t play an official part in the process.
• Packing all my work, tools, materials etc. and finding a van hire company who charge less than £200 for a one-way journey to Kendal!
• And saying good-bye to fellow students. I’m sure I’ll see many of them again and really hope our paths will cross, as they have been a great bunch of talented people.
• Giving a bit of help to Ray and Jeannette by moving pots & furniture around the house in preparation for the replacement of some floorboards and all the carpets.
• Driving the van north for over 6 hours. It felt a bit strange to have to find places for all my London bits and pieces, especially as I don’t know if I’ll be needing to take it back down there in October.

The weekend was spent sorting it all out, then mowing the lawn, picking raspberries up in the woods and generally easing myself into Parkside life again.

27.06.08 – Research funding

My first weekend at home for many weeks was blessed by terrible weather, cold, strong winds, grey skies and rain. My brother, sister-in-law and new nephew were over from Austria and though they had had a couple of pleasant days, the weather didn’t help in finding things to do with them on Saturday.
Back at College on Tuesday I met Martin to discuss the Innovation Fellowship application. It originally had to be in by Wednesday, but the deadline was extended during the day to Thursday. In one respect I was disappointed as I thought it might reduce my chances, but it meant that I had a bit longer to complete it.
Wednesday was a hectic day, attending the 3D technologies discussion day at the University of the West of England. I gave a short presentation at the end of the day, which attracted some attention, particularly from David Huson, a researcher from Bristol who is specialising in the 3D printing of ceramic materials. At some point in the near future we plan to discuss our projects.
The remainder of the week was focused on the application, Thursday passed in a blur and when Friday came I ran through my application, got some pieces ready for the interview and waited to be called. Eventually the phone rang and down I went to InnovationRCA. Geoff Hollington who I’d met at MaDE was the first of the panel to greet me. From my perspective the interview went well, I think I enthusiastically communicated the important points. Sat writing this on the train north I’m waiting to hear their decision. I’m really not sure of what chance I have, there could be some bright spark who has discovered some whizzy new material, all I can do is wait. It would put my mind at rest to get the Fellowship as I have been promised funds from the French company in order to develop a UK branch of the business. Together I should have a financially secure year ahead, with a very good chance of developing some interesting projects. If I don’t get the fellowship, then it’s back to looking for sponsorship.

20.06.08 – Still crazy…

I thought that things might have eased off a little after the show and my exam, but the absence of updates to my blog testifies to how busy things have been.
The aftermath of the show has involved responding to a flow of enquiries from magazines from various parts of the world, arranging for collection of work sold and continuing to put together a research project for next year. I have had to delay the Wedgwood work, as my trip to France meant that I couldn’t meet one of the people that I need to see in order to finalise things.
My examiners had asked for a small revision to the Introduction of the written report, so that went backwards and forwards between Martin, Alison and myself during the early part of the week. It was a pleasant feeling to hand in a final printed copy to the research office on Tuesday.
In the evening I had been invited to the Design London networking evening at Imperial College. Jeremy Myerson from InnovationRCA was there and told me about the Materials Innovation Fellowship sponsored by the London Design Festival. The deadline for applications is Wednesday next week, with interviews on the Friday. So short notice!
I also met the Waribashi group from Imperial who have developed a way of converting previously un-recyclable waste into a very useful material. I was interested to have a conversation with them about using the non-fired ceramic coating with their product. They are interested and willing for tests to take place.
On Wednesday morning it was up and off to Standsted for my flight to Limoges where I was visiting the company who produce the materials used in my Wedgwoodn’t project. At the College (ENSCI) I met Youssef, their new director of research who has been undertaking some very interesting experiments, but more of that at some later stage.
On Thursday we took a trip to Moulins-Yzeurre in the Auvergne to visit a Lycee with an amazing glass department. They become the official French National School of Glass in September and wish to form links with the RCA. They run technically based courses with strong links to industry but need to develop their design and innovation side of the teaching.
I managed to get a WiFi connection whilst in Limoges and download the Innovation Fellowship form, so spent some time thinking about that.
On Friday I actually got home for the first time in 4 or 5 weeks, it was a beautiful evening, the low light bringing out the folds in the land below our house. The garden had grown, (surprise, surprise) and was looking great.
My brother, sister-in-law and nephew were across from Austria for a few days and on Saturday I cooked lunch for them. Vicky unfortunately had to work, but we went round to my parents in the evening for a glass of wine with them. The weather over the weekend was terrible, cold, wet and very windy which didn’t help especially as I realised that I was absolutely knackered from all the activity of the past few weeks.

13.06.08 – The Exam

RCA SHOW ONE finished on Sunday evening and everything was packed away, so when Monday came I was free to concentrate on preparing for my exam on Thursday.
I had been advised to re-write my presentation, concentrating on the outcome of the project and future plans, with less emphasis on the background to it.
I discussed the mock exam with Alison on Monday, Liz on Tuesday and Martin on Wednesday, so had pretty consistent opinions of what I needed to say.
When Thursday came I was actually feeling relatively relaxed, certainly far more prepared than for last Thursdays mock exam. I had arranged both test and finished pieces in the Seminar Room and when the panel came in asked them if they would like to inspect the work. The panel was made up of Jeremy Ainsley, the Head of Vehicle Design, who chaired the meeting, Mike Hose, my External Examiner and Alison Britton. My supervisor, Martin Smith sat in as an observer, but couldn’t comment or ask questions. After my presentation, the questioning was good-natured, though I struggled a bit with some of the wording of Mike Hose’s questions. At least I remembered to ask him to elaborate.
After about 45 minutes of questions they seemed happy enough to retire to consider their verdict, leaving Martin and I to discuss the proceedings. They returned ten minutes later and Jeremy Ainsley announced that I had passed. Mike Hose asked if I would re-write the Introduction to my written report as he thought it needed to describe the project in a more engaging way for future readers.
After that I was invited up to the Senior Common Room for a lovely lunch, then almost straight back to it. I had a meeting at Imperial College with Nick Leon and Carolyn Runcie of Design London to discuss my plans for a research project at the RCA next year.
Back at the RCA the research cluster greeted me with a bottle of champagne!
Then Ray and Jeannette cracked one open when I got back to the house!

08.06.08 – the end of the Show

The last few weeks preparation for the show and my final exam have meant that I haven’t been home at the weekends, hence the absence of blog entries written on the Friday evening train.
It has been a really hectic time, glazing, firing, re-firing, wiring the lighting into some of the pieces etc. After all the effort the show was set up in time and looked surprisingly good. The press visit went well with interest from a number of magazines and independent journalists. The private view was incredibly busy, the Wedgwoodn’t Tureen sold within 45 minutes of the door opening and there has been almost as much interest in the Event Horizon torus piece. In fact, the reaction of people could be included in the evaluation part of the thesis as it creates exactly the ambiguity that I hoped it would. Viewers are unsure of the material used as well as the form. Even Prince Philip was intrigued by my work!
Having my mock exam part way through the show meant that when it happened I didn’t feel totally prepared. I was ‘examined’ by Martin Smith, Alison Britton and Liz Aylieff and it was pretty rigorous. I was at a loss to answer one or two of the questions, so need to prepare answers in case they come up at the real thing on Thursday.
I’ve been chosen to show the Wedgwoodn’t and the Event Horizon piece at New Designers at the beginning of next month. I have never been to the show but am told that it is very useful for making contacts. We’ll see...
On Thursday, after the exam, I had a meeting with Frances and Matt from Wedgwood. It looks like the project to design pieces for the 250th Anniversary is going ahead. There are still some technical issues, but hopefully they will be overcome. First of all, I need to choose the archive pieces that I plan to re-design. My first thoughts are to create a design themed on Charles Darwin’s ‘The Origin of Species’ and current debate about genetics.