How many of you reading this have fond childhood memories of reading the Beano? I am guessing many of you could name most of the characters from the Beano now; some of you may still have Christmas Annuals tucked away somewhere in the loft. Well, the good news is the Beano is still alive and well...in fact, it is in rude health. 

So when I received an email asking if I would like to speak with Alex Harris (BBC Teach) and Mike Sterling (Creative Director at Beano...although he also has another job title), the answer was an immediate yes!

What followed was an absolutely joyful conversation, sometimes the chat just flows, and we almost forget that the microphones are on and rolling, and this is one of those occasions. 

These two organisations have come together to create a truly inspiring resource aimed at primary school teachers. Comic creativity inspired by Dennis, Gnasher and Minnie the Minx 

The new BBC Teach Beano – how to create a comic set of resources provide a step-by-step guide to help children to make their own comic, from creating characters, to constructing worlds to developing stories. 

Three classroom videos featuring Beano Studios’ mischief makers introduce children to visualising characters as stick people, creating a story mountain, and building a soundscape with words like ‘clang’ or ‘squelch’. 

The new resources are rooted in Beano’s 85 years of expertise in comics and creativity. Featuring Beano creatives Mike Stirling, Ed Stockham, Rhiannon Tate and Craig Graham, the free videos are designed for teachers to use with their primary classes at Key Stage 2, 2nd Level and Progression steps 2 and 3 across the UK. They include everything needed to create a comic as part of a whole class project. The resources are accompanied by teacher notes, templates (thought balloons, head shapes and story mountains) and a specially designed comic book layout.

To access Beano – how to create a comic, visit: https://tinyurl.com/yx7c37x9

So sit back, put your earphones in, grab an hour to yourself and enjoy Designed for Life in conversation with Mike Sterling (Beano) and Alex Harris (BBC). 

This is part two of a two-part mini-series in which we explore the development of the design and technology curriculum offer at Hethersett Academy in East Anglia. If you have not yet listened to part one, I suggest you go back and listen to this first, as there is something of a sequence. 

In this episode, we follow on from our conversation with Kate Finlay, Head of Department and Trust Curriculum Lead by talking with students, parents, the design and technology staff and the Headteacher.  Through these conversations we gain a full picture of how the curriculum has developed at Hethersett, the value of D&T to all concerned and gain some wonderful insights from students. 

So sit back, relax and listen to Designed for Life - In conversation with the staff, students and parents from Hethersett Academy. 

Huge thanks to all the staff and students at Hethersett for their help and co-operation to make this pod possible, and as always thanks to The Edge Foundation for the continued support that makes these podcasts possible. 

 https://www.hethersettacademy.org/

In the second of our focus podcasts within a specific school, we are delighted to bring you 'Designed for Life' in conversation with Hethersett Academy in East Anglia. 

The intention within these podcasts is to provide listeners with a complete 360 journey around the design and technology department in the school, with interviews and thoughts from students, teachers, parents and senior leaders. From these conversations, you can piece together the value of the subject to the curriculum within these schools. 

This is part one of a two-episode podcast, and here we talk with Kate Finlay, the Curriculum Leader for design and technology for the Inspiration Trust, who run several schools (primary and secondary) in the area. 

In this podcast, you will hear a very open conversation with Kate in which she discusses the steps taken to build a department and how she has built a strong team around a shared vision. She talks about the highs and the challenges that she has had to face and how the vision in place at Hethersett Academy is being shared across other schools both within and outside of the Inspiration Trust. 

So grab the dog and put those earbuds in place, take us with you to the gym, or find a cosy chair and a coffee, sit back and enjoy Designed for Life in conversation with Hethersett Academy. 

https://www.hethersettacademy.org/

In this episode, we are delighted to be joined in conversation by Jenny Body CBE. 

This episode was recorded in front of a live audience at Aerospace Bristol on the morning of our annual awards ceremony on the 13th of October this year. The recording was made almost within touching distance of Concorde, an aircraft that Jenny had the privilege of working on some years ago.

Jenny Body is a British Aerospace engineer and former President (the first ever woman to hold this post) of the  Royal Aeronautical Society. Jenny grew up in rural Gloucestershire; her father was an aerospace engineer, and her mum worked hard to qualify as a dispensing chemist. Growing up, Jenny was naturally good at maths/physics but also developed a passion for English, which still stays with her to this day. 

Told by her headteacher that engineering was "not a suitable career for a young woman", she thankfully ignored this advice and, throughout her career, has worked to demonstrate that gender should be no barrier to progression in her chosen profession. 

Working in the avionics group at British Aerospace, Jenny was part of the team that generated some of the first 'fly by wire' software. She established and led the Next Generation Composite Wing Programme, one of the most extensive and expensive research programmes in the history of British Aerospace. In 2002 Jenny was made engineering lead on the Nimrod wing design team. 

In 2013, Jenny became the first female President of the Royal Aeronautical Society. Whilst she very humbly places this in our conversation, this was hugely significant as not only her gender was in play here, but also her route to this role and the fact that she came from a civilian background and not through the RAF, where many of the previous holders of this post had graduated from.  

Already an OBE. Jenny was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours list this in recognition of her services to aerospace engineering.  

This is a fascinating conversation with a groundbreaking engineer as we trace her journey from school to working with government to secure funding and lead a huge engineering team to advance British Aerospace. 

So sit back, grab an hour to yourself and enjoy Designed for Life in conversation with Jenny Body CBE. 

In this episode, I was delighted to be in conversation with Jennifer Campbell, Managing Director of Giles Agency Hong Kong. 

In the pod, we track Jen's journey from rural Berkshire through the discovery that her natural penchant to quickly strike up conversations with people, together with an ability to sell and the tenacity to hang on in there when sales didn't go as planned, could actually become a career. 

A move to a large agency in London (she wasn't aware quite how big a deal this was until friends were surprised that she had secured the position) allowed her to really learn the business of marketing, enhancing her natural abilities and, along the way, having fun doing so. 

A strong desire to somehow be involved in the 2012 London Olympics saw Jen shift jobs and work on the marketing campaign for one of the event's major sponsors. Then came a move abroad with a desire to be closer to family in Australia, seeing Jen move to take up a role in Hong Kong, where she has laid routes and is now MD at The Giles Agency, a role that she has held since October 2018. 

Jen has also teamed up with colleagues to run a business marketing podcast, 'The Disconnected,' available wherever you stream your podcasts (Looking at social and tech trends in marketing). 

If you are interested in digital marketing and want to learn more about the journey from mainstream education into the industry, do give this a listen. 

Thank you to Jen for reaching out and being such a great guest to chat with and, of course, to the Edge Foundation, whose support allows us to keep creating these conversations. 

This podcast was recorded in front of a live audience at The Royal Grammar School, Newcastle. This is the first of a series of live podcasts to come as we take Designed for Life on the road to meet not only our stunning guests but also teachers, students and their parents.

In this podcast, I was fortunate to be in conversation with Charlotte Chapman, CEng. MIMechE. Charlotte is a project manager at Royal IHC. In the pod, we follow Charlotte's journey through school to decide between a love of Engineering and a passion for English Literature. We look at how life's events may sometimes appear to block your way forward, but, with hindsight, sometimes things happen for a reason!

Charlotte designs, tests and commissions some incredible machines designed to lay cabling and infrastructure underwater in some very challenging environments. In the podcast, we discuss how such a complex machine moves through the journey from identification of the initial problem to exploration of this problem and the desired solution, through to initial thoughts, ideas and prototypes, then modelling and building of prototypes until eventual build, testing and commissioning of the final solution.  

Videos of some of the machines that Charlotte has been involved with over the years can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89Tfq6L_wiQ For a more comprehensive picture of the engineering footprint of Royal IHC, see here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_96s0vkYMc&list=PLouhu6zaw0crd6bT7wrGiGkTFIP874oHL

It was an absolute pleasure to hear Charlotte's story and to share it with the students and their parents on the evening. I know you will enjoy it too, so sit back, relax and listen to Designed for Life Live - In conversation with Charlotte  Chapman. 

Thanks to staff, students and their parents at The Royal Grammar School for being such excellent hosts. 

https://www.royalihc.com/

Larry Sullivan is a serial entrepreneur, business founder, angel investor and social philanthropist. In this podcast, we track Larry's journey from humble beginnings growing up in Essex to a sudden awakening to academia in sixth form, leading him to be the first in his family to attend university. 

A chance conversation led him to travel to America during his summer break with BUNAC https://bunac.org an experience that he feels offered as much, or more, to his personal development than his university experience alone. 

This podcast has taught me that entrepreneurship can be taught, and skills can be improved and fine-tuned, but that entrepreneurial spirit is carried within people born to work for themselves and create a new business entity. Larry's first business saw a gap in the market and successfully met a need; this later led to the creation of COINS Global https://www.coins-global.com, a company that Larry led and nurtured for over two decades before recently exiting "in the right manner". 

Larry Sullivan is a successful businessman, no doubt, but what differentiates him is his desire for business to "be a force for good". He views business as an essential tool to help make the world a better place and, over the years, has put his money where his mouth is in this respect and continues to do so. He founded the Coins Foundation in 2006 (now Leolion Foundation) https://www.leolionfoundation.org and, through this, has worked with carefully selected third-sector partners, including Habitat for Humanity https://www.habitat.org and PEAS https://www.peas.org.uk

Several books and links are mentioned in the podcast, including:

• How much land does a man need - Leo Tolstoy 
• Post Corona from crisis to opportunity - Scott Galloway
• Eat the Rich - P.J. O'rourke
• The fortune at the bottom of the Pyramid - C.K Prahlad
• The Bottom Billion - Paul Collier
• Freebird Films - https://www.freebirdfilm.tv/
• Future of capitalism competition - https://www.borntoengineer.com/future-of-capitalism-competition-new-tech-startup-competition

If you want to see the difference Stepping Stones school has made to the lives of young people who attended, please do check out these alumni case studies https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1-rDCXeAPfJe78WV6XFt4Glx93IowIMp&si=cFVMvRaDPgRhSc0R

I have known Larry for years and not only enjoyed recording this podcast but learned from it. I hope and feel you will, too. Let us know what you think!

The joy of this podcast is that through it, we get to talk with designers, engineers and innovators at the very peak of their game and often informed by years or even decades of experience. At the same time, we have spoken with people at the very start of their careers, and are privileged to explore how they are shaping themselves and their careers for the future.

In this episode of Designed for Life, I am privileged to talk with Joshua Bruce, Aeronautical Engineering undergraduate, Mission 44 Youth Advisory board member and founder of the Young Engineers Summit.

There is an often-voiced mantra that, in life, 'we should all strive to be the change that we want to see; this is a shortened version of a quotation from Mahatma Gandhi, shown in full below:

 "We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.”

~ Mahatma Gandhi

Joshua has seen a world that is unfair and uneven in the way that it distributes wealth, knowledge and education and in the way it nurtures and utilises knowledge, and instead of sitting and waiting for others to make the change, he is doing his own bit to change the opportunities presented to young people worldwide.

These podcasts are an absolute privilege and a joy; this one is full of action, hope and belief...please do find an hour to sit back and listen to Joshua's story and if you can help him, either with funding for the next stage of the Young Engineers Summit, or otherwise, please do reach out, either through the contacts below or contact me at the Association at [email protected]

Instagram: https://instagram.com/joshuabruce__?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabruce/

https://myjoyonline.com/young-engineers-summit-harnessing-transformative-power-of-stem-to-change-lives/ - Young Engineers Summit Article

Ben Edmonds is a designer, inventor, entrepreneur, engineer and self-confessed 'tinkerer'. In this episode, we follow Ben from school where aged twelve and asked what he wanted to do when he grew up; he answered, "I want to be a lead designer for Dyson".  Almost twenty years later, that's exactly what he did,  becoming a Principal Designer at Dyson.

But Ben's story is oh so much bigger than that. He has sold or donated almost every possession he owned twice as he upped sticks to start life elsewhere in the world. Left one job four times...yes, four times. And we talk as he prepares to set out on a new and exciting adventure.

So grab some time to yourself (this is a little longer than some pods but there was just too much that was good to cut the conversation any further), and enjoy Designed for Life - In conversation with Ben Edmonds.

A statement from Ben:

"I've spent a lifetime creating, making, building, testing and iterating anything and everything. Having gone through the whole school system and seen my own children in schools, I know that students don't need any more time focussed on following instructions. Working with a friend of mine with a decade of teaching experience, it's our belief that we should be helping children to SOLVE PROBLEMS, and that's what Inventor Club is all about. It could be as simple as moving unknown boxes up a step or solving the world's energy crisis. Either way, we want to encourage teachers, students and parents to think creatively and have a license to fail in order to ultimately solve problems and create new, exciting solutions.

Our mission is to create as many innovators & inventors as possible. That starts with good quality D&T lessons, where it is OK to experiment and where the prototypes and the journey are just as important as the outcomes. Lessons where every student creates their own solution and not just the same product. 

We understand that teachers are extremely time-poor, and that’s where we come in. We can provide schools with high-quality and well-thought-out challenges that allow for creativity and encourage multiple solutions to solve the same problem. 

 We’re launching a new website purely for Inventor Club where all our challenges, resources and newly created schemes of work will be made available. Please also follow us as we document all of our innovations and journey on our social pages. 

www.innovationben.com 

www.inventorclub.co.uk

www.Facebook.com/InnovationBenPage

www.Instagram.com/InnovationBen

Regards

Ben

In this episode of Designed for Life, we speak with Ifeoma Noelin Okolie. Ify is a Chartered, FSEng (SIS) Certified, Product Safety Manager, Choral Singer, Poet & Abstract Photographer. 

Ify has 13 years experience delivering innovative state-of-the-art safety engineering solutions across a variety of safety-critical industries, where she has held various leadership positions. 

She devotes her time in and outside the workplace to sharing lessons learnt from her ‘Triple Minority Career’ as a Black, Female and Artistic Professional in Engineering and tech and de-bunking gender-career biases. Ify lends her voice to EDI and STEM campaigns by raising awareness of the importance of role models, adequate representation at all levels of leadership and the role of a diverse workforce in achieving the trifectas of high performance, market dominance and business longevity. 

She is a Keynote Speaker, Foundation Governor, REACH Employee Network Chair and UN Women UK Delegate (CSW).

I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation and I think you will too, so take an hour for yourself, pour a tea/coffee, find a quiet space and a cosy chair and enjoy Designed for Life, in conversation with Ify Okolie. 

PS. Look out for a very special input from Ify towards the end of the pod. I'll say no more...

In this latest episode of Designed for Life, you get to meet the Young V&A’s first designer in ‘The Shed’, Clara Chu. 

The Young V&A opened its doors on Saturday, 1 July 2023. Young V&A is a powerhouse of creativity for the young, from infants to early teens. It is a national museum dedicated to children and young people, a place to imagine, play, create, debate and design for tomorrow.

Clara is the first designer placed within the Young V&A for a six-month term. Clara is a London-based multidisciplinary artist and designer. She creates work that re-
imagines everyday, mundane objects in our domestic world, mixing mass production with the handcrafted. 

Visionary and colourful pop accessories challenge what we wear on our bodies, not only textiles but everyday household objects we take for granted, such as a mop, a kettle and a toothbrush. Clara’s exploration of up-cycling questions the prominence of fast-moving consumer goods, blurring boundaries between ‘high’ and ‘low’ forms of culture through humorous transformations. Her practice helps change the perception around waste in the form of fashion accessories, workshops and installations.

In this podcast, we explore how Clara has reached this point in her career,  what this six-month placement means to her, and what she hopes to offer to the young people who will get the opportunity to observe a designer in action and work with her through a series of planned workshops. 

Please check online for dates she will be open to the public for workshops, demonstrations or show and tell. 

https://www.vam.ac.uk/event/PD4qJqOWoO/yva-meet-the-designer-in-the-shed

Visit the Young V&A Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green, London, E2 9PA.

In this latest podcast, we are in conversation with Alex Knight, award-winning founder and CEO of the amazing STEMazing initiative. The best way to introduce you to STEMazing's mission and work is to take this quote directly from their website:

"STEMAZING is a Call to Action to collectively amplify the voice of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths so we can create a more diverse and inclusive STEM future".

In the podcast, we track Alex's journey from school to a successful career as an engineering consultant.  We explore the passion to make a difference that drove Alex to leave her role and follow her heart to set up STEMazing.

This is an episode that you will not want to miss. Alex is making a real difference to the perception and reality of women engineers nationally and has aspirations to grow this impact on an international stage.

So get those earbuds in and listen to Designed for Life in conversation with Alexandra Knight CEng, FIMechE,  FWES.

Some information about STEMazing and the Inspiration Academy:

Look out for the launch of our Autumn/Winter round of the 2023 award-winning Inspiration Academy programme, which will run from September until December this year.  |  | The STEMAZING Inspiration Academy supports women in STEM to shine as visible role models and inspires young people through fun, interactive online STEM sessions.  The women in STEM participants take part in training and workshops to build their public engagement skills and confidence on camera, plus their STEM delivery toolbox. These newly empowered role models then deliver a 6-week programme of LIVE online STEM sessions designed to engage children aged 7 - 9 years old.

Schools benefit from this FREE programme by taking part in hands-on simple STEM activities and experiments to promote children's curiosity, creativity and courage led by a woman in STEM role model. Thanks to our Partners, we can deliver this programme free of charge to down-selected women and schools. 

Doors will be open for registration on 3rd July. If you are considering signing up for the programme, or you are interested in Partnering with us to support our work whilst directly benefitting your female talent and your community, CLICK HERE for more information and to register your interest! 


 

This is the second part of a two-part series of podcasts, and the first of its kind recorded live in a school. We are excited to be able to bring you what we plan will be a series of spotlight sessions focused on D&T departments nationally. If you have stumbled across this episode without listening to Part One of the mini-series, I politely suggest you go back, as sequencing is quite essential. 

Baysgarth School is a Co-educational secondary school located in Barton-on-Humber, North Lincolnshire. The school was formed in 1975 by merging Barton Grammar School and Beretun Secondary Modern School. The school moved into new buildings within the last seven years.

Ofsted visited the school in January this year, and the school comfortably retained its rating of 'Good'. The school runs a unique curriculum offer with KS3 covered within years seven and eight, freeing up time for their 'Gateway' curriculum within year nine; this curriculum concentrates on four key areas of student development, these being:

• Achievement - Providing an academic foundation for KS4  study and freeing up time to allow students and their teachers to explore the richness and depth of learning that encourages deeper engagement and cross-curricular work. 
• Preparation for the future - Looking beyond examinations to how their education can help to prepare students for life. 
• Family and Community Engagement - Providing time for visits, cross-curricular work, and promoting community engagement. 
• Intent - Allowing students to change their GCSE option without the stress of having to 'catch up'. Develop a range of employability skills and connect what they do in school to the skillsets and attributes that will prepare students successfully for life.  

In this second part of a two-part mini-series, we meet several year nine and ten students who tell us what they think of the offer within D&T/Engineering and how this has positively affected them. We meet with the Employability Mentor to discuss how students at Baysgarth are prepared for life after school, including higher education and work. Meet with the Headteacher, Richard Briggs, to hear how he,  his senior team, governors and staff have balanced a desire to do what is right for their students with pressures from outside to conform. Finally, we meet parents to hear how the D&T/Engineering offer at Baysgarth has positively impacted their son/daughter's experience of school. 

I don't mind saying we are pretty proud of this podcast's 360 overview of a school's curriculum. We have more planned but would love to know what you think. Please feedback to DesignedforLife @designtechnology.org.uk.

I want to thank all the staff involved at Baysgarth School for their complete cooperation on this project that allowed us to produce this podcast mini-series. 
So sit back, give yourself an hour of reflection and listen to Designed for Life - In conversation with Baysgarth School. 

https://baysgarthschool.co.uk/
https://www.greenpower.co.uk/

This is the first in a two-part series of podcasts and the first recorded live in a school. We are excited to be able to bring you what we plan will be the first in a series of spotlight sessions focused on D&T departments nationally. 

Baysgarth School is a Co-educational secondary school located in Barton-on-Humber, North Lincolnshire. The school was formed in 1975 through the merger of Barton Grammar School and Beretun Secondary Modern School. The school moved into new buildings within the last seven years.

Ofsted visited the school in January this year, and the school comfortably retained its rating of 'Good'. The school runs a unique curriculum offer with KS3 covered within years seven and eight, freeing up time for their 'Gateway' curriculum within year nine; this curriculum concentrates on four key areas of student development, these being:

• Achievement - Providing an academic foundation for KS4  study and freeing up time to allow students and their teachers to explore the richness and depth of learning that encourages deeper engagement and cross-curricular work. 
• Preparation for the future - Looking beyond examinations to how their education can help to prepare students for life. 
• Family and Community Engagement - Providing time for visits, cross-curricular work, and promoting community engagement. 
• Intent - Allowing students to change their GCSE option without the stress of having to 'catch up'. Develop a range of employability skills and connect what they do in school to the skillsets and attributes that will prepare students successfully for life.  

In this first of two podcasts, we talk with Ben Wilson (HoD) and Andrew Browne about how they have shaped and changed the D&T curriculum at Baysgarth, their vision for the department and its students and how their positivity and drive have been essential in getting the department to this point. We also look ahead to their future plans and desire for Baysgarth to be the centre for all STEM-related activity in the Humber region.

In part two of this mini-series (to be released next week), we will take inputs from all major stakeholders to the department, including students, the Headteacher, the head of careers engagement and parents.

So sit back, plug your earbuds in and listen to Designed for Life in conversation with Ben and Andy, departmental leaders at Baysgarth School, Barton on Humber.

https://baysgarthschool.co.uk/
https://www.greenpower.co.uk/

Please note: this is the first of a learning journey for me as the podcast lead. Please excuse us if the sound quality of this podcast dips beyond our and your expectation in parts - it will not happen again!

In this episode, we follow Gill's journey from church school, where her dad was the local vicar and knew 'everyone', through to training as a structural engineer, a job that Gill loved and thought she would work in for the rest of her working life. 

As a young graduate engineer with a degree in applied geology and engineering, Gill took the first tentative steps into the adult world, testing, monitoring and evaluating the structural integrity of concrete structures and piled foundations. This job took her around the world, and she was involved in many prestigious projects, including the Queen Elizabeth II bridge, Canary Wharf, Trinity College Dublin and, of not to be left out, Congleton sewage treatment works. 

With parenthood, Gill realised she was no longer going to be able to travel with work and wanted to find a career that would allow her to settle and raise her family. Sadly, these were different times, and engineering was not seen as a viable option.  

Engineerings loss was teachings gain as Gill trained into primary education, a journey that she initially found less than easy. After spending her first stint of teaching "pretending she knew what she was doing",  she jumped out of the role of primary practitioner and into the shoes of a school sports coordinator, working not only in the primary sector but in secondary and tertiary as an advisor and event coordinator. Travel was once again back on the agenda, meeting famous sportspeople and working across schools. 

Gill is now Assistant Head at Beech Hill School and, in this role spins many plates, one being the school's coordinator of STEM education.  Gill has been a participant and regional leader on Manchester University's  SEERHI and the Progressing and Evolving to be an engineer project for many years. Gill views STEM education and design and technology specifically as a way to energise and transform student expectations and self-worth. 

Gill received national recognition from D&TA as Practitioner of the Year in 2021 and also won TES Subject Leader of the Year in 2022. 

So sit back, relax and listen to Designed for Life, in conversation with award-winning Assistant Headteacher Gill Fitzpatrick. 

https://www.seerih.manchester.ac.uk/
https://www.beechhillwigan.co.uk/
https://www.nfuonline.com/media/strpgvph/inspiring-stem-learning-through-agriculture.pdf

Magway is a values-driven startup technology business situated in Wembley, North West London. Started in 2017, their staged vision is to take cargo off our roads and instead run the bulk of this cargo emissions-free on magnetic motor-driven 'trains' either set above or below ground.  They are working to drive an electrical revolution, unlock new economies and connect cities, towns and communities like never before.

Cecile Searle took over as CEO in 2022, convinced by the founders that she "was already effectively doing the job anyway".  In this podcast, we follow her journey from a degree in civil engineering through a career which has focused on delivering airport and rail strategic systems projects. 

We also take the opportunity to explore the values that drive you as a company CEO and the concept of "leading with kindness", one that Cecile believes in deeply as she seeks to lead with both heart and head. This is a deeply insightful conversation with a sector leader seeking to quietly lead her way, as Magway look to fulfil their ambition to "look back and tell our grandchildren "we did that".

So grab a coffee, take the dog for a walk or take us to the gym and listen to Designed for Life in conversation with Cecile Searle. 

https://www.magway.com/

The Design and Technology Association is indebted to the Edge Foundation for their continued sponsorship of the Designed for Life series of podcasts. Without their support, this venture simply would not be possible. 

https://www.edge.co.uk/

This is the third and final episode in our short mini-series on Teachers in Residence, the initiative within the Design and Technology Association that places teachers in business and industry placements, within which they gain a detailed perspective of the company, learn more about the sector that the business works within, thus allowing them to return to school empowered with this experience and with a knowledge base that enables them to answer that question "Miss/Sir, what's it like to work in..."  

This episode sees us catch up with Stephanie Tomlinson, Assistant Head of Technology at Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet, a boy's grammar school founded in 1573 with an incredibly forward-looking and vibrant design and technology department. Stephanie recently undertook a TiR placement at Bulletproof Design at their London studio. 

Bulletproof has been a Blueprint 1000 (www.blueprint1000.org.uk) member almost from the very start of this initiative and was one of the founding partners for Teachers in Residence. Over the last three years, Bulletproof has hosted three teachers at its Covent Garden, London studio. In this episode, we explore what the agency saw for them in this initiative, how this has developed over time, and just how much time Bulletproof staff spend making the teacher's placement not only worthwhile but transformational. 

I want to take the opportunity to thank Bulletproof for the vision and energy that they have brought to this initiative, described by one teacher as "the best professional development I have ever received". 

So pull up a comfy chair, pour yourself a luxurious cup of coffee, sit back for the next thirty minutes and enjoy Designed for Life in conversation with Stephanie Tomlinson. 

https://www.wearebulletproof.com
https://www.designtechnology.org.uk/for-partners/blueprint-1000/teachers-in-residence/
https://www.qebarnet.co.uk/

The Design and Technology Association is indebted to the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) for supporting the Teachers in Residence initiative. 

This is the second of three in our short mini-series on Teachers in Residence, the initiative within the Design and Technology Association that places teachers in business and industry placements, within which they gain a detailed perspective of the company, learn more about the sector that the business works within, thus allowing them to return to school empowered with this experience and with a knowledge base that enables them to answer that question "Miss/Sir, what's it like to work in...).  

This episode sees us catch up with Debbie Inman, talent partner at Bulletproof design agency, a large international design agency with offices internationally. 

Bulletproof has been a Blueprint 1000 (www.blueprint1000.org.uk) member almost from the very start of this initiative and was one of the founding partners for Teachers in Residence. Over the last three years, Bulletproof has hosted three teachers at its Covent Garden, London studio. In this episode, we explore what the agency saw for them in this initiative, how this has developed over time, and just how much time Bulletproof staff spend making the teacher's placement not only worthwhile but transformational. 

I want to take the opportunity to thank Bulletproof for the vision and energy that they have brought to this initiative, described by one teacher as "the best professional development I have ever received". 

So pull up a comfy chair, pour yourself a luxurious cup of coffee, and sit back for the next thirty-six minutes and enjoy Designed for Life in conversation with Debbie Inman.  

https://www.wearebulletproof.com
https://www.designtechnology.org.uk/for-partners/blueprint-1000/teachers-in-residence/

The Design and Technology Association is indebted to the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) for supporting the Teachers in Residence initiative. 

Around three years ago, the Design and Technology Association recognised a problem which many teachers expressed. Many D&T teachers had entered the profession through the traditional route, school-university-school and as such had no experience of working in business or industry that could inform their teaching. 

We tried a few trials with teacher placements into industry. We instantly saw that there was gold dust within this work as both the teacher and the industry host came back with glowing accounts of what they gained from the placement, and so Teachers in Residence was born. 

This short mini-series of podcasts will explore the Teachers in Residence initiative from the perspective of both teacher and placement host, starting with Mario de Freitas, D&T teacher at St.Birinus Boys School in Oxfordshire, who recently undertook a three-day TiR placement at Bulletproof Design https://www.wearebulletproof.com in Covent Garden, London. 

Mario tells us why this initiative appealed to him, what he gained professionally and personally from the experience and, perhaps most importantly, how this has changed and helped to shape his professional practice at St.Birinus. 

So please sit back, relax and enjoy the first in our Teachers in Residence mini-series with Mario de Freitas. 

https://www.st-birinus-school.org.uk
https://www.wearebulletproof.com
https://www.designtechnology.org.uk/for-partners/blueprint-1000/teachers-in-residence/

The Design and Technology Association is indebted to the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) for supporting the Teachers in Residence initiative. 

In this episode, we are delighted to be in conversation with Nick Grey, founder and Managing Director of Grey Technologies, better known to most of us as GTech. 

GTech manufactures cordless tools, with the range running from vacuum cleaners through to garden tools and equipment. In this podcast we follow Nick's journey from his earliest years and what sounds like a few idyllic years when his father's work brought Nick and his six siblings to Ireland, through a problematic secondary education and then a range of jobs that eventually led to a technicians role at vacuum manufacturer Vax.  

At Vax, Nick found that his natural tendency towards being inquisitive and curious was encouraged and applauded where school had discouraged this. He flourished in this creative environment and, over several years, he moved from technician to Senior Engineer managing their innovation and design department.   

All this time, Nick was growing in confidence in his abilities and working out how he could set up as a design engineer and manufacturer in his own right. In 2001 supported by two friends who still work with him at GTech today, Nick branched out into his garage, and GTech was born.

This interview follows an engineering mind as Nick developed in business and, from that garage in Worcestershire, has built a business that turned over more than £65 Million in 2019/20 with a Pre-Tax profit of £12.6 Million. 

GTech was announced earlier this season as the stadium sponsor for Premier League club Brentford FC in a ten-year deal. In this conversation, we explore why Nick was drawn to this deal specifically and what his plans are as the stadium sponsor for the foreseeable future. 

This was an enlightening conversation with a designer, innovator and surprisingly chilled founder/owner with insights into setting up, building and expanding a successful design and manufacturing company. 

So grab a coffee, take the dog for a walk or take us to the gym and listen to Designed for Life in conversation with Nick Grey. 

https://www.gtech.co.uk/about-gtech
https://www.brentfordfc.com/en/news/article/gtech-announced-as-stadium-naming-rights-partner
 

In this episode, we are delighted to be joined by Dr Lynne Bianchi. Lynne is Vice Dean for Social Responsibility, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility, Director of the Science & Engineering Education Research and Innovation Hub & Senior Lecturer at Manchester University. 

A staunch advocate of STEM and vocational education, we track Lynne's journey from her school days, which did not pass without challenge, to her current role at Manchester University and how this came to her through a slightly unorthodox process. We also dig deep into the outreach work Lynne is leading across a range of sectors and how a deep passion for students to have full access to opportunity irrespective of gender, social and ethnic backgrounds drives her to this day.

I really enjoyed this rich and broad conversation, and I believe you will too. So sit back, put your earplugs in, pour the coffee and enjoy Designed for Life in conversation with Dr Lynne Bianchi. 

Lynne wishes to thank all the organisations and supporters that have collaborated with her over the years and the teams that have committed time and energy to STEM projects over this time. 

Links: 

www.seerih.manchester.ac.uk

SEERIH  is a nationally recognised centre of science and engineering education. We develop and engage teachers in innovative, research-informed continuous professional development programmes to ensure high-quality learning outcomes for young people.

www.engineeringeducates.org

The Engineering Educates Farmvention Challenge involves three different pathways tailored to inspire 7-14-year-olds to think as engineers in the context of British farming. Each includes sequences of five curriculum-linked sessions. Learners apply maths, science, design technology and computing skills and knowledge through the context of farming and agricultural engineering. Sponsored by the National Farmers' Union

www.greatscienceshare.org

An annual campaign to inspire 5-14-year-olds to ask, investigate and share their scientific questions with new audiences. An award-winning campaign to raise the profile of science in schools and their communities, encouraging young people to be inspired into science and engineering. An inclusive, non-competitive and collaborative experience for all.

Twin brothers Richard and Antony Joseph are founders and owners of one of the world's most iconic and innovative kitchenware brands. 

In this podcast, we are fortunate to be in conversation with Richard Joseph, who takes us through his journey from school, where design and technology played a key role in setting his future direction as a designer, through the early days of Joseph Joseph selling glass chopping boards made from a raw material donation from their father's factory. Through to today and running a successful and innovative design business with over two-hundred mission-driven staff across continents. 

This conversation provides an amazing insight into the development and carefully planned growth of a design business, a business where 'form follows function' is something of a mantra, and why Joseph Joseph endeavour to take often complex designs just that little bit further in development than their competitors in order to fulfil this design promise to their customers.   

It also provides insight into how a successful business can be managed and led by twin brothers by splitting tasks and responsibilities but keeping design at the epicentre of every decision taken. 

Finally, we get an insight into the future of Joseph Joseph as Richard describes his passion for the company's products to use research and mission prioritisation to help solve some of the sustainability issues created by a capitalist and sales-led society. 

This was a great conversation to start 2023, I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation, and I know you will too.  

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge.
 
We are indebted to The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support.

References within this podcast:

https://www.josephjoseph.com/

It's that time of year again when we track back over the nineteen podcasts released so far this year (with more still to come before 2023) and pick out some of the best bits to string together into an end-of-year compilation.

This is always a difficult task, but this year it has proved to be even more so, with some amazing guests providing brilliant thought pieces within the pods. That said, I had to pick some favourite clips out, and this podcast takes you back through the year, starting in February 2022 and finishing with a clip from just a few weeks ago.

In the podcast, you will hear from Industrial Designer Jonathan Robin, talking first about the difficulty of that middle stage of any design project, which can feel like wading through treacle until you can see the light on the other side, and then discussing the 'theatre' of some designs and why keeping it simple is more likely to produce a classic design of note that will stand the test of time.

George Cave (interaction magic) speaks of how D&T A Level set him on a path to where he is today and discusses the importance of empathy and emotion in design. " "Never mind how it looks for a moment; how does it make you feel?"

Jamie Robinson (Mashoom) asks why we ask teenagers, "what are they going to do with their life" and the importance of solid foundations that you can build on later.

Matthew Cockerill explains what lies "left of brief" and why it is so important to carefully consider this before driving on with possible solutions to an identified problem. And then discusses how Design can be a significant part of the solution to many of the environmental issues that the earth currently faces.

Professor Ian Green MBE discusses why it is important for business and industry to work closely with education if we are to have any chance of improving diversity figures and making a career in engineering/manufacturing attractive to as wide a talent pool as possible.

Carra Santos MSc talks of the importance of creativity within education as we seek to prepare young people to take their place in a challenging, troubled and fast-changing world.

And we end with a gem of a quotation from the podcast with Will Butler-Adams, CBE Chief Executive Officer at Brompton Bicycle Ltd.

I would like to thank all the above and all guests of Designed for Life across 2022 for their expert input and for making themselves available to chat on the podcast; you are all amazing!

Finally, I would like to thank all listeners for your support over the year. Together with our sponsors, The Edge Foundation and PTC Onshape, we have even more ambitious plans for 2023! Until then, please do take care. 

Welcome into 2023, and on behalf of everyone at the D&T Association, I would like to wish you all a happy, healthy and peaceful new year!

The First episode of 2023 and the first in season three welcomes Matt Hewison as our guest. Matt is the Co-founding Director of Cyberwhite, a disruptive provider of security services and risk mitigation technologies based in the North East but working with SMEs and larger organisations across the UK.

This is the first time that Designed for Life has explored the world of cyber security as we seek to explore the range of possible careers that could emanate from a design and technology education. Matt talks us through his journey through an education that failed to deliver in many ways to an accidental path into the IT industry, initially in sales but later specialising in cyber technologies and business ownership.

This podcast provides a look into a field that most of us are more than aware of but know very little about while at the same time covering the journey to self-employment and entrepreneurship, not for the first time on this podcast described as "an itch that I felt compelled to scratch".

At the end of this pod, we track back to a podcast released at the end of last year featuring Lynne Elvins and the Werkhouse activity that was just about to break when we released the podcast back in November. Now, post-event, we can reveal the brief presented to students, and Lynne joins us again to talk us through the weekend's events. (Please note we had a few technical issues with Lynne's recording, please excuse us if the sound quality is not up to usual standards).

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge.
 
We are indebted to The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support.

References within this podcast:

Cyberwhite - https://www.cyberwhite.co.uk/
Werkhouse - https://www.werkhouse.co.uk/

If you are intrigued by the art of leadership, especially how to lead an organisation through a period of profound change successfully, then you will love this podcast. 

If you are fascinated by the sheer art and skill required to manufacture anything that is high in quality and is designed and built to last, then you will love this podcast.

If you find yourself conflicted between a societal push to consume more goods (requiring more 'stuff' to be manufactured) and the desire held by an increasing number of companies who are 'value led' and want to do the right thing, not only for the bottom line but also for the environment, then you will love this podcast. 

And finally, if you own a Brompton bike, or have ever considered owning this iconic means of transportation, then you will love this podcast. 

In this conversation, Will Butler-Adams, CEO of Brompton Bicycles Ltd., takes us on his journey from school, through a near-death experience in the Amazon and how this changed his outlook on life, to a chance meeting on a bus within which he was encouraged to come and take a look at how we make 'the Brommie'. 

The rest is history, as Will has led the company from handcrafting around 5,000 bikes per year to its current manufacturing capacity of over 90,000 and sales worldwide. This is a fascinating tale of picking up the design of an engineering genius (Andrew Ritchie MBE- founder and inventor of the Brompton) and plotting growth and development that has made the Brompton a British manufacturing success story. 

We recorded too much good material to lose in the edit but equally too much to cram into one podcast. So welcome to part one of this interview; part two will follow towards the end of this week. 

So grab a coffee, pull up a comfy chair, put us in your ears as you travel to work, work out in the gym or walk the dog, and enjoy Designed for Life - in conversation with Will Butler Adams OBE. 

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge.
 
We are indebted to The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support.

Read the book we refer to in this podcast, 'The Brompton, Engineering for Change' By Will Butler- Adams and Dan Davies. 
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brompton-Engineering-Change-Will-Butler-Adams/dp/1788168305/ref=sr_1_3?crid=GUMDGEIQW4JM&keywords=the+brompton&qid=1669723543&sprefix=the+brompton%2Caps%2C64&sr=8-3

If you are intrigued by the art of leadership, especially how to lead an organisation through a period of profound change successfully, then you will love this podcast. 

If you are fascinated by the sheer art and skill required to manufacture anything that is high in quality and is designed and built to last, then you will love this podcast.

If you find yourself conflicted between a societal push to consume more goods (requiring more 'stuff' to be manufactured) and the desire held by an increasing number of companies who are 'value led' and want to do the right thing, not only for the bottom line but also for the environment, then you will love this podcast. 

And finally, if you own a Brompton bike, or have ever considered owning this iconic means of transportation, then you will love this podcast. 

In this conversation, Will Butler-Adams, CEO of Brompton Bicycles Ltd., takes us on his journey from school, through a near-death experience in the Amazon and how this changed his outlook on life, to a chance meeting on a bus within which he was encouraged to come and take a look at how we make 'the Brommie'. 

The rest is history, as Will has led the company from handcrafting around 5,000 bikes per year to its current manufacturing capacity of over 90,000 and sales worldwide. This is a fascinating tale of picking up the design of an engineering genius (Andrew Ritchie MBE- founder and inventor of the Brompton) and plotting growth and development that has made the Brompton a British manufacturing success story. 

We recorded too much good material to lose in the edit but equally too much to cram into one podcast. So welcome to part two of this interview; part one was released earlier this week.

So grab a coffee, pull up a comfy chair, put us in your ears as you travel to work, work out in the gym or walk the dog, and enjoy Designed for Life - in conversation with Will Butler Adams OBE. 

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge.
 
We are indebted to The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support.

Read the book we refer to in this podcast, 'The Brompton, Engineering for Change' By Will Butler- Adams and Dan Davies. 
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brompton-Engineering-Change-Will-Butler-Adams/dp/1788168305/ref=sr_1_3?crid=GUMDGEIQW4JM&keywords=the+brompton&qid=1669723543&sprefix=the+brompton%2Caps%2C64&sr=8-3

Six years ago, Lynne Elvins and some of her designer friends and colleagues were discussing life, work and, specifically, the challenges of onboarding juniors into their business.  All agreed that some amazing young people were looking to enter the profession. Equally, all agreed that young people were, more often than not, not fully prepared for studio life when they entered employment; they brought energy, enthusiasm and often subject knowledge and skills but had minimal experience of putting all of this from theory into action. 
 
 This conversation was different because this small group of professionals didn't just moan and then go back to the day job; instead, they decided to act, and Werkhouse was born. https://www.werkhouse.co.uk
 
 Werkhouse provides a live studio experience for thirty young people currently held at Taxi studio in Bristol. Nine South West studios pool their own money to provide food and refreshments over the weekend as they work alongside young people to tackle a live brief provided by a national or local charity. The young people work on the brief over the weekend and then present their solutions to the client on Sunday. Many of these young people then go on to successfully take roles within the industry. 
 
 In this podcast, we talk to Lynne about her career and current role and discuss Werkhouse in some depth. This year's programme runs on the 19th and 20th of November, and without revealing the brief (which is a highly guarded secret until the first day), we discuss the experience that the selected young people will experience. 
 
 This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge.
 
 We are indebted to The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support. 

https://www.werkhouse.co.uk/
https://www.ted.com/talks/lynne_elvins_the_myths_of_gay_adoption?language=en

In this episode, we are delighted to be in conversation with architect, entrepreneur and co-founder of PrintLab, a 3D printing business focused on providing hardware and curriculum content to educators within the UK and indeed worldwide. https://weareprintlab.com/

This is a podcast that we have been chasing for a while now. PrintLabs curriculum content and resources are exceptional, and we have seen so many schools excited about what a well-constructed CAD/Manufacturing curriculum can do for their students. 

As always, we follow Jason from school as he transitioned to the architect he always thought he would be. Sometimes that final destination pays well and ticks many boxes for a 'creative career for life' but doesn't quite excite you and make you want more. Passion for what you do is such an important part of working life.

Jason turned his back on architecture as a career and instead moved into a field he knew very little about in 3D design and printing. A couple of years later and circumstance threw up the opportunity to co-found his own business; this felt like a natural progression and PrintLab was born. 

We discuss the challenges faced and the progress of PrintLab and how you head up a fast-growing company when you are a self-confessed introvert who hates being centre stage. 

I loved this conversation, and I think you will too. 

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work, and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge.

We are indebted to The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support. 

This episode of Designed for Life was recorded live at the V&A London as part of the London Design Festival 2022. 

Yewande Akinola is one of the foremost design engineers in the UK today. Born and raised in Western Nigeria, she describes her interest in the built environment and bridges from an early age, intrigued by the beauty and structure of buildings around her. 

Her father was a Government Minister in Nigeria. He sadly passed when Yewande was very young, and her mother took over the task of ensuring that her children received the best education possible; this required grit, tenacity and hard work as money was tight and private education was the only way to chase the dream realistically. 

At 17, Yewande moved to the UK and Warwick University to start her journey into design and engineering. On graduation, she took up a post as a mechanical engineer for Thames Water before later moving to the Arup Group and continuing her development with a Master's Degree at Cranfield University. She currently holds the role of Principal Engineer and Innovation Lead at Laing O'Rourke. 

Yewande successfully balances the prominent roles of engineer, innovator, and visiting Professor at the University of Westminster. She is an Innovate UK Ambassador for clean growth and infrastructure. She is developing a growing reputation within media and public engagement, promoting engineering and challenging narrow stereotypes of who engineers are and the positive difference that they make in the world. 

This was a fantastic conversation with an engineer with an untold passion for the role of innovation, creativity and engineering. 

So pull up a comfy chair, pour a coffee, put the earbuds in and walk the dog or go to the gym...wherever you listen to your podcasts, make sure you find the time to listen to Designed for Life Live - In conversation with Yewande Akinola MBE. 

Please note this podcast has also been recorded on video and will be released imminently (we will post a link here when it goes live). Huge thanks to The London Design Festival and the V&A for presenting us with this opportunity and to Yewande for taking time out of a busy schedule. Should you wish to find out more about Yewande, do visit her website http://yewandeakinola.co.uk/

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work, and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge.

We are indebted to The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support. 

We were fortunate to bump into Kialy at Young Designers this year and knew there and then that she had a story to tell that made her a perfect guest for this podcast.

In this episode, we hear how Kialy set her heart and soul on working in fashion at a very young age, and when she secured a place on the foundation course at Central St. Martin's, this set the stage for her dream to come true. For many reasons, this did not provide the experience she sought, and she endured the course rather than thriving within it. Kialy moved on with a friend to a Fashion degree course at Kingston University in London.

Again this did not flick the switch for Kialy, and she found herself slowly disengaging from the course; in the second year, she finally left the course. This brought Kialy to a dark place as she tried to work out what it was about her that made her unsuitable for studying a subject that had been her dream for years. "The more I analysed it, I realised that it wasn't the courses, it was me; I was the common denominator".

At this stage, Kialy took any job that helped pay the bills and worked in retail, recruitment and even door-to-door sales for a charity. At a loose end, she took a friend's advice and, without a plan, moved to Glasgow. Again, after several non-creative roles, she found a job as an assistant to a Milner and found her inner-creative self. Within this role, she thrived and grew in confidence as she saw a hard-working, creative boss make a good living from doing something she loved.

Kialy then successfully applied to a Textiles degree course at Glasgow School of Art and, on graduation, almost immediately set up as a freelancer. Today she sits somewhere between designer and artist and flits reasonably seamlessly between the two. This was an effortless, casual and honest conversation with a designer/artist at the very start of her professional journey but already with a powerful story behind her.

So grab a cool drink, pull up a chair, find a quiet space, take us to the gym, take the dog for a walk, put those air pods in, and enjoy Designed for Life - In conversation with Kialy Tihngang.

Selected past projects:

‘Useless Machines’ 2021 - moving fabric-covered wooden panels exploring environmental racism and electronic waste

Selected upcoming projects:

‘Fetissoes’, 2023 - solo show at God’s House Tower, Southampton, speculating on precolonial African religion through sculpture and moving image

'Toghu', 2024 - an animated embroidered film about queer Cameroonian identity

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work, and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge

We are indebted to The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support. 

In this episode, we are delighted to be in conversation with Sustainable Futures Educator and Interpreter Carra Santos https://www.carrasantos.com 

Carra came from a rural upbringing in Northern Ireland. She was 'promoted' a year aged only four years old, a decision that, when played forward, saw her heading off to Leeds and a foundation course aged seventeen with a suitcase full of clothes and belongings and a bag of art brushes! 

In this podcast, we follow her journey from this rural upbringing to her current position influencing and educating business leaders to see their role in creating a sustainable future by not only reducing their negative impact on the environment; but also increasing their positive impact. 

The power to change our collective habits and start to reverse the damage inflicted on our planet is in our hands, we know what to do and I guess most of us are aware of the urgency of action, but for some, the leap to another way of thinking, acting and living is a step too far, they need to be helped through a series of small positive steps that collectively add up to substantive positive impact. In a nutshell, that's what Carra does as she works with business leaders both in the UK and internationally to change mindsets and encourage positive actions. 

Carra wants business success to be measured on more than growth and profit made, but instead wants new criteria to be introduced, such as the concept of business contentment...when is enough, enough? When do staff well-being and retention become key success criteria? Carra challenges the concept of capitalism and suggests that there are deeper, more important success measures that we should all be using. 

I found this to be a very thought-provoking podcast, I found I had as many questions as I had answers at the end of it but it has encouraged me to want to dig deeper. I don't run a multi-national company but small individual change matters. Carra mentions the book 'Citizens' by Jon Alexander and Ariane Conrad within the podcast, a book that I am now avidly consuming. 

You are on your holidays, so pull up a sunlounger, pour yourself something long and cold and enjoy Designed for Life, in conversation with Carra Santos. 

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work, and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge

We are indebted to The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support. 

In this episode, I am delighted to be in conversation with award-winning British inventor, YouTube Channel host, presenter and professional speaker Ruth Amos.

Ruth's future took a massive diversion when she was tasked with designing a mobility aid for a member of her design and technology teachers' family who had suffered a stroke. The task quickly escalated from a school GCSE project to a potential business as it became evident that there was no equivalent solution on the market, and Ruth started to receive requests to buy a product that, at this stage, was in prototype form only. 

On the back of this project, Ruth was  named Young Engineer for Britain in 2006, and the decision was made to abandon any thoughts of university and instead set up her company to manufacture and sell https://stairsteady.net/

Over the coming years, Ruth built on her initial success and became involved in several companies, at one point acting as an advisor to the UK government. 

More recently, Ruth has teamed up with her colleague and fellow Young Engineer for Britain Shawn Brown, to start a YouTube Channel aimed at harnessing and embracing the creativity of young people, and Kids Invent stuff was born https://www.youtube.com/c/KidsInventStuff

The channel has been featured on local and international news outlets as well as primetime TV and, to date, has received over two million views. Take a look...It's madness personified, but I love it!

It was an absolute pleasure to talk with Ruth as she shared her journey from D&T GCSE project to inventor and business entrepreneur. So grab an hour of me time, walk the dog, take us to the gym, or simply pull up a comfy chair, and enjoy Designed for Life in conversation with Ruth Amos.

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work, and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge

We are indebted to The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support. 

How do you move from 'table 6', the table at the back of the classroom for the lowest achievers, to being recognised in the New Year Honours List for "services to apprenticeships and STEM education"?

Listen to the latest episode of Designed for Life, and you will find out! 

Ian Green is currently Learning Specialist at British Volt and a Professor of Practice at Newcastle University. These roles follow thirty years as Head of Global Training for Nissan. As part of his work, Ian set up one of the most impactful Industry/education programmes in the UK, positively impacting over 70,000 students. 

Ian's primary school experience left him woefully lacking skill and confidence in mathematics. He was delivered a timetable that included art every day, "I still can't draw", and maths only once every two weeks. In secondary school, Ian realised the value of a good teacher as his maths teacher took the time to explain problems and mathematical solutions differently. He made progress fast, leaving school with eleven GCEs and a CSE Grade 1 in mathematics. 

Ian moved onto an engineering degree programme and progressed rapidly as his newfound thirst for knowledge served him well.    

A major car crash changed his direction as his recovery was slow, and he realised he could no longer stay on his feet all day. A shift to Training and a Masters in HR followed as he side-stepped into his new career. 

The outreach programme he started at Nissan has grown from small beginnings to a comprehensive offer from the Japanese manufacturer to education in the North East. Ian nurtured this programme from vision to the entity that it is today. 

Ian left Nissan earlier this year, and good people aren't allowed to retire, as he was swiftly picked up to work with British Volt. The possibility of helping build a major engineering project from scratch was too good to turn down. At the same time, Ian is completing his professional Doctorate as he explores ways to make engineering more attractive to young women. 

This was a fantastic conversation with an engineer with a brilliant tale; I know you will love it!

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work, and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge

We are indebted to The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support. 

We are delighted to bounce back with this episode in conversation with Dyson Institute graduate Oyemen Okes after a short break. 

Oyemen's journey to Dyson was serendipitous. She overheard a conversation between a fellow student and a teacher and set off to learn more about what Dyson had to offer. We talk with her about her journey to the institute, navigating the detailed application process and what the experience has offered her in her professional journey to date. 

For those unfamiliar with the Dyson Institute, the Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology is now a higher education institute in its own right, offering a unique experience for students with a passion for problem-solving and a fascination for how things work. Set up in 2017 and based at the Dyson technology campus in Malmsbury, it offers a unique degree experience with two days a week spent studying and three days on-site working with the Dyson engineering team. Initially accredited by Warwick University, the Institute is now recognised in its own right and is now empowered to accredit its degree course. 

Oyemen talks us through her journey from A Level D&T, Physics and Maths to her current position as she reaches the end of her degree studies and enters full-time employment with Dyson as a qualified engineer.

I loved Oyemen's quiet confidence and humility as she describes her journey and looks forward to finding her "mission" with Dyson. I just know you are going to enjoy this one! So sit back and listen to Designed for Life in conversation with Oyemen Okes.

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work, and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge

We are indebted to both The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support. 

In late February, the Education Policy Institute (EPI) released a research paper on the current plight of design and technology education in England, 'A spotlight on design and technology study in England'.

The Design and Technology Association is proud to be one of the facilitating partners for this research alongside The IET, ERA Foundation, Foster and Partners Architects and the James Dyson Foundation.   

In truth, the paper does not tell us much that we did not already know or suspect of the subject's current position in English schools; what it does do is provide a sound, data-driven evidence base for conversation, projection and growth. The subject needed this foundation on which to examine the issues in-depth and plan a strategy for development.

In this podcast, we temporarily abandon the usual format of Designed for Life, and I spend some time discussing the paper and its possible implications for the subject with Dr Alison Hardy, Senior Lecturer at Nottingham Trent University.  Many of you will know Alison, but for those that do not, she is steeped in design and technology experience and has taught and led the subject in schools before moving on to teach and research D&T at Nottingham. She is also the founder and host of the Talking D&T podcast, which I highly recommend.

This conversation forms a small part of the Design and Technology Association's plans to bring a debate about the future of D&T to teachers, subject leaders, senior staff, headteachers and governors, business and industry leaders and policymakers before we bring a clear message and potential solutions to the issues that exist to Party Conferences this autumn.

So put those headphones on, sit back and enjoy Designed for Life - In conversation with Dr Alison Hardy. 

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work, and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge

We are indebted to both The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support. 

In this episode, we are privileged to be in conversation with independent strategic design consultant Matthew Cockerill. 

Matthew concentrates on helping companies accurately position their future direction and focus by identifying what he terms their 'near future' opportunities.  Not crystal ball gazing into the future and predicting what lies ahead, more pinning a destination down to what is possible within a given time frame (normally 6/8 years) and then working back from point. 

Using his expertise and insight, Matthew has helped some of the world's biggest brands and some of the most ambitious startups solve complex and ambiguous design challenges. 

We follow Matthew's journey from school through his degree to foundation years at DCA Design International, Samsung Electronics (in Seoul), Seymourpowell, to his current role as an independent consultant. 

In the pod Matthew talks of the importance of working "left of brief", really identifying a problem and setting a brief that is accurate and liberating for the work that follows. This work is set within a  strong belief that many potentially successful design projects are scuppered at an early stage through a poorly identified brief. 

Matthew also talks to us about how he now uses his gained experience to lead workshops helping fellow designers to more comfortably fit into leadership roles and how he is working with MyBigCareer to inspire school-aged students to want to learn more about the world of design. 

This podcast is a little longer than normal at sixty-five minutes as it was really hard to cut the good stuff! We are delighted with the outcome and know you are going to enjoy and learn through this podcast with plenty of thought nuggets to make you want to dig deeper. You can find out more about Matthew, including his latest thought pieces and examples of his work through his website https://www.matthew-cockerill.com/

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work, and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge

We are indebted to both The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support. 

This episode represents a slightly different approach to the podcast as we look at the world of coding and data sharing through the eyes of an entrepreneur and business owner.

Jamie Robinson is the founder and CEO of Mashoom, a solution that Jamie initially designed while he was a second-year student at UCL studying Mechanical Engineering; and needed a solution when all of the data for a Formula Student racing car that his team were designing and making was lost when a team member departed.  

After looking for a commercial solution and finding the cost-prohibitive and the products 'over-engineered,' he set about designing and making his own solution. Much to the surprise of all involved, including his university tutor, he created a solution that worked well, and in a stroke, Mashoom was born. 

Jamie talks us through his journey through school and university, through DJ'ing at some of London's best-known clubs, to his position today as the owner of a successful and growing company. 

Through the podcast, Jamie is offering a trial of Mashoom to any schools out there that might find the product helpful. Detail on the product can be found at https://www.mashoom.co.uk/ and Jamie can be contacted on Twitter here @JamieTheMashMan

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work, and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge

We are indebted to both The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support. 

In this special episode of Designed for Life, we celebrate International Women's Day with a very special speech given by Dame Stephanie Shirley.

Dame Stephanie (Steve) Shirley CH is an ardent venture philanthropist with an unrelenting energy for creating positive change. She arrived in England as an unaccompanied child refugee at the start of the Second World War, and in 1962 started a software business from her dining table, which grew to employ 8,500 people and was ultimately valued at almost $3 billion.

Motivated to share the rewards of her success with a society that had extended such generosity to her as a child, Dame Stephanie decided to give away her wealth. Now in her late 80s, she is driven by a lifetime of extraordinary experiences and achievements and still dedicates every day to making her life one that was worth saving.

We know that you will enjoy listening to Dame Steve's message for a day that is very close to her heart and one that the Design and Technology Association is proud to celebrate with female students and women across the UK. 

So sit back, relax in 30-minutes of 'me time' and enjoy Designed for Life, celebrating women's achievement across the UK with Dame Stephanie Shirley. 

PS. If you are inspired to read a signed copy of Dame Shirley's book 'Let it go', please email [email protected]. As stated in the podcast, it is a unique and inspirational read, and all proceeds from sales made through this link are sent directly to her charity Autistica. 

Imagine taking two of your passions in life and turning them into a successful business. This is what Triple Double Studio Founder and Creative Designer Paul Jenkins has achieved in many ways. 
 
Paul has always set his own path. A careers interview towards the end of his GCSEs did not go well. He went in with a plan and was bluntly informed that he would fail if he didn't drop this and take a more conventional route through A Levels. His response "I stopped listening before the end of the interview; I knew what I had to do". 
 
Triple Double takes Paul's two passions in life, basketball and design and combines them in a way that empowers young people. In his words, "We are a creative studio that unleashes how youth engage in sport and education, using the power of design and creativity to transform their lives." 

Paul believes that if we listen, really listen to the needs, fears and aspirations of young people; we can work creatively with them to effect real change, a process that Paul calls Co-Creation. 

This is an inspirational story of a studio working differently and with a set of values running through its very core. So sit back, put your headphones on and listen to Designed for Life in conversation with Paul Jenkins. 

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work, and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge

We are indebted to both The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support. 

George Cave is an Interactive Technologist, Design Engineer, University Lecturer, TEDx Speaker, Team leader and founder of his own business, Interaction Magic https://interactionmagic.com/

In this conversation, we explore George's journey from Reading School through Bristol University, where he gained an MEng in Engineering Design where he, and others, developed a re-configurable submarine weapon handling and discharge system as part of his final year work. 

George cut his teeth as a designer at DCS Studio in Warwick https://www.dca-design.com/ Where he worked on a wide range of products, specialising in pharmaceutical design. He then went on to work in design both in the UK and Austria, where he lived for over three years before setting out on his own with Interaction Magic. 

In the pod, we explore some of the many 'poke statements' on his personal website; statements designed to provocate and start a discussion, for example:

"Designers bring concepts but struggle to transform them from a sketch into the real world. Engineers execute the vision but often miss the understanding of why people behave the way they do. This is the gap I bridge. The engineer that designers want to work with."

George also talks us through his fairly recent appointment as a university lecturer at Salzburg University, where he teaches Interaction Design and Technologies. 

I found this to be a fascinating and stimulating conversation with a designer who by his own admission, feels he has yet to reach the top of his game but is clearly a major thought leader within the sector. 

So sit back, plug the earphones in and enjoy Designed for Life - In conversation with George Cave Interaction Technologist. 

We love this episode with Industrial Designer Jonathan Robin. 

Jonathan was born in Rio da Janeiro and experienced a truly international upbringing with a French father and American mother. 

Following a relatively traditional educational experience in Rio, he transitioned to initially study Law before realising this was not for him and switching courses to Industrial Design, in which he graduated three years later. 

Since graduation, Jonathan has worked in small startups to more prominent design agencies across continents. He has designed everything from street furniture for a new tram system in Rio to vending machines, electric scooters, ceiling fans...the list goes on. 

In this podcast, we discuss the design process in some detail and how professional designers also experience the excitement of taking on a new brief, through to the sticky patch that inevitably hits most designers as they progress through an iterative design process, through to the joy of building and setting a design free into the market. 

Jonathan worked for Sapetti, a boutique design consultancy based in Switzerland where he worked for a number of international clients and worked on a range of designs, including working on an exoskeleton to support workers who routinely had to stand (or sit) in unorthodox positions that would otherwise result in back and repetitive strain issues. 

Jonathan currently works for GHD, a UK based brand that develops and commercialises consumer electronics for hairstyling and currently lives in the UK. He hopes to actually see some of London's sites as we finally exit from the COVID pandemic!

Jonathan's excellent work can be viewed on his microsite https://www.behance.net/jmedcalf
His contact details are on the site, and he is happy for any teachers or students to reach out to him to talk about industrial design either by email or through LinkedIn. 

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work, and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge

We are indebted to both The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support. 

This episode of Designed for Life is with the entertainment-focused business developer, sales strategist, coach and team leader Colin Mendoza.

Colin and I first met almost five years ago when we were introduced by a mutual friend who knew we were both interested in how mindfulness and meditation could bring greater levels of wellbeing to UK students.

Colin was born and brought up in London, moved to Hull to attend university but has made his living in America, where he moved post-university. Salaried posts with MTV,  NBA and Sony Music allowed him to learn and fine-tune his skills and vision before setting up his agency, 'Highgate' in 2002.

In this podcast, we follow Colin's journey from the UK to America, explore the work that he carries out through Highgate Agency, and touch on some of the differences that may exist between taking an entrepreneurial pathway in the UK and the USA.

Colins Bio

Specializing in developing sales and entertainment brands worldwide, Colin is an adventurer who enjoys defying the odds and conquering difficult situations. He started his career licensing sports programming to the Middle East and continued by creating branded blocks for MTV in eastern and southern Europe to promote awareness for the main channels. Originally from England but now lives in the US, he is ready to be dropped by parachute ( not quite..but close) into new areas or far-flung countries. Extensive experience in various genres, including sports, music, animation, drama and reality, as well as working with a range of companies such as IMG, MTV, NBA, Sony, Fuji and American Greetings. 

So sit back, put the earbuds firmly in place and enjoy Designed for Life - In conversation with Colin Mendoza. 

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work, and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge

We are indebted to both The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support. 

Colin can be reached at [email protected]

From a vague lockdown concept in summer 2020, it's difficult to believe that Designed for Life is now pushing 10,000 downloads, has been listened to in eighty-one countries across all six continents and we have plans to double that reach with higher download figures and more episodes next year.

As an end of year treat for your ears, we thought that as an end of year gift to you, we would create a quick compilation featuring a few clips from some of our wonderful guests across 2021. I hope you find time over the break to grab a tea or coffee,  settle in a comfy chair and grab 52 minutes of 'me time' listening to some of the best bits of Designed for Life across 2021. 

Thank you so much for listening and we look forward to bringing you a string of new, exciting guests next year. Wishing you all a safe, happy and joy-filled holiday. 

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work, and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge

We are indebted to both The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support. 

Andrew is a Design teacher who for the last four years has worked at Dulwich College Beijing. We reached out to Andrew having seen the quality of work produced by his students showcased on social media and this conversation has so much to offer,  for educators and students worldwide. 

Born and raised in New Brunswick, Canada, Andrew followed an unconventional pathway to his teaching career, first following a route to engineering and, realising this was not for him, switching to EFL teaching and packing everything that he owned into a large rucksack and heading to China. 

After a few years of travelling that included some time spent in South Korea, it was Andrew's wife that suggested that he might want to take teaching seriously. It turns out this was not a bad idea and they returned to New Brunswick where Andrew qualified as a teacher and taught for two years in a local school. 

This experience was challenging, and in Andrew's own words the experience "took the shine off something that he loved" and Andrew returned to China and an educational institution but this time in a position within school communications and marketing. 

Once a teacher it sort of stays in the blood, and Andrew returned to teaching and is doing some amazing work with his students in Beijing. 

This conversation touches on personal growth, pedagogy, the need to acknowledge but then learn how to silence the inner critic that exists in us all, but mostly this is a powerful story of personal growth and how to become the very best that you can be. Huge thanks to Andrew for sparing us the time in a busy schedule to record this podcast. 

In the pod, we reference Andrew's website https://www.andrewwalton.ca/ We also mention the Nik Ramage and artist and sculptor, who can be found on Instagram or here at www.nikramage.com Finally we reference the Stoic Coffee Break podcast - available on all platforms.  

So sit back, relax and enjoy Designed for Life - In conversation with Andrew Walton. 

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work, and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge

We are indebted to both The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support. 

We are delighted and privilidged to be able to talk with Ewan McIntosh in this Episode of Designed for Life, the podcast brought to you by the Design and Technology Association with the support of our friends and sponsors at The Edge Foundation and PTC Onshape. 

Ewan has built a reputation leading projects around the world for clients in education and industry, and is internationally reknown as  a pioneer of design thinking for learning in the classroom. Ewan is the passionate and energising tour de force behind NoTosh a company that he founded to help people to think differently and change the way that they function as individuals, as part of a team and as part of an organisation. He’s a highly-regarded keynote speaker and host at events around the world, marrying intense prep work and a natural capacity to listen and shine a light on the best stories participants have to share.

As a French and German high school teacher in Scotland, Ewan wanted to find new ways to help students engage with learning – he felt strongly that technology was both critical to achieving this and remained underused in the classroom, so his classes were among the first in Europe to podcast and blog as part of their daily learning. The classroom also resembled a French cafe complete with coffee and the smell of warm patisserie. A hula hoop placed at the front of the classroom was the only place you could stand if you wanted to speak English...the same rules applied to the headteacher as they did the students, as he wanted them "immersed in language". 

Ewan spent three years taking these ideas to schools around Scotland, as National Advisor on Learning and Technology Futures for the Scottish Government. Joining Channel 4 as their Digital Commissioner in 2008 was a step in a different direction. But it was while he was with Channel 4 that he became fascinated by the strategies and tactics that his creative colleagues used to create imaginative and truly engaging digital services for young people. Could he take this insight and make it work in an education setting? Yes, I reckoned he could... and that’s how NoTosh came about.

This is a fascinating conversation with so many learning points for teachers, educators and leaders in any capacity. So grab yourself an hour of 'me time', find a chair, take a walk, take us to the gym and listen to Designed for Life; in conversation with Ewan McIntosh. 

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work, and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge

We are indebted to both The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support. 

This episode of Designed for Life follows the journey of a teacher who from day one of her career has worked tirelessly to make sustainability and conversation around this critical topic the very centre of her classroom practice.

Introduced at a very young age to the concept of making her own clothes by her nan, Helen has always been motivated by the need to conserve resources and not buy into consumerist fashion trends. Helen has come to education and learning as a mature student following an underwhelming experience at school as a student. The fact that she has just started a PhD is testament to the progress that she has made both personally and professionally over the last eight years.

On joining her school (Penryheol Comprehensive School, Swansea) she immediately set about introducing elements of sustainable thinking to her textiles classroom. Supported by an open-minded Head of Department this work has spread across all aspects of the departments work with the seventeen UN sustainability goals providing a framework for learning in D&T.

The introduction of the new Curriculum for Wales provided the opportunity for the school senior team to look at best-practice within the department and explore how this might influence the wider curriculum and whole school planning.

Helen has involved her students in outreach work, has recently started a PhD at Portsmouth University in the faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries, looking at how sustainability can work better in primary schools through organised parental/family workshops. She has also been involved in the Chariocity Project instigated by the Centre for Circular Design https://www.circulardesign.org.uk/research/chariocity/

So if you ever wondered just how engaged young people can be in involving themselves in the worlds sustainability issues, then sit back, plug those earphones in and listen to Designed for Life - In conversation with Helen O'Sullivan.

Teachers can access free resources for Helen's projects and standalone activities (inc the garment worker profiles and SDG passport) from the SustFashWales Education pages on the website here: https://sustfashwales.org/education/ (primary is in progress, but there are resources on KS3 already).

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work, and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge

We are indebted to both The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support. 

This podcast offers something a little different as we talk to staff and alumni students from WMG Academy for Young Engineers, a UTC situated in Coventry. 

For those unfamiliar, UTCs or 'University Technical Colleges' to give them their full title are government-funded schools with a heavy STEM curriculum focus. The original UTCs filled with students from age 13/14 (year 9) to the sixth form, although a small number have since received government permission to recruit from year 7 (11 years old).  

WMG Academy opened just a little over seven years ago and from day one set out to connect with local business and industry, offering SMEs and multi-national companies the same opportunity to assist in curriculum delivery through talks, workshop participation and providing both case studies and context for student learning.  The UTC movement inspires and informs young people by showing them the plethora of opportunities available within the engineering, manufacturing, digital and design sectors. 

In this podcast, we are fortunate to be in conversation with:

• Andrew Kyprianou - Head of Faculty for Engineering and Design at WMG
• Chloe Copeland - Apprentice Civil Engineer Atkins and alumni of WMG Academy
• Reece Stowe - Apprentice Civil Engineer (Planning and Project Control) Balfour Beatty and alumni of WMG Academy
• Josh Oldham - Manufacturing Degree Apprentice - Aston Martin and alumni of WMG Academy

So sit back, plug those ear pods in and enjoy Designed for Life - In conversation with WMG Academy for Young Engineers

https://coventry.wmgacademy.org.uk/

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work, and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge

We are indebted to both The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support. 

This episode was recorded some time ago but I have held it for release in the buildup to Christmas; so please do excuse the format not being quite the same as the latest pods. In this podcast, we are privileged to be in conversation with Richard Heayes a master of toy and games design.  

Richard trained in Industrial Design but, through a combination of chance and serendipity, transitioned over time into the guru of games and toys that he is today. 

Richard was Principal Designer and Global Design Director for over eight years for Hasbro, one of the biggest game and toy companies in the world and owners/makers of such well-known brands as Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit and Taboo.  In this time, he managed everything from design through to manufacture and marketing of 'memories in a box'. 

Seven years ago, Richard set up his company Heayes Design which prides itself in its holistic approach to game and toy design, manufacture, marketing and distribution. He now uses his wide expertise and the empathy that is second nature to him as a designer to bring ideas to life and ultimately to market.

What makes a good game? Richard's response:

-  Is it inclusive? Does it make you feel smart? No one wants to feel stupid playing 
    a game
-  Is it social? Does it encourage social engagement?
-  Does it make you feel happy?

So grab a tea or a coffee, pull up a chair and listen to Designed for Life in conversation with Richard Heayes. 

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work, and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge
We are indebted to both The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support. 

One area that we perhaps did not explore enough in series one is the first steps that young people take into industry either through the degree route, apprenticeships or other employment with training. As the very purpose of these podcasts is to inspire, energise and help create the workforce of the future, it seems natural to explore the journey of some young people as they take their first tentative steps into work and a carefully chosen career. 

With this in mind, in this episode, I was delighted to be in conversation with Hannah Keating. When we recorded this a short while ago, Hannah was a couple of days away from stepping into a graduate trainee site engineer role with Laing O'Rourke. 

Hannah describes her journey through school and how she balanced a time-hungry love of sport with her studies both at school and as she completed her Master's Degree at Swansea University.  How a visit to an HS2 site with her uncle sparked a flame to want to be involved in "creating something good and worthwhile" through civil engineering, and how working in a bike shop and an Irish pub, surrounded by male colleagues has prepared her to confidently step into the still male-dominated position of a site engineer.   

So pull up a chair, plug in the earbuds and enjoy Designed for Life in conversation with site engineer Hannah Keating. 

This podcast has been recorded with the help of our sponsors, The Edge Foundation https://www.edge.co.uk/ inspiring the education system to give all young people across the UK the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to flourish in their future life and work, and PTC Onshape Providing industry-standard cloud-based CAD to education  https://www.ptc.com/en/news/2020/ptc-onshape-education-enterprise-plan-available-free-of-charge

We are indebted to both The Edge and PTC Onshape for their continued support. 

With some stating that the last eighteen months are simply a 'blip', a disruption of business as normal and expecting us all to quickly return to where we were in early March 2020; while others are stating that all that COVID-19 has done is speed up a change process that was already inevitable...just where does the truth lie?

In this first episode of Season Two of Designed for Life, I talk with Planner, architect, urbanist and university lecturer Ming Cheng RIBA MRTP about his somewhat unorthodox journey to his current position and how he thinks we will repurpose our workplaces and town centres to suit better a more flexible way of working, shopping and living. 

Ming is a Registered Architect, Chartered Town Planner and Urban Designer with over 20 years of experience in design and regeneration. His experiences range from working on designing residential and cultural buildings to large scale future planning for university campuses and growing communities in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand. 

In the podcast, Ming explains how we can and should use empirical data as evidence to design and possibly rethink urban spaces. 

This was a fascinating conversation on a topic that will affect us all in the coming months and years. So welcome back to Season Two. For those in education - welcome back to a new and hopefully less demanding term, kick off your shoes, settle into a cosy seat and enjoy Designed for Life in conversation with Ming Cheng.

Brought to you with the help of our sponsors and partners The Edge Foundation and PTC Onshape. 

What happens when on a family holiday to Florida, you pop into the Kennedy Space Centre as a sixteen-year-old and there and then decide that you want to go to space?

In Sophie Harker's case, you come back and get your head down to achieving academically what you are capable of. A love of Mathematics led to a Masters Degree course at Nottingham, where she met the first British astronaut, Helen Sharman. In conversation, Sophie was advised that engineering could be her route to space. And the rest is pretty much history. 

Sophie joined the BAE Systems Graduate Scheme, consisting of four engineering placements across various platforms and products, including the Eurofighter Typhoon. Sophie is currently embedded in the Team Tempest project working on advanced technologies for flight control systems. 

Sophie is one of the youngest engineers to have achieved chartered status at the age of only 25. In 2016 she became the BAE Systems Technical Graduate of the Year; SEMTA made her their Graduate of the year in 2017; in the same year, she was featured in the Daily Telegraphs Top 50 Women in Engineering. In 2018 Sophie was awarded the Bee Beaumont Award - Awarded to 'newly qualified engineers who have made an outstanding contribution to the business in the early stages of their career'. Also, in 2018, Sophie won the IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year and more recently was awarded the Sir Henry Royce Medal, which recognises her research in developing future technologies for the aviation history.  

By Sophie's own admission, she did not set out on a mission to win these awards; in fact, when I mentioned them on the podcast, she was slightly embarrassed; these awards sprung from a career doing something that she loves to the very best of her ability. 

This podcast was an absolute joy to record. I am generally not a gambling man, and as Sophie points out, the odds of getting to space are stacked against her, yet I would have a few sneaky pounds on Sophie Harker following the same footsteps trod by a certain Helen Sharman. Sit back, pour a drink and be inspired. Designed for Life - In conversation with Sophie Harker. 

For many of you tuning in to this episode, Richard Seymour and Dick Powell will need no introduction. For those of you who have not come across their work...you are in for a treat! As you will hear in this podcast, both partners brought (and continue to bring) very different skillsets to the business, advertising designer Richard Seymour and industrial designer Dick Powell were in different cohorts at the RCA and while their paths crossed, it was only a couple of years later while both lecturing in St.Albans that a common love of motorcycles brought these two creatives together and eventually led them to join up and create the powerhouse that is SeymourPowell.

They quickly established a sound reputation for the innovative and forward‐looking design of many products for leading British and overseas manufacturers. Much of their work is not for public consumption, as it is geared to developing future strategies for companies and brands, often several years from the present day. Amongst such clients is the Renault automobile company, for whom Seymour Powell produced advanced interior concepts for more than a decade.

Amongst the best‐known products designed in their London studio have been the seminal Freeline, the world's first cordless kettle (1986) for Tefal, the BSA Bantam motorcycle (1994), the Baby G watches for Casio (1996), sports cameras for Minolta (1998), and a bagless vacuum cleaner for Rowenta (2001) developed from the air intakes of desert helicopters. Other significant clients have included BMW, Nokia, Clairol, ICI, Ideal Standard, Panasonic, Yamaha, and Ford's Premier Automobile Division, showing Seymour Powell's F350 Concept Super Truck (2001) at the Detroit Motor Show of 2002.

They have also won several design awards including a Design Week Award (1990), a D&AD Silver Award (1991), and a BBC Design Award (1994). Both partners have also been actively involved in the promotion of design and the design profession with a wide range of inputs in design and business circles, design journalism, and broadcasting. Seymour and Powell have attracted wider public attention through their television work, most notably programmes such as the six‐part Better by Design Series (2000, produced by Channel 4 TV in conjunction with the Design Council) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhAtgJ3KRj8 which focused on the advantages that could accrue from a fresh appraisal of everyday products such as kitchen bins, shopping trolleys, and razors. One such case study concept, the Bio‐form bra for Charnos, became a best‐seller in the lead up to Christmas 2000.

We are indebted to Dick Powell for generously giving his time not only to this podcast but to supporting design and technology education over the years, including his 2017 lecture delivered for the D&TA at the RSA in Battersea in 2017 and freed up from behind a members paywall to accompany the launch of this podcast https://tv.data.org.uk/Designing-your-Future

So grab a coffee, find a cosy chair, plug in your device of choice and enjoy Designed for Life in conversation with Co-founder and Chairman of internationally renowned design and innovation company SeymourPowell, Dick Powell.

The Edge Foundation - We believe in a broad and balanced curriculum, interactive and engaging real-world learning, high quality technical and professional training and rich relationships between education and employers.

Millions of students and educators worldwide use Onshape’s online CAD platform to learn engineering design in the classroom. Onshape is professional-grade 3D CAD accessible from any device, anywhere, anytime. Onshape lets everyone design together in real-time. Nothing to get in the way of design: no installing, saving, or syncing. 

 Sign up for free:http://ptc.co/h9Tt50FCkb6&

David is the founder and CEO of Do Company, a company founded in 2016 to "Deliver smart solutions to the challenges posed by rapidly changing living and working environments". He describes himself as a digital nomad and a serial entrepreneur. In this podcast, he talks us through his journey from school in rural Ireland to becoming a product designer, social visionary, and successful entrepreneur. 

Do Company is about product creation but also so much more. The company is focused on creating new ways of working while at the same time empowering more sustainable, inclusive and mindful work and learning environments. As such, it is bang in the centre of how we redesign what 'the office' looks and feels like as the world returns from a period of forced home working and learning to a new rethought and refocused hybrid way of working. 

Do Co utilises product creation (Nook Pods...which we will come to in a minute), thought leadership, workshops, events, retreats and editorial to drive these goals. This conversation with David hopefully captures the passion that he has around designing better solutions for both established and emerging problems while remaining focused on the study of the psychology and empathy required to identify how we help people to connect, collaborate and create in environments that are sympathetic to the process and the neuroscience around the very concept of what we generically call 'work'. 

Nook is a Bristol Made award-winning family of pods, shelters and booths designed with introverts and people on the spectrum in mind and built for the future's hybrid work, networking, and learning spaces. Nooks are designed with the needs of the worker or learner foremost and following the concept that a happy and comfortable worker is more creative and productive. 

This is a podcast about how to play to your strengths as a creative and an entrepreneur while at the same time recognising where your weaknesses lie and surrounding yourself with a team that collectively cover every base successfully.  It is also heavily rooted in how to make a business from a passion. 

I so enjoyed this conversation, and I think you will too. So take an hour to yourself, and while you settle with a coffee, go for a run or work out in the gym, enjoy Designed for Life in conversation with David O'Coimin. 

On International Women in Engineering Day, Designed for Life takes a moment to celebrate the work of two women who have made an amazing positive difference to girls exposure to STEM opportunities within their school. 

Rose Russell has been an outstanding Technician/Instructor/ STEM Coordinator at the Ursuline Academy Ilford (an all girl’s catholic school) for 29 years in both the art and design and design and technology departments. Trained in fashion, Rose is neither an engineer nor a scientist, but in the last decade, her enthusiasm for engineering developed into an ongoing dedication to encourage young women to consider STEM careers and is determined to make a difference with an improved vision to tackle the UK Engineering skills gap. 

Rose’s work in promoting STEM has been exceptional. She is passionate about her subject and goes the extra mile to ensure the girls of the Ursuline receive the very best in terms of exposure to the benefits of STEM careers. Her impressive commitment has exceeded the classroom and its teaching tools. She has inspired and equipped her pupils to take on and enjoy the challenges of shaping our world’s future through STEM. A fantastic role model for girls.

Edna was a highly successful Head of Department at the Ursuline Academy for over 14 years, during which time she turned D&T into one of the most popular subjects in the school. The number of pupils taking D&T GCSE  was well above the national average and is a true testament to the innovative and creative curriculum that she implemented. 

Her GSCE results were the highest the school ever achieved, resulting in the best value-added score with large mixed ability groups achieving 100% A*-B. Edna created an award-winning department, winning several Crest awards, with projects catching the eye of the ex-Prime Minister David Cameron and HRH Princess Anne. She worked tirelessly to abolish archaic ideas that D&T and linked careers are only for males. Women in STEM frequently present to her classes as motivational speakers. Pupils return proudly describing how Edna’s inspirational examples have dispelled their fears that engineering was a male profession.

It was an absolute pleasure to talk to such passionate advocates of D&T and wider STEM education. So grab a coffee, pull up a chair, give yourself 40 minutes off and listen to Designed for Life in conversation with Edna Reilly and Rose Russell. 

In this episode, I am delighted to be in conversation with International educator and leader,  IB guru and podcast host Jason Reagin. Jason is currently the IBCP Coordinator at Chadwick International School, South Korea. 

Since completing his educational studies at the University of Georgia, USA. Jason has pretty much dedicated his career to teaching overseas with posts in China and Bermuda before taking up his current position in Korea.  Jason is an IB Consultant and through this work has travelled and seen IB education in a number of countries worldwide including the USA, China, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, India and South Korea. Through this work and his own practice across a number of countries, Jason has developed a well-travelled, informed and far-reaching view of what constitutes a successful education.

Jason is also the founder, editor and producer of the Design Cast podcast, a podcast that is essential listening for all design and STEM educators worldwide. The podcast is currently on issue 64 and through a series of conversations with educators worldwide more than fulfils its objective of  'creating a community of people around the world who are interested in design and STEM/STEAM education'.  

You can find Design Cast on the Apple platform here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/design-cast-podcast/id1247751652 or on Jason's website https://www.jasonreagin.ga/podcast

When you equip two passionate and committed educators (and podcasters) with microphones and leave them in a virtual room for a while; well, they will talk! As a result of this, I have broken this conversation down into two separate episodes, both of which we will release this week. 

So set 40 minutes aside, grab a coffee or a cool drink and enjoy Designed for Life, in conversation with Jason Reagin.     

In this episode, I am delighted to bring you the second part of the conversation with International educator and leader,  IB guru and podcast host Jason Reagin. Jason is currently the IBCP Coordinator at Chadwick International School, South Korea. 

Since completing his educational studies at the University of Georgia, USA. Jason has pretty much dedicated his career to teaching overseas with posts in China and Bermuda before taking up his current position in Korea.  Jason is an IB Consultant and through this work has travelled and seen IB education in a number of countries worldwide including the USA, China, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, India and South Korea. Through this work and his own practice across a number of countries, Jason has developed a well-travelled, informed and far-reaching view of what constitutes a successful education.

Jason is also the founder, editor and producer of the Design Cast podcast, a podcast that is essential listening for all design and STEM educators worldwide. The podcast is currently on issue 64 and through a series of conversations with educators worldwide more than fulfils its objective of  'creating a community of people around the world who are interested in design and STEM/STEAM education'.  

You can find Design Cast on the Apple platform here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/design-cast-podcast/id1247751652 or on Jason's website https://www.jasonreagin.ga/podcast

When you equip two passionate and committed educators (and podcasters) with microphones and leave them in a virtual room for a while; well, they will talk! As a result of this, I have broken this conversation down into two separate episodes, both of which we will release this week. 

So set 30 minutes aside, grab a coffee or a cool drink and enjoy the second part of Designed for Life, in conversation with Jason Reagin.     

Apprentice turned Masterchef!

Jamaar, by his own admission, struggled at school. But through a combination of his mum, who led him to explore cooking at home and teachers who recognised his engagement and enthusiasm for the subject, Jamaar left school aged 16 and started a chef apprenticeship with study at  Bristol City College. 

Jamaar is currently Junior Sous Chef at Michelin Starred Lucknam Park Hotel Restaurant and earlier this year was a Masterchef semifinalist at the age of 22. 

In this conversation, we follow Jamaar's journey from school, where a desire to work professionally with food drove him to buckle down and work closely with his teachers to achieve the grades that he required for college entrance.  Thus proving the importance of destination and context to student engagement. 

For the last three years, Jamaar has worked under Hywel Jones, Head chef at Lucknam Park Hotel and Spa who has held a Michelin Star here since 2006. Hywel has a reputation for spotting talent and promoting it through Masterchef, with three previous chefs also reaching Masterchef finals. The head chef stating "Jamaar's natural talent as a chef is evident for all to see, but it's his dedication, commitment and application that sets him apart". 

Jamaar had entered and experienced success since his earliest days at college when he won South West Chef of the Year at apprentice level and later in the professional chef category. This prepared him well for his appearance earlier this year in MasterChef, where he was the youngest contender in the competition and reached the semi-final. 

Chef Jones is demonstrating his confidence in Jamaar's ability by handing the Michelin Starred restaurant over for two evenings for 'An Evening with Jamaar Semper' an opportunity for Jamaar to lead the kitchen for two evenings on 19th and 26th of May, presenting a menu that he has designed and will supervise on the evening. 

This is the first of two podcasts over five days covering two personal journeys from school to professional kitchens, demonstrating the breadth and range of design and technology education. 

Remember the name, Jamaar is a star in the making!

Ella Podmore is still young but has already crammed an awful lot of professional experience into her short career. In this podcast, we track her journey from school to her current role as Materials Engineer at McLaren Automotive, a position that she convinced McLaren, needed to be created. 

Ella is involved in all material investigations, from first drawings through to the final product, Ella has worked on the McLaren 765LT, the Elva roadster and the recently revealed McLaren Artura, the first series-production, high-performance hybrid from the luxury, high-performance supercar company.

Ella joined McLaren Automotive as an intern engineer in 2016, having completed a degree in materials engineering at the University of Manchester before securing a full-time role two years later. Since then she has progressed rapidly, creating her department from the ground up and balancing her time between experiments and leading technical meetings.

As one of more than 100 McLaren STEM ambassadors, Ella is passionate about encouraging more young people of all ages to take up science, technology and maths careers. On winning IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year 2021 she said  “I am absolutely honoured to have been chosen by the IET and the judges to be this year’s winner,” says Ella. “Those who know and work with me recognise how passionate I am about my science and, being able to talk about that and the amazing supercars I get to work on at McLaren, I want to encourage the next generation of engineers and scientists to push the boundaries of what’s possible.”

As well as talking to young people around the world about her role, last year Ella was one of McLaren’s expert judges on the BBC Blue Peter ‘Supercar of the Future’ children’s design competition. Since then, Ella has participated in the global reveal of the Artura and featured in a film to mark the launch of the LEGO Technic McLaren Senna GTR model, the real version of which she worked on.

This was an amazing conversation with an engineer who clearly loves her job and is using her position recently gained with the IET to actively encourage the next generation of young women scientists, designers and engineers to pick up the mantle.  I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did!

Torri describes himself as a 'multi-disciplined creative chameleon' with over 16 years experience of working with some of the worlds biggest brands across a wide range of media. 

In this wide-ranging and for me deeply fascinating discussion, Torri talks us through his journey from school where Art and creativity was a key outlet for him, how his art teacher worked to convince his parents that following his passion into a creative degree course would not be time wasted, to creating his first major music video using a shopping trolley as a camera dolly (which won an MTV award by the way)!

Torri describes the surreal world that his career led him to as he created an advert for a Bond film while still living with his parents (all created from his bedroom). And the proud and surreal moment where he took his parents to the cinema to see what had kept him busy upstairs for months.

Torri has worked (and continues to work) with and for some of the biggest brands in the world. But his company name 'Misfit' alludes to a desire to use his high-level skills to achieve a little more than "selling stuff to people who often didn't need the items, and possibly can't really afford them anyway".  

Torri has worked hard to add a social mission to his work and is perhaps close to finding a balance between working on big brand items and using his talents to help to make the world a better place. 

I loved this conversation, Torri was so open and honest throughout and provided a fascinating insight into his industry, the need to be brave and back yourself, and the need to also be honest with yourself and the type of work that makes you want to get up in the mornings. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

https://misfit.work/ 

In this, the second episode of Designed for Life released around a food theme in five days, we talk with Spencer Metzger Premier Sous Chef at the Ritz, London. 

In this conversation we follow Spencers journey from school where he enjoyed food design and preparation in his Food technology lessons making jam roly poly, to a work experience placement at the Ritz obtained by cold calling the restaurant and asking nicely if they would take a 'young lad' on a weeks placement. To his current role as Premier Sous Chef at one of the highest profile restaurants in the world and Roux Scholar 2019. 

This is an amazing story of opportunity, the need for hard work and self belief and the need for self evaluation and assessment, to quote Spencer "I know the Roux Scholarship is the pinnacle competition for chefs, I wasn't going to enter until I thought I had a chance of winning, I didn't enter with expectation but I knew I had a chance". 

I know that you will enjoy this conversation as we speak with a chef that I think everyone will have heard of in the not too distant future. 

Lolo Jones is chair of ELS, a company that describes itself as the expert in "experience learning". The company uses the latest technologies in XR, VR and AR to measure learners as they are experiencing learning, enabling better metrics and better learning outcomes. 

Lolo has founded a number of companies, including Sutton Jones Multimedia, leading system integrator Interactive 1, online video pioneer Narrowstep, and was most recently Chair of rights management cloud specialists, Rights Tracker. Lolo has degrees in Radio, Film & TV and Educational Broadcasting and sat on the Course Board at film & TV college Ravensbourne for nearly a decade.

In this conversation, we discuss how technology can be used to transform the learning experience for students, explore the type of curriculum content required for success in a technology-rich world and discuss a new learning platform that ESL were on the verge of delivering when we recorded this podcast.

Please note that this podcast was recorded before Christmas 2020 and therefore has a couple of dated references to the Brexit vote (days after recording) and the Christmas season!  

ELS can be found at https://www.e-learningstudios.com/ 

Hayley Roy is the founder and owner of Harp Design https://www.harpdesign.co.uk an interior design company working across residential and commercial sectors. 

Hayley left school at sixteen and decided to travel and see the world while working as a hostess on private yachts, including almost three years working on Sir Philip Green's yacht Lionheart. 

On her return to the UK, aged 21, she joined the family business and was trained as a buyer, importing furniture from across the world; she was a Director of the business aged 22. Hayley spent fourteen years in this role, learning and expanding her repertoire of skills before setting up Harp Design which she launched at the end of 2013. In the seven-plus years that it has been in existence, Harp Design has successfully tackled a range of complex briefs for both residential and commercial clients; the company can tackle every aspect of design and construction from branding, through the design process and project management to final hand-over, their website contains some impressive case studies. 

Hayley has recently set up another stand-alone business, Symphony Furniture, which will service Harp Design as well as standing in its own right. 

In this podcast, Hayley talks us through her journey, in the process explaining how she has grown her business acumen and expertise, learning from both the highs and the challenges that she has faced.  This was a delightful and open conversation with a very astute business owner and entrepreneur; I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.  

Nicola Lawler has been designing shoes for over 20 years. 

The London born and based designer co-founded Lawler Duffy Shoes with Lori Duffy, while still at Cordwainers College and began her career by creating shoes for Joe Casely- Hayford. She has collaborated with many designers including Alexander McQueen, Hussein Chalayan and Katharine Hamnett. 

Having consulted for a diverse portfolio of clients from Louis Vuitton & John Lobb (Hermes Group) to Marks and Spencer, Ghost and WGSN. Lawler has extensive experience across the Fashion and Footwear industries, from Luxury to high street and is equally confident designing for both men and women. With a natural attention to detail and a highly developed aesthetic sensibility, her practice is underpinned by a broad understanding of craft and construction from Artisan Bespoke Product, to Performance Sports Footwear. 

Known in the 1990s for working with the waste material Salmon Skin, the environmental impact of the fashion industry plays an integral role in her design approach.

Nicky is currently in-house at Vivienne Westwood as Senior Designer and Head of Footwear. Coupling a uniquely creative eye with in-depth technical understanding, she is passionate about turning ideas into beautiful products. 

This was a very enjoyable and enlightening conversation with a very humble designer with a passion for what she does, I am sure this is a conversation that you will enjoy. Give yourself fifty minutes, sit back and enjoy!

This podcast takes Designed for Life in a slightly different direction as we seek to track the journey of a product from its original 'ideas phase' through product development, to manufacture, marketing and sales...All covered through https://pantee.co.uk/  Sustainable womens underwear made from surplus T-Shirts. 

Amanda McCourt and her sister Katie have spent the last 18 months bringing an idea to make comfortable, fashionable underwear made from unsold t-shirts to market. Along the way they met numerous challenges, but have remained true to their initial vision of what they believed possible and are set to fully launch their first collection. All of this has been achieved with the sisters living in different continents and not being able to meet due to COVID travel restrictions. 

So sit back, pour a coffee and relax as we are in conversation with Amanda McCourt Co-founder of Pantee. 

Robin Wight was a co-founder of the advertising agency Wight, Collins, Rutherford, Scott (WCRS) in 1979 and was President of its parent company Engine until 2019. 

WCRS and Robin were responsible for some of the most memorable advertising campaigns of the 80s and 90s including campaigns for Orange telecommunications "The future is bright, the future is Orange,"  the 118 118 adverts that people either loved or loathed at the time...either way there is no doubt they were memorable and effective. BMW sales in the UK overtook Audi for the first time as a result of a targeted advertising campaign that labelled BMW's as 'the ultimate driving machine' and those of us of a certain age will fondly remember the 1990 Carling Black Label 'Dambusters' adverts that have achieved legendary status within the industry. 

WCRS was one of the most successful marketing and advertising agencies of its time and both the agency and Robin have achieved iconic status within the industry.  In 2004 Robin was part of the WCRS management team that led the buyout from parent company Havas Advertising. He was subsequently made joint chairman of WCRS under the new structure and then President of Engine in 2008. In 2010 Wight stood down from the board of Engine to focus on his charitable interests.

Robin was Chairman of the Duke of Edinburgh Award's Charter for Business and in this role helped to raise over £50 Million to support the Duke of Edinburgh Award. In 2003 Robin founded the Ideas Foundation a charity that helps identify and nurture creatively gifted young people from some of the countries most deprived social groups. 

It was an absolute pleasure to talk to such an iconic figure within the advertising industry, someone with a lifetime of experience within the industry who for a number of years has concentrated on paying back.  So pull up a chair, sit back with a coffee and listen to Designed for Life in conversation with Robin Wight CBE. 

Zoe is a British artist, maker, self-confessed tinkerer and materials engineer.  Perhaps best known to design and technology teachers for her part in the iconic BBC2 series 'Big Life Fix' this is only one of many TV appearances over the years including 'This Morning' with Philip Scofield and Holly Willoughby, The secret of landfill (2018), The secret story of stuff (2018) and most recently 'How to Make' first aired April 2020. Zoe is also the resident materials expert on BBC Radio 4's 'The Kitchen Cabinet'. 

In this podcast, Zoe's absolute obsession with the beauty and intrigue of materials comes across loud and clear. Her PhD work explores how materials might affect the taste of food (how she describes a gold spoon's taste has to be heard to be believed).  Zoe went on to co-create The Institute of Making, a multidisciplinary research club based at University College London. 

As with all our guests, we take Zoe back to school and follow her journey to the design inspiration that she is today. I promise you will not be disappointed and you may never look at a tin rod quite the same ever again! 

Becky is a design researcher and award-winning research team leader at the University of the Arts London. She is based at Chelsea College of Arts where she is Co-Director of Centre for Circular Design (CCD). 

In October 2021 she co-founded World Circular Textiles Day 2050 with a team of like-minded collaborators who all want to create clear roadmaps for circular textiles, by drawing together current academic and industry research into inspiring, shared visions.

Becky's practise research encompasses making materials and prototypes, exhibition curation and writing. She is also a highly skilled workshop facilitator and communicator, specialising in the translation of cross-disciplinary design-led research into commercial contexts for sustainable fashion textiles and other fields. She particularly enjoys the challenge of educating and inspiring all kinds of audiences into more sustainable choices and actions towards circular futures.

She trained as a printed textile designer (BA Hons, Loughborough, 1992) and fashion print designer (MA, Central Saint Martins, 1994), before setting up her B. Earley London-based studio in 1995, with support from the Prince's Trust, Arts Council and the Crafts Council. In the late 90’s she created her award-winning low-impact, ‘exhaust printed’ recycled textiles. Her creative fashion textile work has been widely exhibited over the last twenty years; her prints and garments are collected by museums across the globe including MFIT in New York, RISD Museum, as well as the V&A and Crafts Council in London and the Pitt Rivers Museum (Oxford).

Description

In this episode we are in conversation with Laura Wood and Paul Pentelow, Co-Founders of Invisible Creations a design company with a stated purpose to 'Design for Dignity'.

The idea for Invisible Creations® was created in the National Housing Federation’s innovation programme in 2018.  The initiative was supported by the social housing sector and the company was formally founded as a new startup in January 2020.

Laura, Paul and the team are driven by a desire to bring dual purpose, high-quality thoughtfully and empathetically designed products to the homes of elderly people, enabling them to maintain their independance and to live life to the full.  This quote, taken from their website sums up their value driven approach to their business "Older people have been poorly served for too long with products that are stigmatising, clinical and downright ugly. We’re here to end it. Our aim is to completely disrupt a market that fosters negative stereotypes and makes people feel vulnerable."

What is interesting is neither Paul or Laura  come from Design backgrounds. Paul  left Salford University with a Degree in Sports Management and Laura was an English teacher with a background in Marketing and Comms; yet both have found themselves motivated to work in an area that really makes a positive impact on peoples lives. 

Our discussion takes us through a design process from identification of a design area ripe for exploration, through design to manufacture and marketing. Invisible Creations is a young company with a vision and a passion for what they do that comes over strongly in the podcast. 

Their website details a very personal story of Laura's nan Sheila. Sheila's story describes an independant, proud woman who did not feel that she should submit to ugly, stereotyped clinical design that "labelled me as old and infirm". Sheila's story can be echoed by millions of pensioners nationally, Invisible Creations was founded to help people like Sheila. 

In this, the fifth episode of Designed for Life, the podcast brought to you by The Design and Technology Association in partnership with The Edge Foundation, we talk with Dids Macdonald OBE Co-founder and Chief Executive of ACID (Anti-copying in Design). At the time of recording, Dids was also Master of The Furniture Makers Company, the City of London livery company and charity for the furniture industry. We were joined in the conversation by Anne Sampson, who was the outgoing Educational Events and Campaigns Manager. 

Designers are notoriously bad at protecting their intellectual property, while some are very aware that a good idea is easily stolen and copied, many get so wrapped up in the iterative process of bringing a design from concept to market that they completely ignore or are ignorant of simple actions that they can take to protect their design from being illegally copied. 

As a young designer herself, Dids was outraged by the audacity shown by some who openly copied and replicated her work and the work of colleagues. Instead of moaning about it, she decided to take action and Co-founded ACID, which has been working for the last 25 years to help to protect design intellectual property. 

In this episode, Dids talks us through the relatively simple steps that all designers should take to protect their work. We talk through how this could (and perhaps should) be taught as part of a D&T secondary or even primary education (it is taught to all primary aged pupils in China). 

Dids also takes us behind the scenes at one of the City’s newest livery companies. What is a livery company? How does this work with and for the furniture industry, and what can we do within education to encourage more students to consider furniture design as a worthy option? 

A wide-ranging and engaging conversation that lifts the lid on design theft and how to protect against it. 

In this episode of Designed for Life we are fortunate to be in conversation with Pim van Baarsen CEO of the Silverstone Technology Cluster, a high-tech business group situated geographically within an hours drive of the Silverstone race circuit.

Pim joined the Motorsport Industry Association after completing a Master’s degree in business studies. During his time there he was presented with the AIM Young Business Person of the Year award for his efforts in helping the organisation grow.

He subsequently joined transmission specialists Xtrac where he oversaw their sportscar activities. After two years there he was invited to join Haymarket as Group Marketing Manager.

In 2010, Pim co-founded CMA Marketing, a marketing agency specialising in technical B2B marketing.

In December 2016 Pim was asked to head up the Silverstone Technology Cluster and has been doing what he describes in the podcast as his 'dream job' since.

In 2016, research was published that identified the cluster around Silverstone, an area spanning as far as Birmingham, Oxford, Cambridge and Luton, in which approximately 4,500 businesses reside who specialise in advanced engineering, electronics and software. As a result of this research, the Silverstone Technology Cluster (STC) organisation was founded

This podcast follows Pim's journey from school in the Netherlands through his dual degree taken at Plymouth University to his current post. We talk about how high-tech industries have reacted to the challenges posed by COVID-19 and how we can better join the worlds of education and industry to showcase an exciting emerging job market.  Pim gives his advice to students even vaguaely interested in working in the tech sector - A great conversation with something in there for everyone!

In this episode, we are in conversation with designer and technologist Jude Pullen. 

Winner of the 2020 Alastair Graham-Bryce "Imagineering" Award (Institution of Mechanical Engineers), Jude is a Product Design Engineer with an unparalleled appetite to investigate each subject matter that crosses his path. 

With a passion for bridging seemingly disparate disciplines, he is fascinated by fresh design challenges, be they human, mechanical or virtual. Exceptionally skilled at creating physical prototypes, he uses these models to explore design ideas, be they concepts for Dyson, a medical device for NHS, a fire-fighting robot or a mini space-pod.  

Jude has worked with Speck Design, Dyson, Sugru and LEGO but is possibly best known to design and technology teachers for his appearance as part of the design team on the BBCs Big Life Fix which has become something of an iconic show for design and technology teachers nationally (currently being repeated). 

Jude recently delivered a keynote as part of the Design and Technology Association's Autumn School. In the conversations leading to this keynote entitled "Not a Ted Talk", he was keen to avoid the 'easy option' of delivering a speech detailing his rich career to date. He was instead eager to explore the nature of design and technology teaching and what the future might hold for the subject. 

Teachers attending the Autumn School session were challenged to step forward to help form a group raising a hand to explore what might be possible in school with the support of Jude and some of his professional network of colleagues. That invitation is extended to D&T teachers listening to this podcast. 

This episode has something for teachers, students of D&T and for parents alike. So sit back, plug in and enjoy the D&T Association in conversation with Jude Pullen. 

In this, the fourth episode of Designed for Life, the podcast brought to you by the Design and Technology Association in partnership with the Edge Foundation; we meet Brian Oppenheim one of Her Majesties lead inspectors, a former teacher and head of design and technology and currently an experienced lead inspector with responsibility for the subject. 

In this conversation, we cover Brian's experience at school and what brought him to train to teach design and technology with the Inner London Education Authority. Brian talks us through his experiences as a head of department and how he developed a love for the subject that remains to this day. 

Brian was involved in helping to formulate the 'new' Ofsted framework and has worked to train other Ofsted colleagues in how to inspect design and technology and just what good and outstanding practise looks like in our subject. 

In our conversation, we cover a lot of ground, including:

• How does the revised framework for inspection differ from what came before and how has the first year been working with the new structure?
• What exactly is a broad curriculum offer from Ofsted's perspective and what happens when you inspect a school that has reduced their offer to students?
• What have been the main learning points for the subject over the last year?
• What is a 'deep dive' and how might this look in practice?

 This is an honest and open conversation with an Ofsted inspector that, in my opinion, really does value, understand and care about the subject. 

Michael Omotosho is a freelance Industrial designer based in Bradford and is widely recognised as a young highly talented designer with huge potential. 

In this podcast, the second of a new series brought to you by the Design and Technology Association in partnership with the Edge Foundation, Michael talks us through his foundation years as he was educated in Nigeria. From his earliest years, he noticed how comparatively well off his family was compared to many of his friends at school. His friends compensated for what they were unable to buy through handcrafting toys, Michael was impressed, and an obsession with social design was born. 

Michael's father was in the Nigerian military and was a trained automotive engineer, his mother, a fabric designer. Michael describes his foundation years and how he struggled to find a career pathway. His parents had ideas for Michael to enter medicine or law, but these just didn't flick the switch for a young lad increasingly obsessed with design. 

Following school Michael "blagged" his way onto a degree course in automotive design. He had not achieved the required grades (or subjects) for the course but somehow managed to convince the interviewing panel that he had what it took to make up lost ground. Once on the course, he received a rude awakening as he realised that the course was more about the applied use of mathematics and physics than the drawing and designing that he loved, "they assumed vocabulary that I did not have, what was a washer"? 

Michael dug in deep following a first year at university that he describes as "unimpressive". He realised that to pass; he was going to have to work as he had never worked before. Grit is an overused word; but when you face down your tutor and proclaim that you are going to get a top grade in your final year, despite nothing in your record so far demonstrating that this was a possibility...that shows determination. 

Michael graduated with a first in Automotive Design but had already decided that freelance product and industrial design was where he wanted to be. He has recently launched @Plugull a life product to assist a simple everyday activity. 

This was a fantastic conversation with a very likeable and determined young designer. Michaels story can provide inspiration and guidance for students everywhere!

In the first of a new series of podcasts brought to you by the Design and Technology Association in association with The Edge Foundation, we talk with Jay Blades community worker, furniture restorer and TV presenter. 

Jay talks us through his journey from his education in North West London to working with his ex-wife to set up 'Out of the Dark' a social enterprise created to help disadvantaged young people learn practical skills through furniture renovation and design. Jay very candidly describes how he came through a very dark period in his life when within a matter of months his marriage ended, and he lost the business that he loved and found himself homeless and without direction in his life. 

Chance brought Jay to Wolverhampton, where he refound himself and created a new purpose in life renovating antique furniture. Chance again had a big hand in Jay's introduction to TV work, he describes his journey and what it's like to be the frontman for one of the most popular light entertainment shows on TV right now, The Repair Shop, a show attracting 8 million viewers! 

Through the conversation, one gets the impression of a man who likes to connect with people and is drawn to want to make a difference to those born to a disadvantaged start in life. Jay describes the importance of creativity in education and in life and provides his thoughts on how the simple art of making something can feed the soul! 

This was a delightful conversation and is one that we believe provides a perfect opener to this new podcast series. 

Designed for Life is a new podcast (launch date end of August 2020) brought to you by the Design and Technology Association that sets out to entertain, Inform and Inspire. The podcast takes the format of a series of casual conversations with successful people doing interesting things; be this in education, design, manufacturing, production or any other associated line of business. 

Our intention as the professional association for design and technology teaching and learning in schools is to bring the worlds of education and business/industry closer together; this podcast fully supports that objective. 

Subscribe now and let us bring inspiration and entertainment to your ears!