Students’ fantastic design project initiative

Clayton Hall Academy and Newcastle Academy have been offered a fantastic chance to work with the world famous WWRD UK Ltd on a design project. The famous brands of WWRD are Wedgwood, Waterford, Royal Doulton and Royal Albert.

Axia Solutions, a local OFSTED Grade 1 (Outstanding) Apprenticeship Training Provider have arranged for the students to go to WWRD on Tuesday, 28th June and put their skills to the test.

Sue Wood & Yvonne Licata from Axia, joined forces with Richard Delaney the Global Design Director at WWRD. The purpose of the project is to provide GCSE Art students with the chance to experience the modern world of art and design that is so prevalent in our local Ceramics Industry.

High School students will be given the chance to explore how a career in the Ceramics industry, may well be more exciting than they may think. Axia and WWRD aim to enhance the student’s knowledge of the types of job roles and Apprenticeships that are available and demonstrate how Art & Design along with technology skills are vital in driving the continued innovation forward.

Students will spend half a day at WWRD, developing their knowledge of the Design Brief. Then upon returning to school they will design a pattern for a plate following the Design Brief, to include:-

An introduction to their design approachSketchesIdeas Mood board

They will then submit a final design to WWRD for final judging.

The design project will consist of:-

WWRD providing a Design Brief guiding students through the process (design for a plate)A chance to explore the past & present with a tour of the factory & museumAll design entries will be presented with a cold proof of their designThe winning entry from each school will be presented with their design professionally printed, glazed and placed in a presentation box by WWRDThe winners will be offered a once in a lifetime opportunity to spend a week on Work Experience within the WWRD design studio

Richard Delaney who is leading the project said: “We are delighted to be giving students the opportunity to work on a fantastic project. Students will get to work on all aspects of the design process and gain experience of how a project starts off as a design brief and ends up as a completed piece.”

The Managing Director at Axia Solutions, said: “This project gives students a unique opportunity to work on a live brief so that they get an insight into a job in design.”

He continued: “The Ceramics industry is a proven innovator, which mixes hand crafted techniques with the most modern technology to create world leading products. Despite the media often portraying the industry as being in decline, the reality is that the industry offers amazing opportunities for school leavers to have highly successful careers in everything from Engineering and Production to I.T., Finance and Design. Not many industries can offer such diversity and opportunity”

If you are interested in finding out more about apprenticeships in the Ceramics industry please contact us on 01782 572777 or email info@axiasolutions.com.