DESIGN FOR BUSINESS ADVANTAGE

HM Treasury, Westminster, London.

Wednesday July 2nd 2008

The UK Government Treasury building in Westminster, London was once again the scene for an exciting exhibition of graduate and postgraduate design work in what is becoming established as an annual event.  Held this year on the afternoon of July 2nd 2008, the exhibition was organised by the Design Special Interest (SIG) under the chairmanship of Professor Clare Johnston of the Royal College of Art, and with the support of Lord Haskel, a past World President of The Textile Institute.

The participating institutions were Central St Martins College of Art & Design, Colchester School of Art & Design, De Montfort University, the London College of Fashion, Manchester Metropolitan University Department of Clothing Design & Technology, Northumbria University, Nottingham Trent University, the University of the Creative Arts at Rochester and the Royal College of Art.

The exhibition was jointly opened by Lord Haskel, and Wendy Dagworthy, the internationally renowned designer.   Lord Haskel pointed out that the event brought together aspects of higher education, media and the arts, business enterprise and economic development, making the Treasury the most appropriate government department to act as host.   Wendy Dagworthy emphasised the reputation of Design Education in the UK and its outstanding contribution internationally to the success of brands and global companies in the fashion and textile business.

Different in emphasis from many end-of-year graduate shows, the objective of the exhibition was to enable executives, designers and technologists from industry and retail to understand what the colleges can do and are doing to promote design in the business environment.   Over two hundred guests from industry attended by invitation, and they included many from small to medium sized enterprises (SME’s).  They were encouraged to form links with the universities and establish future patterns of collaboration.

None of this, however, was to the detriment of the graduates, three or four from each college, who were urged to promote their talents to the industrial visitors, and found it a rewarding experience.   A typical comment from one graduate was ‘I spoke to a lot of people about my work and future aspirations, and they were very interested.   I came away from the day feeling inspired and excited about my future career in fashion!’

An additional feature this year was the competition The Textile Institute Design Special Interest Group would like to congratulate Rachel Philpott TI student member on winning the Bursary Award at the Young Designers’ Exhibition in July 2008.

The bursary includes GB£600 for flight and accommodation to The Textile Institute World Conference in Hong Kong 2008, the student delegate fee and Textile Institute Membership for a year. A certificate was presented to Rachel at the exhibition.

HM Treasury kindly make no charge for the use of their premises for this event, and for this we would like to express our gratitude.   Nevertheless there are many other costs involved and we could not mount an exhibition of this size without sponsorship support.   Our thanks go particularly to key sponsors Alvanon UK, Hobbs, Lectra, Mosaic Fashions and Pentland Brands.