Design Crafts BA (Hons)

De Montfort University

We want to ensure you have the best learning experience possible and a supportive and nurturing learning community. That’s why we’re introducing a new block model for delivering the majority of our courses, known as Education 2030. This means a more simplified timetable where you will study one subject at a time instead of several at once. You will have more time to engage with your learning and get to know the teaching team and course mates. You will receive faster feedback through more regular assessment, and have a better study-life balance to enjoy other important aspects of university life. ****Structure**** You will learn in regular timetabled practical workshops, inductions, lectures, seminars, group tutorials, one-to-one tutorials, practical and theoretical talks. Each module has a brief that challenges you to respond creatively, enabling you to develop a range of skills which enhance your personal development. By the final year you will propose your own direction of study and final project. You will receive ongoing feedback in tutorials, seminars, workshops and more formal written feedback. We assess your progress and achievement throughout the course, formally through presentations and the display of coursework. Typically we assess your work in sketchbooks, design sheets, physical objects, maquettes, models and samples, portfolios and log books. We assess a small amount of written work in the form of technical notes, reports and essays. We ask you to evaluate your own achievements and comment on your own progress. There are opportunities throughout the course for placements in galleries, small workshops, Sainsbury’s, Hand & Lock, and for exchanges, working collaboratively and working on live briefs and with external clients. DMU is involved in the Crafts Council’s Firing Up scheme where you can volunteer to work with clay in local schools. Our graduates have won many recent awards and prizes including The Enameller’s Guild Bursary, the Embroiderers' Guild Scholar 18-30, The Worshipful Company of Goldsmith’s Precious Metal Bursary, The Creative Business Award and the Silver Award in Craft and Design Magazine’s Selected Maker Awards, The Young Silversmith’s Award. One of our recent graduates Alice Funge was personally selected by New Designers sponsor Sainsbury’s to show their work alongside a display of the supermarket giant’s own homewares in a prime spot near the entrance of the hall at the Business Design Centre. The Design Crafts lecturers are all practising designers and makers, from a wide range of arts and crafts disciplines. We are also proud to have numerous visiting speakers which have included ceramicists, jewellery designers, sculptors, textile artists, enamellers, furniture and product designers and illustrators. ****Contact hours**** In your first year you will normally attend around 24 hours of timetabled taught sessions each week, and we expect you to undertake at least 19 further hours of independent study to complete project work and research.