GSA's Highlands and Islands campus: An experience to never forget
International students wowed by the GSA's Highlands and Islands campus
The summer holidays may be in full swing but the GSA's Highlands and Islands campus keeps busy with many visitors and activities.
We regularly host students and faculty from all over the world. Our location on the Altyre Estate outside Forres gives us an ideal opportunity to showcase life and work in the Highlands and Islands and Moray to a global audience who are interested in the region for research and study.
Last week was no exception with some very special guests. Ten undergraduates from the US came to the campus as part of the prestigious Fulbright Programme.
Fulbright students outside GSA Highlands and Islands
The Fulbright Scotland Summer Institute on Technology, Innovation and Creativity is a three-week cultural and academic programme for US students, hosted by the Glasgow School of Art and the University of Strathclyde. As part of the programme, students explore Scotland's culture, history and creative and technological industries. As our campus has only recently opened, this was the first time the we have hosted the cohort here.
If you'd like a sneak peak of the day, GSA product design student and intern at the campus, Sean Fegan has produced a video of the day to give you a flavour of what happened…
GSA Highlands and Islands – Fulbright students' visit from The Glasgow School of Art on Vimeo.
The students took part in seminars in key GSA Design Innovation projects including digital health in rural economies and water and textile interdependency in the circular economy. So what exactly does that mean?
GSA's Dr Paul Smith hosted a workshop in the sunshine and explains:
"We spent a really great morning exploring the circular economy in textiles with some exceptionally bright students here on the scholarship. Circular economy is a significant step towards addressing the complexities of a more sustainable future, and the ten undergraduates showed real enthusiasm and intelligence with the task we set them.
We asked them to work in teams to deconstruct the whole product ecology of a familiar textiles product and then reimagine it in a more circular material future. They looked at the origins of materials, the manufacturing processes, distribution and post use. They scrutinised the whole products life and then came up with some amazing sustainable alternatives. It was an inspiring and very illuminating time."
20 year old Carly McCarthy, a student of Science, Technology and Society at Butler University in Indianapolis and 19-year old Jacob Easley, a Mechanical Engineering student from Mississippi State University with the outcome of their design workshop at the GSA's Highlands and Islands campus
19 year old Jacob Easley, a Mechanical Engineering student from Mississippi State University said: "Going to the GSA's Highlands and Islands campus was an experience I'll never forget. Even during the short time I was there I was pushed to expand my thinking of what design really is."
You can find out more information about the Fulbright Programme, or check out GSA's press release about the visit.
And if that's whetted your appetite to find out more about the campus then please visit our online pages.
In pictures: Design Innovation students unveil their projects in Moray
Return of the Winter School projects
The spirit of Winter School returned to the GSA's Highlands and Islands Creative Campus this week with. Glasgow-based MDES Design Innovation students travelled north to join their Forres counterparts for a special session to present the outcomes of their group projects.
The projects started at Winter School in January when teams of students worked with community groups and businesses from the Moray area to explore the theme of Innovation from Tradition. You can read more about Winter School and what happened in our blogs from the event, or watch the film here.
The local organisations were invited back to the campus this week to see the outcomes, give their feedback and discuss how the findings could be used in the future. The event on Tuesday involved presentations from 12 groups, covering subjects including arts, music, food and drink and the third sector.
There was also an exhibition of the project summaries, which were exhibited in the GSA's Reid Building last month.
The audience at the MDES student presentations at GSA Highlands and Islands. Image credit: Paul Campbell
The Forres-based MDES students with Jackie Mclaren, of tsiMORAY (third from left) and Debbie Heron, of FACT (third from right). Image credit: Paul Campbell
Projects proposed included immersive visitor experiences at Knockando Woolmill; a service to match volunteers with suitable experiences, a whisky subscription box and a festival to encourage more civic participation.
The community and business organisations were impressed to hear the progress that the students had made.
Julie Schack Petersen and Junyuan Chen with Emma Nicolson, Marketing and Merchandising Manager at Knockando Woolmill (centre). Image credit: Paul Campbell
Puja Parekh and Andrea Farias present their project, Re-imagining Johnstons of Elgin. Image credit: Paul Campbell
Now the students are in the final stage of their programmes: their final solo project. Their work will continue throughout the summer, culminating in their projects being shown at Graduate Degree Show on 1-8 September.
To find out more about studying Design Innovation, visit our Teaching pages.
Project summaries on display at GSA Highlands and Islands. Image credit: Paul Campbell
Design Innovation students return to Moray to present their projects
Businesses and community organisations looking forward to hearing progress after Winter School
The Glasgow School of Art's Design Innovation Masters students will present their end of semester projects at the GSA's new Highlands and Islands Creative Campus later this month. The projects address a range of issues relating to Moray businesses and communities.
People from Moray-based organisations will attend the presentations on Tuesday 6th June to give feedback and explore how students' ideas can be taken forward in the future.
The group of 22 students includes the first cohort to have attended the GSA's Altyre campus since it opened last year.
Student presentation material from Winter School 2017. Image credit: Paul Campbell
Students have addressed the theme of "Innovation from Tradition", and have worked with a number of businesses and community groups including Knockando Woolmill, Johnstons of Elgin, and tsiMORAY. Students worked in teams to address various areas such as Craft and Making, Spirituality and Belief, Music and the Arts, and Community and the Economy.
They addressed research questions including:
– How can Johnstons of Elgin leverage its history, traditions and assets to generate new value?
– How can volunteering act as a two-way bridge between Syrian New Scots and the Forres community?
The Innovation from Tradition theme was launched during Winter School 2017: the GSA's pioneering annual teaching event held at the campus.
Material from the students' presentation at Winter School 2017. Image credit: Paul Campbell
Students on Design Innovation Masters programmes worked alongside counterparts from Köln International School of Design (KISD) in Germany, and the Royal Academy of Art & Design (KADK) in Denmark, to frame research questions related to the local Moray community.
Through their studio work, students went on to investigate the role of 'social design' to engage with people, and the role of designers as innovators in the service of wider society.
Emma Nicolson, Marketing and Merchandising Manager at Knockando Woolmill, said: "It has been great to continue working with the international students and have them trial ideas at the Woolmill. It was interesting to see the interaction of the public with the prototypes they installed, and I am looking forward to seeing their findings in the final presentations.
"It will be exciting to see the full journey the project has taken from the initial research we saw back in January."
Jackie Maclaren, Operations Manager at tsiMORAY, added: "Having met and worked with students from The Glasgow School of Art over the last few months, staff at tsiMORAY look forward with great interest to the outcomes of their projects. It has been truly refreshing and inspiring to have been involved with their creativity and innovation. We look forward to continued partnership working."
Amy O'Meara, who is on the Design Innovation and Service Design programme, said: "Winter School was an immersive learning experience, which saw us engaging with various heritage organisations across the Moray region. The relationships we forged with these businesses, such as Knockando Woolmill and Johnstons of Elgin, either led directly to exciting design collaborations or informed how our project took shape throughout the term.
"Innovation from Tradition was the overarching theme that acted as a catalyst to propel our projects forward and also motivate us to extend the limits of our practice. Exploring how traditions could be innovated in the contexts of our projects was challenging but also hugely rewarding, giving meaning to our roles as Design Innovation Masters students."
GSA Highlands and Islands. Image credit: Paul Campbell
Design Innovation lecturer Dr Brian Dixon commented: "Many of our students have explored aspects of the Scotland's rich social and cultural heritage that are often taken for granted or overlooked. For example, the production of wool and cashmere, or community volunteering. As the projects have developed, we've found that, in many cases, partner organisations have really benefitted from the opportunity to reflect, take stock and recognise the potential of what's already there."
And to find out just what happened at Winter School please watch our film. There's also more information about the two-week event in our collection of blogs.
You can find more information on our pages about the Design Innovation Masters programmes and GSA's new Highlands and Islands Creative Campus.
Bridging the volunteer gap
An update on the Forres students' project
Our pioneering MDES Design Innovation students in Forres have reached another milestone in their studies – completion and presentation of their Stage 2 project.
This is the project that has its roots in Winter School, when Masters students from GSA worked with local businesses and community organisations.
The students worked to a research question of: "How can volunteering act as a two-way bridge between Syrian New Scots and the Forres community?". They then engaged in an immersive research and design development phase with local groups. During this time the focus shifted from refugees themselves to volunteering practices in Moray.
You can read about the earlier stages of the project in our previous blog, Life at the Creative Campus: the teaching studio.
During their research activity, the students identified that the number of organisations in Scotland that rely on volunteers has rapidly increased and it is not uncommon for job seekers to find themselves being "voluntold", i.e. forced to take a volunteering placement in order to receive their benefit package.
The Forres MDES students do some volunteering.
The students identified that this is in opposition to the very ethos of volunteering and that having not freely elected to volunteer, voluntolds are difficult to place. This creates challenges across recruitment, engagement and retention.
Addressing the challenge
To address this challenge, the students proposed a series of design concepts before finally refining their idea. Here one of the students, Finn describes their proposal in more detail:
"Bridge was designed to meet the challenges of 'voluntelling' as experienced by Scotland's third sector.
"Bridge is a service for connecting volunteers and volunteer organisations, through mini-experiences: short taster sessions offered by an organisation. It uses digital moodboards, an emotive collage of volunteer's skills and interests or of an organisation's experiences and values, to create an audial and visual profile. This profile can then be used to match or recommend mini-experiences based upon personal preferences, creating the opportunity for people to make an informed choice about which organisations they would like to work with and bringing freedom back to Scotland's voluntary sector.
"Volunteers placed within a context that they identify with and enjoy are more likely to make a valuable and sustainable contribution. Similarly, reducing the challenge of recruitment and retention of suitable volunteers could potentially have been both financial and time-saving impacts for organisations.
"Bridge has an easy-to-use interface and can be downloaded as an app or used at pop-up events. As volunteers build up their portfolio of 'mini-experiences', this contributes to their work experience profile and can support them in future job-seeking."
Communicating a concept is an important design skill and the students worked hard to refine their project into a clear and articulate message that was presented to the wider teaching and academic cohort at GSA's Creative Campus.
It's now hoped that the idea could be disseminated by Scotland's Third Sector Interface Network.
In addition, the students have recently submitted their project process journals (PPJs), a reflective record of their individual personal journal through the project for final assessment. The PPJs document the highs and lows of design activity, including any thoughts, ideas and decisions made throughout the 12-week project and are an important part of the learning experience.
The students are now working towards further dissemination of Bridge: first, a group exhibition to be held in Glasgow on May 22 with their MDES counterparts in Glasgow, and a final presentation on June 6 that will welcome the businesses and community organisations back to see the final concepts that have been developed.
To find out more about our MDES programmes, visit our Teaching pages on our website.
The MDES students giving their presentation at GSA Highlands and Islands. Image credit: Jane Candlish
Why you should visit this Moray social enterprise
Join a new collaboration with the community on Saturday
In our recent blog about the Teaching Studio at the Creative Campus in the Highlands and Islands, we discussed how our students are beginning to form strong ties with the local community.
Collaboration with local businesses and organisations is a central aspect of the MDes Design Innovation programmes, and provides invaluable experience for the students' future careers.
Now, an event on Saturday (April 15) shows how GSA's design students and local citizens can work together. Moray Waste Busters is hosting a pop-up café at their premises near Forres from 10am-3pm.
Here Finn Fullarton-Pegg, studying Design Innovation and Transformation Design at the Creative Campus, tells the InDI blog more about the project.
"Moray Waste Busters (MWB) is a fascinating organisation to work with. Their business model takes used household and garden items, ensure their quality before resale, and pours the proceeds back into the local community: turning trash into social capital.
"MWB has plans to diversify their re-use/recycle operation to cover more than furniture and electrical equipment, as well as continuing to provide a fun day out for their customers.
"As part of a wider collaboration between InDI's Fergus Fullarton Pegg and Waste Busters, I've spent the past two months working with some of the staff. Together we've been exploring their visions for Waste Busters' future, and the role that design can play in bringing those visions to life.
"One common suggestion among staff has been to open a café in partnership with another local social enterprise, Ray's Opportunities. This organisation has a similar ethos to MWB, providing disadvantaged adults with the opportunity to learn a trade in a community café.
"The possibility of opening a café at MWB raises important questions, including: 'Will this add to, or detract from, the familiar Waste Busters experience?' At this point, design practice urges us to be adventurous, to prototype early and discover the successes and failures of ideas quickly.
"So on Easter Saturday (April 15), Moray Waste Busters is teaming up with Ray's Opportunities to host a pop-up café for the public.
"The two social enterprises are working together to combine the adventure of bargain hunting with Ray's delicious coffee and cake.
"As well as promising to be a fun day out for everyone who comes down, the café is also intended as a platform for engaging the public in Waste Busters' future plans.
"And it's an opportunity for the staff at Waste Busters to experiment with what kind of cafe they would like to see on their site in the future. All the furnishings and adornments will be taken from the venture's extensive store of secondhand items. None of us know what the café will end up looking like but I think we can expect something eclectic, kitsch and vintage."
The event takes place at Moray Waste Busters on Saturday from 10am-3pm.
To find out more about our MDES programmes and how you can apply to study here from September, click here.
Life at the Creative Campus: the teaching studio
An insight into learning and teaching on our MDES programmes
It was always part of the plan for the Creative Campus in the Highlands and Islands to bring postgraduate students to the region for Design Innovation programmes.
There are currently three Master of Design Innovation programmes based in the north: Transformation Design, Collaborative Creativity, and Interaction Design. Information on the courses and how to apply is available via the links.
A small group of students are pioneering the MDES Design Innovation at the Creative Campus during this first year: an exciting time for all involved.
But the location offers unique opportunities for the group.
One of our MDES students Poopak with tutor George Jaramillo in the Forres studio. Image credit: Paul Campbell
Studio lead for this session is Leigh-Anne Hepburn, a Research Fellow who works with the Experience Labs. Here she tells the InDI blog about some of the students' recent activities.
"Our Forres-based students attended Winter School 2017 in January, working alongside their Glasgow counterparts for the first time. This was a great chance for them to meet others going through the same experience.
"After this busy two-week event, they went straight into their Stage 2 group project and were tasked with writing a brief. This is a critical design skill and offered a unique opportunity for them to shape the direction of their study.
"Under the theme, Innovation from Tradition, the group considered the individual concepts developed during Winter School – of transient communities and the role of third sector volunteering – and worked to develop a shared direction.
MDES student Yara presenting her team's project at Winter School 2017. Image credit: Paul Campbell
"This is essentially a live project and the students are encouraged to go out and actively engage with local stakeholders. Luckily the people of Moray are very receptive to the musings of MDES students!
"As an international group, they were particularly interested in exploring the refugee experience of moving to Forres and the potential role volunteering could play in supporting community integration. After identifying key stakeholders, the students build a strong connection with partner organisations during their field research.
"When you are working with participants who are enthusiastic about design – and who can see the real potential for change it offers – you want to deliver the best possible outcome and create some value in return. Our students had the chance to do this when they ran their first co-design workshop, 'Designing your volunteer experience' last month. Created in partnership with tsiMORAY for the organisations's conference for the third sector, Join the Dots, the workshop was attended by more than 20 people. Delivering a participatory workshop is an exciting and immersive experience and our students were delighted that it went so well.
One of the scenario tools created by the MDES students for the workshop. Image credit: Leigh-Anne Hepburn
"Every rich story and anecdote gathered during field research offers new insight and it's tempting to keep listening instead of moving towards designing solutions. This is especially true of the fast-paced 12 week project that the students have embarked on. However, after this intense period of research, our students have begun to identify the key insights and are designing some exciting final concepts.
"In the middle of all this, we travelled to Glasgow to join the wider MDES student and staff cohort for interim reviews. These presentations give students an opportunity to share the journey of their project and emerging design concepts, receiving some essential critical feedback and peer review in return.
"And in addition to the studio project, the students have also begun working on their specialisms, with expert input from teaching staff across GSA. It's a real team effort."
Recruitment is ongoing for our MDES programmes starting in September 2017 in Forres and Glasgow – and there are funded places available. Click here to find out more on the GSA's website.
Also, the GSA and Digital Health & Care Institute are offering a limited number of funded places on the Master of Research programme to students exploring health-related topics. Find out more on the GSA's website.
MDES students who led the workshop at the tsiMoray conference. Image credit: Leigh-Anne Hepburn
*Featured image by Paul Campbell
Learning from Locality: an international residency
International residency programme visits the Creative Campus
Students from Belgium, France and Scotland came together in Findhorn and visited the GSA's Highlands and Islands Creative Campus last week for a vibrant residency programme.
The GSA's campus outside Forres has opened up new opportunities for staff and students to visit the area to research, work and study.
"We enjoyed the tranquillity of the GSA's Highlands and Islands Creative Campus. It introduced us to other aspects of Scotland's landscapes and environments," explained Mark Luyten from Sint Lucas Antwerpen College of Art and Design.
Students and staff from the Locality II Residency visit Findhorn Bay. Image credit: Michael Mersinis
The residency, entitled Locality II, brought together postgraduate students from the areas of Fine Art and Design to discuss and respond to the theme of locality. Considering the Scottish landscape, its history and setting was central to the research. Students focussed on the importance of space and place in relation to their own work and that of the wider group.
The aim of Locality II was to 'rupture the classical definition of specialism and to allow collaboration between different specialisms, schools and countries'. Students joined the residency programme from three schools across Europe: The GSA, École européenne supérieure d'art de Bretagne (EESAB) in Quimper, France and Sint Lucas Antwerpen College of Art and Design.
"We visited Forres and were shown around the Creative Campus staying for the afternoon where we all enjoyed student presentations," explains Eimer Birkbeck from EESAB.
Learning in locality
Residency organisers chose the Forres location as an 'ideal platform' to explore the north of Scotland and immerse students in diverse aspects of locality. As well as time on campus, the students visited Culloden Battlefield, the Sueno's Stone, the Falconer Museum in Forres and Findhorn village where the group stayed for the week.
Grounds around the campus: an inspiring location for artists and designers. Image credit: Paul Campbell
Students considered themes including:
– Inhabited land
– The weather as a mechanism of forming the land
– The use of land within agriculture
– History of the natural landscape
"The opportunity to be displaced and placed again within a land that has its own rhythm and rules was a great privilege. There are certain qualities in the Scottish landscape that are truly unique. This particular sense of place permeated our thoughts and actions during the residency".
Michael Mersinis, The Glasgow School of Art
The residency was the second part of a three year project, with the first part having taken place in Le Guilvinec in France and the third part taking place in Antwerp in Belgium.
For more information on Locality II please contact the GSA's Michael Mersinis, Lecturer in Fine Art Photography, [email protected] or Thomas Greenough, Head of International Academic Development, [email protected].
Find out more about The Glasgow School of Art's Highlands and Islands Creative Campus.
*Featured image of Findhorn sunset by Oliver Pilcher
Seasonal Schools: an innovative teaching method
Research and Teaching on location at the GSA Highlands and Islands
InDI is proud of its teaching and research activities that support postgraduate students, researchers and academics. They offer an excellent chance to meet others in your field and learn about their experiences.
With the deadline for applications for Summer School 2017 in Lancaster extended until April 7, we're reflecting on our Seasonal Schools and what they offer the people who take part.
InDI offers two main seasonal schools throughout the year: Winter School and Summer School.
Organised by the Leapfrog team, the Summer School programme aims to help early career researchers to develop their skills. The three-day event includes a programme of lectures and discussions as well as sharing work and ideas.
Last year's event was the first and took place in Forres, exploring action research with delegates from across the UK and overseas.
Leapfrog Summer School on Findhorn beach.
Applications for 2017 are open until Friday April 7. The event, from July 11-13, will take place at Lancaster University, where our Leapfrog partners, ImaginationLancaster, are based. The programme, titled Exploring Community Engagement for Research: Power, Impact and Collaboration, will share methods and insights around effective engagement and evidence the impact of these approaches. Professor Rachel Cooper OBE, Distinguished Professor of Design Management and Policy at Lancaster University, will give a keynote.
Delegates will take part in a series of presentations, discussions and workshops to enrich their understanding and applications of community engagement in a wide range of research contexts.
This video of the 2016 event gives a flavour of the Leapfrog Summer School:
Leapfrog Summer School 2016: Action Research, Engagement, & Co-​design from leapfrogtools on Vimeo.
You can find more information about the 2017 event and download an application pack on the Leapfrog website.
As you can tell from our recent blogs, Winter School is an action-packed and high profile event.
The two-week residency at GSA Highlands and Islands involves students from our own MDES Design Innovation programmes as well as students from Köln International School of Design (KISD) and The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation (KADK) in Copenhagen. The international element is boosted by faculty from all over the world, who provide enlightening talks for the students.
Winter School 2018 will also involve students from Audencia Business School in France. Audencia and InDI have collaborated to develop an exciting MSc programme in Management and Entrepreneurship in the Creative Economy. Led by Audencia, the programme launches in September 2017. GSA faculty members will teach one-third of the classes – and the two-week international Winter School at the GSA Highlands and Islands Creative Campus, is a highlight of the programme.
Jenny Houldsworth from Johnstons of Elgin speaks to Winter School students
The students explore a theme relevant to the local context and work with businesses and community organisations to gain insight into the topic. Working in groups, they explore a design research question. For GSA students, this is the first step in their Stage 2 project.
You can see what we got up to at Winter School 2017 in this video:
For more information about Winter School, please contact Dr Gordon Hush, [email protected]
Helping you keep well at work
Take part in an Experience Lab
We are offering a second chance to take part in an Experience Labs project about wellbeing in the workplace.
The Glimpse project investigates ways for people can improve their health through gentle exercise carried out at work.
Taking part in a lab is a great way to help GSA researchers explore a health related challenge that can help people in the future. It also gives you the opportunity to meet our team and find out more about our work.
The Experience Labs are part of the Digital Health & Care Institute, one of Scotland's Innovation Centres, funded by the Scottish Funding Council.
The team has organised a special collaborative design workshop in Glasgow on Tuesday 28 March, which is open to people with experience of desk-based working. This is the second workshop of the project after a successful session last month.
The partner on the project is Justin Eade, of Glimpse Ltd. Justin is a Workplace Wellbeing Consultant with more than 20 years experience. He hopes that the research will develop ideas for a digital application to counter the effects of sedentary work.
Dr Jay Bradley and Dr Michael Johnson explain more about what the session involves:
"At the first workshop, the participants explored the key issues around wellbeing and exercise within the workplace; the opportunities that exist for exercising at work and the activities they could incorporate into their working day. We now have an understanding of how people might feel about movement for wellbeing in the workplace and what exercises and situations would be preferable for challenging sedentary behaviour.
Dr Jay Bradley leads an Experience Lab. Image credit: Louise Mather
"The second workshop will build on the outcomes of the first. Participants will take part in co-designed prototype development. We will explore ways for people to learn and sustain movement exercises and routines at work.
"All information provided will remain confidential."
The lab will take place at House for an Art Lover, Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, on Tuesday March 28, from 11am-3pm.
Refreshments and lunch will be provided and reasonable travel expenses will also be paid.
To take part or to for more information, contact Dr Jay Bradley, [email protected] or Dr Michael Johnson, [email protected]
Meet our new Master of Research students
New additions to our Creative Campus cohort
InDI recently welcomed a new group of students onto our Master of Research programme.
They follow in the footsteps of the first four students from 2016. The five-strong group are all multidisciplinary creative practitioners, based in Moray at the Creative Campus and in Cowal.
The group is supported and funded by the Creative Futures Partnership (CFP). This is a pioneering venture between The Glasgow School of Art and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. It has been established to deliver transformational benefits for the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.
The MRES journey started at Winter School 2017 in January, when students met some of the outgoing MRES group and the current PhD candidates.
The new MRESs took part in a range of research, training workshops and masterclasses to prepare them for their year of study.
They are part of the Creative Campus cohort, along with the three Creative Campus PhDs. Each research project is individually led but exists within the network of other researchers. Together they are pioneering academic research through a practice-based cohort at the campus distributed throughout the Highlands and Islands. The cohort also take part in Autumn and Spring School each year.
InDI is also currently recruiting for the next intake of MRES students. You can find out more about the programmes available on the GSA's website.
Inquiries should be made to Dr Lynn-Sayers McHattie at [email protected]
Meet the students
Since graduating The Glasgow School of Art in 1999 with a BA in Textile Design, Hannah has worked at the intersection of design and enterprise, providing tailored support to a range of SMEs, social enterprises and creative initiatives operating in a community context. Hannah has collaborated with a broad range of partners to develop multidisciplinary projects.
Read more about Hannah's work here.
With a degree in Product Design, Rhona considers herself a designer with an accelerative interest in design for social environments. Working within the Highlands and Island landscape, her current work focuses on rural sheep farming and crofting in Scotland.
Read more about Rhona's work here.
Lorianna navigates the ever-accumulating totality of everything all at once through the lens of an artist embodying the concept of living as form. An ecologically minded holistic approach to all lifestyle practices informs and broadens the scope of her work.
Read more about Lorianna's work here.
Zoë is a Glaswegian designer with a degree in Product Design. In response to emerging socio-economic movements she attempts to instigate social innovation on a local level by applying design practices with a grassroots approach. She has applied this style of working to the phenomena of community landownership in Scotland by co-design to encourage democratic participation and decision-making.
Read more about Zoë's work here.
Sophia has a background in Communication Design, with a particular interest in film. Her current research explores the way that film might be used in a dialogue to reflect and build on individual and shared narratives in rural Scottish communities. Her work is rooted in an underlying awareness of how people have been separated from their histories and an interest in documenting and discussing how aspects of the past may positively influence the future.
Read more about Sophia's work here.
A special visitor to GSA Highlands and Islands
Deputy First Minister John Swinney tours Altyre studios
The GSA Highlands and Islands Creative Campus had a special visitor yesterday as the Deputy First Minister John Swinney toured the facilities outside Forres.
He was accompanied by Moray MSP Richard Lochhead and the pair were shown round the complex by Professor Irene McAra-McWilliam OBE, Deputy Director (Innovation) of the GSA and Director of the Highlands and Islands Creative Campus, and Dr Gordon Hush, Acting Director of InDI.
Among the projects presented to Mr Swinney was the Experience Labs, which has recently worked with local secondary pupils on a campaign to promote breastfeeding. Mr Swinney also heard about the new prosthetic greaves project, which aims to explore the emotional value of different aesthetics for prostheses. He also met MDES and MRES students based at the campus and saw work from the recent Winter School.
You can read more in the press release at www.gsapress.blogspot.co.uk
Deputy First Minister John Swinney and Dr Tara French examine items from the Prosthetic Greaves project by Naturally Useful. Image credit: Hannah Laycock
Winter School 2017: Working with Moray businesses
Sharing our students work
Here the InDI blog showcases two of the student projects started at Winter School 2017. The projects are now ongoing as part of the curriculum within the GSA's Masters of Design Innovation Programmes.
Contemplating the Winter School 2017 work. Image credit: Paul Campbell
Theme: Community and Economy
Community groups: tsiMORAY (Third Sector Interface Moray) and FACT (Forres Area Community Trust)
MDES Design Innovation and Citizenship student Juan Pablo Ortiz explains how his group approached this theme:
For the two weeks of the Winter School I was placed in a group with two other students from my specialisation and two students from the Masters in Forres.
The first week was dedicated to understanding what they do and how they work: the varied and complex system of the third sector and its particular activeness and importance in the area.
Having this mapped out, both conceptually and geographically, we identified volunteering and communication as the areas to focus on.
MDES Design Innovation and Citizenship student Juan Pablo Ortiz and his group at Winter School 2017.
During the second week, we defined a question as a starting point for our second stage project:
How could current knowledge transfer systems be transformed for the enablement of more sustainable and inclusive volunteering in Moray?
Over the last two days, we planned and built an exhibition to show our findings. We created a frame with three maps of Moray representing the theme and our findings. The maps covered three aspects related to the theme:
– Individual: represented through a diffused map using tea bags as a metaphor of the individual knowledge that spreads in the right conditions, and the dialogue tool to allow conversations.
– Organisational: represented through a map with strings of different thickness as the links between the organisations, showing also how this covers geographical areas.
– Macro: represented through a map with important fact and key words for the Moray third sector and economy.
The exhibition piece made by Juan's group. Image credit: Paul Campbell
What I enjoyed the most about the Winter School was how immersive it was in terms of sharing at a global scale (all the visitors and students from other schools) and at a local scale (the organisations we worked with and the places we visited), and see what is being done around this emerging field of design and its potential.
Debbie Herron, of FACT, said: "We were very excited to be invited to be part of the GSA's Winter School, as it gave us the opportunity to meet those students that are studying locally as well as those from Glasgow.
"The questions asked and the work the students did enabled us to look at our work differently too and it was very interesting to see how things developed over the Winter School.
"We saw how the students all came at the different projects in such creative ways and the final presentations certainly gave us more information about our area and highlighted new ways of consulting and collecting information from our community. I certainly will be using the techniques in the future."
Theme: Music and the Arts
Business: Knockando Woolmill
Music and The Arts has a rich history in Scotland and hand-made artefacts and song are intrinsically linked to many Scottish traditions. The scope for design opportunities and innovative solutions within this field was obvious in the project context of "Innovation from Tradition".
Students working with Knockando Woolmill getting ready for the presentation. Image credit: Paul Campbell
Students from Service Design worked with Knockando Woolmill. Here, Amy O'Meara shares how their collaboration will inform their future studies relevant to the region.
Through Winter School we worked with Knockando Woolmill, an 18th-century wool and textile mill within the Spey Valley. At the site, we were led on a comprehensive tour and met with some of the staff.
Coming out of the visit, a key insight we noticed was that Knockando functions as both a traditional production site while also being a tourist and heritage attraction, and as such there is a delicate balance within Knockando as a business. Further investigation may also involve what relationship Knockando has within the local community, in terms of engagement with local citizens.
We finished Winter School with a research question that aims to investigate the balance between tourism and production at Knockando. We aim to incorporate our theme of 'music and the arts' in terms of craft and production, in order to make it relevant to our them.
The Knockando Woolmill project. Image credit: Paul Campbell
Emma Nicolson, Marketing and Merchandising Manager from Knockando Woolmill said: "It has been fantastic to work with the international students for their Winter School project, and have them explore the Woolmill site. It was interesting to see their interpretation of the Woolmill through their fresh eyes, and the potential challenges they identified in their exhibition.
"It will be exciting to see how the students expand on their initial research, and what modern design solutions they might suggest for our historical site."
For more information, check out Knockando's blog
For more information on Winter School please contact Dr Gordon Hush, [email protected]
Five minutes with a Winter School expert: Catherine Morel
Catherine Morel is Professor of Marketing in the Culture and Communication Department at Audencia Business School in France. Catherine has collaborated with InDI over the last two years to develop an exciting MSc programme in Management and Entrepreneurship in the Creative Economy. Led by Audencia in France, the programme and has been co-designed with InDI.
The programme launches in September 2017. GSA faculty members will teach one-third of the classes – and the two-week international Winter School, is a highlight of the programme.
Straight off the podium having delivered an inspiring keynote presentation at Winter School 2017, Catherine tells us more about the themes she addresses, and why Winter School helps deliver innovative business education for those in the creative industries.
Catherine, welcome to Winter School. Your keynote met a very warm reception, what did you share with the students?
My colleague Sandrine Stervinou and I wanted to share our research interest for cooperatives in the Cultural and Creative Industries. We have been studying them in France and we believe that they could be an answer for young creative practitioners. Co-ops are usually resilient and sustainable businesses.
These co-op businesses give a chance to those who want to escape precariousness and isolation whilst developing management and business skills in a collective, democratic and creative environment.
A collaboration between a business school and an art school may surprise some, can you tell us why it makes good sense?
I strongly believe that hybridity is the future of higher education. The fast-changing world in which we live calls for a wide mix of skills and competencies. Students will acquire them through renewed curricula which break subject and discipline silos. For instance, business students need to develop creative skills to deal with ambiguity whereas design and art students acquire this competence quite early in their learning. Design students could benefit from the ways we teach our students to analyse business environments and management issues. A blended business/design programme like the MSc we designed together with The Glasgow School of Art will enable students to change thinking caps on a regular basis.
And why is collaboration at the Highlands and Islands Creative Campus important to you?
The Highlands and Islands and Moray gives us a great platform to initiate projects – research or otherwise – which are relevant to rural regions internationally, and explore the role of cultural and creative industries in supporting the development of these areas.
I already have students asking when they can come!
What does the Winter School format offer you that is unique?
The School will be a pivotal moment on the Masters programme calendar as students will move their projects from theory into real-life entrepreneurial practice. Wearing a design hat, they will be plunged in a different cultural environment which will prepare them to ask the right questions for their collaborative entrepreneurial activities and career.
Finally, if you could sum Winter School up in three words, what would they be?
Am I allowed more than three?…
…humanity, trust, conviviality, open-mindedness, relaxed, family feel, flow, creativity, space
A packed Winter School audience for Catherine Morel. Image credit: Jane Candlish
Further info on the Management and Entrepreneurship in the Creative Economy (Programme subject to validation)
Find out more about Audencia Business School
Check out Catherine's radio programme – Cash and Culture – which is supported by Audencia Foundation through the Audencia Research Lab.