If you'd asked me a year or two ago, I'd have called myself a Product/Industrial designer, now though, I'm not sure what I am. Product Designer, Branding Designer, Photographer, all of the above? All I really know is that I love them all, and without trying to sound like an arse, if I enjoy something I'll make sure I'm good at it.
And, seen as we're talking about my design carreer, I've got a First Class Honours Degree in Product Design...
Tinkering and teaching yourself is all well and good, the skills can be used in all the same ways as anything else, that being said though, I’ve been to school, AND I’ve even got a degree!
This is where I got my start and amongst the school burning down and COVID, I fould my passion for design and working with my hands.
Thankfully, there were no fires here, just a younger me eager to see what I could get from a degree in design. So eager in fact, that I was awarded the Armistead Bursary for my performance in my first year, which only motivated me more for the rest of my years here.
A semester exchange in my 3rd year took me to the other side of the planet, where I finally managed to get around to experimenting with more graphic design-oriented projects while exposing myself to a whole new design culture. I just wish it hadn't taken a 26-hour flight to figure out I liked more than just product design...
I’ve had a number of jobs over the years, in all kinds of sectors and markets, but all of them share the common theme of funding my apparent addiction to outdoors gear and travelling the world.
This was my first job and it came to be through my parents insistence that If I wanted a nice bike, I needed to learn how to fix it. It was here that I started to uncover that I had some idea what I was doing when it came to working with tools, taking apart components and doing all kinds of other tinkery things.
I've been back and forth to SL a number of times over the years, taking on various roles each time. I started out as a kind of labourer, tidying the grounds and touching up the warehouse, then I became a part of the production team, assembling light fittings for jobs that went on to be installed in places like Kings College Chapel or the MIT campus. Alongside production I started dipping my toes into 3D modelling for the company, before most recently, I became the in-house laser cutting specialist and photographer.
A passion project that grew arms and legs. Touch types was the result of a COVID hobby that turned into "THERIAN". As well as designing my own board, I was speccing out and building them for others and growing a platform on Twitch to help with the eventual sale of "THERIAN" when the time came.
Tiso is where I made the brunt of my beer money for uni. I worked in 2 of their branches, one in Glasgow, one in Dundee and during my tenure I grew very familiar with the in's and outs of all kinds of technical outdoor gear and the criminally long names of materials that come with it. I bet you can't guess what ePTFE or DWR stand for, unless you can... My time at Tiso also taught me people skills and how to interact with customers, which I feel has been invaluable to my progression as a designer too.
Unfortunately, you cant survive a ski season without a job, and thus, I ended up at the Josie. I worked in guest services, meaning a lot of interacting with guests, funnily enough. I thought I'd experienced customer service before, during my time in various other roles over the years... not like this though, this was something altogether different. But hey, the tips were good and it helped develop my people and customer communication skills even furhter.