Year 9 Design & Technology Careers Morning
On Friday 10th November 2023, the Design & Technology department held a special D&T Careers morning for all of Year 9.
Six designers/makers were invited in to run a series of workshops with our students. They all took part in the 6 workshops across the disciplines of Fashion & Textiles, Product Design, Interior Design and Lighting Design. The workshops were short (30 mins each) and got the girls thinking about their GCSE D&T choices.
In one of the Fashion & Textiles workshops, Kelly Scanlon, an ex-Presdales student, talked about her work and the route to where she is now, and then got the girls to design a t-shirt with a theme. Jody Plow, (daughter in Year 7) runs a sustainable fashion brand, Nobody’s Child, and got the students thinking about sustainable fashion choices. Simon Thorp (daughter in Year 11) did a workshop on lighting design, where girls drew lighting onto purple paper images with white pencils.
Alison and Matt Gray (daughters in Year 10 and 7), ran two fabulous separate sessions about design choices, and redesigning spaces, which our students really enjoyed and participated in.
Zoe Hillyard is Course Leader of BA Hons Textiles Design at Birmingham University. Though she has delivered her workshops in person before, this year she did an online session, where the students did a zero waste repeat pattern workshop.
This day was a fantastic opportunity for the Year 9s to get an introduction into the life and work of a designer. Hopefully they will be able to make their choices more easily when it comes to choosing their options for their D&T GCSEs.
Meet the Design & Technology Professional Team
Simon Thorp – Lighting designer
Simon is a lighting designer and director at LAPD lighting design consultants. He is currently illuminating a wide range of architectural, master planning and landscape lighting projects throughout the world. He is also involved in theatre lighting design in his spare time.
Simon earned a Masters in Mechanical Engineering at UCL and went on the complete a two year MA in Industrial Design at the Royal College of Art where he found his passion in lighting.
At the weekends he enjoys spending time with his family as well as cycling and swimming outdoors.
Kelly Scanlon
Attended Presdales between 1991 – 1998 • A ’Levels in Performing Arts, History & Film studies • Degree in American History & Politics as originally wanted to go into journalism •
During University, I developed a love for fashion and at the end of my final year I started to go for interviews for entry level buying jobs.
• I started at River Island as a Buyers Admin in 2002, cleaning floors, hanging samples, filing paperwork…not at all the glamorous job I was expecting!
• I worked my way up to Junior Buyer in 2004 and then moved to Topshop for 1 year as a Buyer. In 2007 I became the buying manager for F&F. I have bought product across different areas including Denim, Swimwear, Lingerie and Nightwear
• In 2018 I changed role to become Creative Director for a Nightwear & Beachwear company where I have full control of product development, designing nightwear and beachwear for some of the biggest retailers in the country including Next, M&S, Asos, Never Fully Dressed, Very, Ralph Lauren and Hugo Boss
Matt Grey – Industrial Designer
Property Development and Experience Design
I have been practicing design for 25 years – product, medical, packaging, fashion, architecture, graphic, UX and experiential – but I feel I’ve still got a way to go!
My career started with a very singular interest in building and breaking stuff, and very patient parents; was enhanced with a schooling in Science, Mathematics and DT; was validated by a BSc (Hons) degree in Industrial Design from Brunel University; and has been honed in the real world of ‘getting stuff done’. The entirety of my career has been built on a foundation of disassembling, reframing and solving problems. Design is a philosophical approach, which we use our learned skills to practice… There’s that word again!
For those who are interested, in rough chronological order, I’ve done work for P&G, Heinz, GSK, Psion, NEC, Abbott Labs, NCR, Novartis, GW Pharmaceutical, Bush, Alba, Croydex, Social Suicide, MOO Print, UBS and am now working with my infinitely wonderful wife, Ali, on converting Tonwell Water Tower into a home. I also have a few voluntary roles, because I feel it’s good to get out of the house.
The creative industries are enormous – working with the sciences and engineering, we can change the world – and enormously fun. I wish you all, all the best in your creative careers.
Alison Grey
Ali Grey has been developing physical and digital products for over 20 years. The first 10 years were spent working in product design engineering and interaction design and Ali founded and ran a software product business for 5 of those years.
The next 10 years were embedded within the satellite communications industry. She joined Inmarsat working with and leading teams to develop satellite communications equipment used by people to stay connected in places where terrestrial communications do not reach or are not resilient enough
Ali then led Inmarsat’s Product Strategy and Innovation team before leaving in 2022 to pursue her family business in property development and experience design. In terms of what makes Ali tick, she says it’s a combination of being a catalyst to innovation and giving others a chance to show how exceptional they are and can be. She is also a proud mother of two wonderful girls who inspire her every day.
Jody Plows
Nobody’s Child
Jody Plows has led the Nobody’s Child team since 2019. Prior to Nobody’s Child, Jody held senior positions in four major retailers.
After university and working on the retail shop floor, Jody joined River Island. After that, she joined Reiss as Head of Buying and Merchandising. Jody then moved from a luxury retailer to the biggest retailer in the UK – Tesco. Here she worked as a female leader at F&F – a very important time for her as she introduced flexible working hours as a busy mum to two young children.
From there she joined New Look, and then Nobody’s Child. This is her dream role, a purpose driven brand which promotes a positive and inclusive culture.
Zero Waste Repeat Pattern Activity
Zoë Hillyard
Course Leader (BA Hons) Textiles Design, Birmingham City University
Zoe Hillyard is a textiles designer with a degree in Embroidery, She is now Course Leader in Textiles Design at Birmingham University, as well as being a freelance embroiderer and runs her own her company – ceramic textiles.
Ceramic Patchwork is Zoë Hillyard’s creative and distinctive solution to the challenge of mending broken ceramics, which sees her apply the tradition of hand-stitched patchwork in a completely new way. Since reconstructing her first bowl back in 2010, she has been refining and exhibiting her award-winning work ever since.
Student comments …
On Friday, Year 9 participated in a Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Maths Day (also known as STEAM). It was particularly helpful as we are choosing our GCSE subjects at the end of this year. It was a great opportunity to broaden our minds to the possible STEAM careers we could go into from our GCSE’s, such as Fashion or Textiles. We were able to see how the skills we revise in our lessons could be put into action in a role in STEAM. My personal favourite was Jody Plows, who owns her own company called Nobody’s Child, as she opened our eyes to the harmful impact that fast fashion has on our environment. She introduced us to more sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives for fabrics. These fabrics were high quality and well made but also looked great. Overall, this day has hopefully inspired many students to consider technology for a GCSE, A Level or maybe in as a future career.
By Maisie Bevan and Clara Hanson
