Design students are finding a route into industry thanks to the efforts of a lecturer at Huddersfield University.
Joanne Harris, a senior lecturer in surface design with industrial experience herself, has launched IDEAShaus to help students get their cutting-edge ideas from their portfolios to the production line.
The move will also lead to a new qualification for Joanne as the new business is at the heart of her research for a Doctor of Enterprise (EntD) degree, now being offered by the university to boost entrepreneurialism.
For several years, design students whose work is a direct result of industry collaboration have been selected to exhibit at the prestigious International Surface Design Show, held annually in London.
Their design ideas – principally for walls and flooring products – created exceptional interest and links with industry were being formed, but Joanne decided there was a need to take things further.
“We were making important contacts with industry, resulting in placements, sponsored projects and employment, but the students’ ideas were not converting directly into any revenue,” she said.
“Every year we have an exciting stand on display as the only university exhibitor at the Surface Design Show. I realised many companies don’t have the time to explore ideas and concepts even though they are very interested, so the real business opportunities generated through the exhibition are not being converted effectively into commercial enterprise opportunities.
“IDEAShaus is a commercial enterprise working with current students and alumni to convert designs for the surface industry that companies can buy or commission.”
The name of the new enterprise is a reference to the Bauhaus, an influential school of art and design from inter-war Germany. Joanne has been inspired by its fundamental belief in taking ideas from art and design practice through to industry.
She developed the concept for IDEAShaus , where she is creative director, and it now has a base in The Duke of York Young Entrepreneur Centre at the university. When the duke paid his latest visit to the centre, he met Joanne to learn more about the Doctorate of Enterprise.
Said Joanne: “As IDEAShaus takes shape, the enterprise could have a number of roles such as acting as an agency for design students as they formed links with industry. It could also help design students boost their employability skills and play a part in developing Knowledge Transfer Partnerships between universities and industry and receive government-backed funding.”
Joanne is now course leader for the MA in Fashion Textile Practices at the university.
