DesignLab Nation

DesignLab Nation is part of the V&A's National Schools Programme, and aims to inspire the next generation of designers, makers, and innovators.

The programme brings together secondary schools in partnership with regional museums, designers, industries, and the V&A to engage students and support teachers through in-depth design projects and continued professional development.

The Shipley Art Gallery has been a delivery partner for this project since September 2023, alongside 3 other museums and galleries across the country, and the project will run here for 3 academic years.  

In this first year of the project, we worked with textile artist Melanie Kyles of Orbis Community studios in Gateshead, to create and facilitate a design challenge with 3 local secondary school groups, called the Alchemy of Craft. The design challenge has used the Shipley's collection of Sowerby Glass as a springboard for inspiration and supported the students to develop their own design briefs, focusing on repurposing materials and affordability, to culminate in the production of their own 3D designed pieces. 

As part of the project pupils visited the Shipley Art Gallery as an introduction to the challenge and gather first hand inspiration from the Sowerby collection. They also had the amazing opportunity to visit the V&A in London, and experience the broad and unique collections, expand upon their initial ideas and draw connections between materials and forms. The pupils then had the added opportunity to visit Orbis Community, where they were introduced to the various art studios and their residents, as well as making use of the facilities in Melanie's studio to create samples and prototypes.  

The project culminated in a public exhibition of the pupils' work at the Shipley Art Gallery in July 2024, as well as a celebration event for all the participating students, where they were presented with a certificate of achievement. There was also a CPD event delivered at the gallery, which was open to all Design Technology teachers and educators across the region and included a showcase of the project so far. 

Year 1 of DesignLab Nation has had extremely positive feedback from participants and their teachers.

DT teacher, Heworth Grange School said: "We are happy to be involved with any opportunity that is given to us. The cohort of students at our school rarely have the experiences offered to them like those through DesignLab Nation, so I believe that workshop days within and outside of school, visits to local areas of interest/industry are of real benefit to their cultural capital and social awareness."  

Year 9 pupil, Heworth Grange School said: "I made something I'm proud of."  

Year 9 pupil, Heworth Grange School said: "It was an amazing experience and I loved going to different museums to see different things."