Designed for Life

New Blades is an annual model-making exhibition and recruitment fair held in London each year, showcasing the work of graduating students from various UK universities and colleges. It's a key event for connecting emerging talent in the model-making industry with employers and professionals. The event is organized by 4D Modelshop, a major supplier to British model makers. 

This is the first time the Design & Technology Association has attended this exhibition but it certainly won’t be the last. In this podcast we talk with students, university lecturers and industry professionals as we seek to follow each student int...

The Smallpeice Trust is a charity dedicated to inspiring young people to explore careers in science and engineering. It was founded in 1966 by the British engineer and entrepreneur Dr. Cosby Smallpeice (who invented the Smallpeice Lathe). The trust exists to help young people turn their passion and ideas into reality.

In 1991, a group of committed headteachers came together, motivated by the conviction that Design & Technology was not receiving the profile it deserved as an incubator for future innovators, engineers, and technical designers (how I wish times had changed), and the Arkwright Engineering Scholarships began. 

In 2001, t...

Many people familiar with this podcast will recognise the name 'F1 in Schools', a design, teamwork and engineering challenge that has existed in schools for over two decades. Some of you will have competed in either regional or, if you are fortunate enough, national finals. Others...I want to say the elite few, as getting there is some achievement, will have made it to the world finals, held to coincide with an F1 race somewhere in the world and closely aligned to the FIA. 

I would suggest very few of you know just how this design and e...

In this episode, we focus on primary education, specifically design and technology education in the primary phase. Our guest in this episode is Senior Lecturer in Primary Education at St.Mary's University, Twickenham, Janine Pavlis. 

In recent years, we at the Design & Technology Association have seen significant growth in our primary membership categories, as schools (driven by Ofsted requirements) seek to broaden their curriculum offer to include design and technology across Key Stages One and Two. 

Our research suggests that the average primary teacher (and D&T Coordinator) is usually out of their depth in pl...

Dr Aakeen Parikh is a mechanical engineer with a background in research, design, sustainable technologies, and social impact. She currently works as the Project Manager for the Vehicle Future Hub at Imperial College London. Aakeen discovered engineering through her passion for product design, and she has worked on numerous projects over the years. Aakeen is passionate about increasing diversity, access, equality, and retention of women in engineering. She is on the advisory board for education charity Project Access and is an ambassador for the Queen Elizabeth’s Prize for Engineering. In 2024, Aakeen was awarded the WISE100 Women in Enterprise aw...

In this, the second episode of a two-part mini-series, we continue exploring the journey of school design and technology leaders and departments as we visit and speak with staff, students, and parents at Simon Langton Boys' Grammar School in Canterbury, Kent. 

Before anyone assumes this is a story of overprivileged students enjoying an experience facilitated by wealth and connections, please be aware that this is not the case. This department has been carefully crafted from the ground up with a limited budget. It now has over 200 students studying design and technology at GCSE, alongside a mixed-gender, large, a...

In this episode, we continue exploring the journey of school design and technology leaders and departments as we visit and talk with staff, students, and parents at the Simon Langton Boys Grammar School in Canterbury, Kent. 

Before anyone decides this is a story of overprivileged students enjoying an experience created by money and connections, please know this is not the case. This department has been carefully crafted from the ground up with a limited budget and now has over two hundred students studying design and technology at GCSE and a mixed-gender, large, and growing sixth form.

This is a big episode for Designed for Life, as we proudly reach number 100! We are delighted to have Dean Kamen, an American engineer, inventor, and businessman, on the show. Dean is known for his inventions of the Segway, iBOT, and Slingshot (a water purification system) and for founding what he proudly calls his greatest invention, FIRST. 

In this episode, we investigate the mindset of a serial inventor to discuss what drives a high-school student to set up a business that yields $60,000 before he finishes school and then pushes him to overcome design challenges, legislation, and the c...

How do you build a successful design & technology department from the ground up with an entirely new staff? What curriculum changes should you make at KS3, KS4 and KS5 to ensure you stretch and challenge what are undoubtedly very bright students? What physical changes can you make to the department's look, feel and function when the budget is tight but you want to improve how students and parents view the subject? What role can external visitors and competitions play in building a successful curriculum offer and delivery?

These are all questions that will be tackled in the...

In this episode, we are delighted to welcome Marisa Kurimbokus, who was announced as the IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year 2024 at the end of last year. 

In the podcast, we follow Marisa's journey from primary school, where a teacher dropped what I can only assume was a casual comment, but it is one that sticks with her to this day. Through secondary school, where Marisa describes her journey through a range of subjects, including A Level design and technology. And chauffeuring her friend to a lecture only for serendipity to step in and have other i...

In this episode, we take the podcast on the road to Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) and talk with YouTube stalwarts Brothers Make, Louise Dennis, Curator at MoDiP (Museum of Design in Plastics) and Will Strange, Senior Lecturer and Course Leader (Sustainable Design) at AUB. The podcast was recorded on February 5th in the main lecture theatre at the university with an audience comprising AUB students and lecturers and students and their D&T teacher from a local school. 

In this episode, we stray from the show's normal format as the Brothers Make take us on their journey f...

Growing up with a love of mathematics, Titi thought a career as a maths teacher was beckoning until a conversation with one of her sister's friends opened up the possibility of becoming an engineer. A comment that stood out for me in this conversation was her sister's friend's statement, "You don't have to love chemistry or be brilliant at it to become a chemical engineer." It's not exactly the career advice we might all expect, but it's accurate nonetheless.  

Titi is a chartered engineer with experience providing safety assurance, risk and reliability management expertise for various engineering s...

Somehow, another year has passed, and it's time to look back on Designed for Life across 2024. Over the year, we released sixteen new episodes, reached over 31,000 streams, reached new audiences in Asia and America and, most importantly, got to speak with some amazing and inspiring guests.   

In this end-of-year episode, we look back and have selected clips from a range of conversations, including fashion and textile expert Amanda Riley, AUB lecturer and modelmaker Claire Holman, Denimolite founder and designer Josh Myers, Marloe watch co-founder and designer Gordon Fraser, Pipsqueak founder and owner Nick Ford, Head of Learning an...

Imagine accidentally being put off from a career in engineering by your brilliant grandfather who, without realising, made a career in the sector sound unreachable. Hepzi Rattray is a structural engineer with the global engineering company Ramboll, but for many years, she attempted to avoid following this career trajectory.

In this penultimate podcast of 2024, we follow Hepzi's journey from school, where she turned down the offer of a top private school to attend Lady Margaret's, a church-state school in Parsons Green, West London. Some unexpected AS results forced something of a rethink and pointed her towards a...

Barnabas is the CEO of The Greenpower Education Trust. This charity works with young people nationally to introduce them to using their STEM education in a very practical way to create battery-driven vehicles that then compete in regional and national heats. 

Having experienced 'Greenpower' as a teacher, headteacher, and now as CEO of the Design & Technology Association, I was desperate to get behind the scenes with its new CEO and explore the people and passion that make Greenpower so compelling to so many students (and their parents nationally).

In this podcast, we follow Barnabas through s...

In this episode, we turn to Food and Nutrition in the school curriculum and look at the challenges facing this aspect of National Curriculum education. Over the last few weeks, I have been fortunate to be introduced to Leith's Education and walked through their curriculum resources from KS1 to Post 16 (and extracurricular). These come at a cost (see below), but having seen them, I believe these are resources that every school should at least consider. See https://leiths.com/

We also discuss how Leith's has partnered with Roehampton University to create a new PGCE course aimed at...

In this week’s episode of Designed for Life, we are fortunate to speak with Dr Hilary Leevers, the Chief Executive of Engineering UK.

We break from the usual show format to explore some of the data surrounding entry to engineering as a profession and discuss Tomorrow’s Engineers Week, which this year runs from November 11th to 15th.

EngineeringUK drives change so that more young people choose engineering and technology careers. You can join us by getting involved in Tomorrow’s Engineers Week 2024. This annual celebration is dedicated to showcasing the am...

Talk about battery power and people's attention automatically turns to electric vehicles, but in reality, this is one sector of a rapidly growing market. With this growth, there is an increasing need for young people to enter the sector and help design and make the power plants of the future. 

In this episode, we talk with Jonty Deely Williamson, who heads up learning and development at the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) 

Previously a science teacher, he has worked in Learning & Development for more than a decade in the rail construction, high-speed rail, food manufacturing an...

In this episode, we talk with Nick Ford, founder of the design studio Pipsqueak and IP development specialist. Nick talks us through his school education, which took place at a time when neurodiversity was not so easily recognised or accounted for. 
Several very diverse jobs followed as Nick sought to find his way in the world of work from a mechanics role that wasn't quite what he thought it would be to a cleaner in an engine machine shop and a motorcycle courier. 

Whilst it is safe to say that none of these roles offered Nick wh...

In this episode, we start a series in which we will talk with Design & Technology Association Trustees about their careers to date and the reasons why being a Trustee of the Association and being connected to its work is important to them. 

We start this series by talking with Bill Williams, Chair of D&TA Trustees.

Bill is an experienced CEO across the manufacturing and engineering sectors. He was formerly a member of the Board of Group Lotus plc, the CEO of the Centre for Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence (CEME) in London, and is presently t...

This is the first episode with young graduates met recently at New Designers 2024 in London. 

Alex graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University with a second-class BA (Hons) in Product Design. I was struck by the simplicity of his design project and the clear communication of intent within his work. 

It is clear that Alex is very passionate about combating climate change and helping people to live more sustainably; his comment that "I want to utilise my design background to help to bring solutions to this sector" is, in my experience, representative of a significant percentage of hi...

In this episode, we are delighted to converse with Design education specialist, advisor, teacher and CLEAPSS consultant Trudi Barrow.

It seems like a strange statement, but we rarely have a design and technology teacher and leader on the podcast, so in this episode, we follow Trudi's journey into teaching but then spend a good part of the conversation talking about the subject, its challenges and where it may be heading to.  I have to say it was a pleasure to hold this discussion with someone passionate about the value of design and technology education and what it c...

In this episode, we are delighted to talk with Dawn Foxall and Roy Ballam about the recently released paper commissioned by the Textiles Skills Centre, 'Unravelling the Fabric of Textiles Education'.  

As we seek to move the subject forward, building from the bottom up being our approach at the Association, we need to carefully look at where textiles fits into primary and secondary education. Our view is that we want to keep textile education within design and technology, a position that is perhaps challenged by the large number of textile teachers who are n...

In this conversation, we follow Gordon Fraser, Co-founder of the Marloe Watch Company, on his journey from a difficult school experience to co-founding a successful British-designed watch company.  

With his Co-founder Oliver, whom he met online, the two founded The Marloe Watch Company and produced their first two watches without meeting (and living in two different countries). As the company grew, Oliver was the first to 'give up the day job' and concentrate 100% on the success of their venture, followed closely by Gordon. 

Gordon discusses the importance of understanding user requirements while designing a watch th...

In this episode, we are in conversation with Claire Holman, modelmaking professional and lecturer at Arts University Bournemouth.

We follow Claire's journey from a fairly nomadic start as her family moved first to Zambia and then to England, closely followed by Scotland as her father's work dictated their journey. This was followed at age sixteen by Claire leaving school and taking on a YTS course (if you are old enough, you know. If not, a government initiative to direct young people into training and employment). Here, she was subjected to some deplorable practice as the college concerned...

Denim jeans have become an integral part of modern-day life.  The majority of us own at least one pair (I personally have to confess to seven)! But how are these garments made? At what cost to the environment? And when they reach end of life how many of us give proper thought to where our once-loved products end up?

Josh Myers is on a mission to turn these discarded garments into aesthetically beautiful products that see the material being given a second life, good news for the environment, and with his patented product Denimolite providing beauty, strength a...

This episode sees us in conversation with Sophie Hague - 2022 RSA Student Award winner and UX Designer.

Sophie found school difficult, not so much academically, but she found it over-stimulating, crowded and overall, just not an enjoyable experience. The one exception to this was design and technology lessons, where she enjoyed the 'open-endedness' of problem-solving activities and just 'clicked'.

As she progressed on her learning journey, Sophie found out just how she liked to learn. Experiential learning worked for her and she realised that to truly understand a topic, she needed to touch it, to...

Amanda was somewhat destined to work in fashion from an early age. Influenced by her grandmother, who placed her in front of a sewing machine at age eight, she quickly learned how to use the machine and how to make her own clothes. Her grandmother's throwaway comment, having made her own dress only a short time after being introduced to the sewing machine, stuck, and Amanda's journey into the fashion industry was set. 

A combination of sheer determination, ability, grit, and, it has to be stated, a degree of bravery saw Amanda experience the industry from almost e...

In this first podcast of 2024, we are delighted to be in conversation with  Reianna Shakil, UKRI Young Innovators Awards 22/23 Winner | Multidisciplinary Designer | Founder + Director of Studio ZRX.

In this conversation, we cover Reianna's journey from school through how she overcame problems when her funding ran out part way through her sixth form course and then how she had to find ways to manage her way through her degree, being diagnosed with Combined Type ADHD part way through her studies.

This is a story of perseverance. Many people, faced with some of the issues that Reianna h...

So that was 2023! 

Twenty-four episodes of Designed for Life were recorded and published over the course of the year, fulfilling our promise of at least one podcast every two weeks. In these pods, I have been fortunate to speak with a wide range of innovators, founders, designers, engineers, academics, teachers and students, and here in this (admittedly longer than usual podcast), we pick out some of the best moments of 2023 and put them in one place for your listening delight.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank every single guest from the almost e...

Where was the first music concert you ever attended? Who was the artist? Who did you see this artist/band with? And finally, how did you feel as you left the gig? If you are like me and love your live music, these are questions that will roll off the tongue. For me, it was the Police. I was fifteen years old and with my best mate from school, the gig was at Hammersmith Odean, and it left me buzzing and wanting more!

In this podcast, we are in conversation with Becky Pell. Becky is a sound...

How many of you reading this have fond childhood memories of reading the Beano? I am guessing many of you could name most of the characters from the Beano now; some of you may still have Christmas Annuals tucked away somewhere in the loft. Well, the good news is the Beano is still alive and well...in fact, it is in rude health. 

So when I received an email asking if I would like to speak with Alex Harris (BBC Teach) and Mike Sterling (Creative Director at Beano...although he also has another job title), the answer w...

This is part two of a two-part mini-series in which we explore the development of the design and technology curriculum offer at Hethersett Academy in East Anglia. If you have not yet listened to part one, I suggest you go back and listen to this first, as there is something of a sequence. 

In this episode, we follow on from our conversation with Kate Finlay, Head of Department and Trust Curriculum Lead by talking with students, parents, the design and technology staff and the Headteacher.  Through these conversations we gain a full picture of how the curriculum ha...

In the second of our focus podcasts within a specific school, we are delighted to bring you 'Designed for Life' in conversation with Hethersett Academy in East Anglia. 

The intention within these podcasts is to provide listeners with a complete 360 journey around the design and technology department in the school, with interviews and thoughts from students, teachers, parents and senior leaders. From these conversations, you can piece together the value of the subject to the curriculum within these schools. 

This is part one of a two-episode podcast, and here we talk with Kate Finlay, the Cu...

In this episode, we are delighted to be joined in conversation by Jenny Body CBE. 

This episode was recorded in front of a live audience at Aerospace Bristol on the morning of our annual awards ceremony on the 13th of October this year. The recording was made almost within touching distance of Concorde, an aircraft that Jenny had the privilege of working on some years ago.

Jenny Body is a British Aerospace engineer and former President (the first ever woman to hold this post) of the  Royal Aeronautical Society. Jenny grew up in rural Gloucestershire; he...

In this episode, I was delighted to be in conversation with Jennifer Campbell, Managing Director of Giles Agency Hong Kong. 

In the pod, we track Jen's journey from rural Berkshire through the discovery that her natural penchant to quickly strike up conversations with people, together with an ability to sell and the tenacity to hang on in there when sales didn't go as planned, could actually become a career. 

A move to a large agency in London (she wasn't aware quite how big a deal this was until friends were surprised that she had secured th...

This podcast was recorded in front of a live audience at The Royal Grammar School, Newcastle. This is the first of a series of live podcasts to come as we take Designed for Life on the road to meet not only our stunning guests but also teachers, students and their parents.

In this podcast, I was fortunate to be in conversation with Charlotte Chapman, CEng. MIMechE. Charlotte is a project manager at Royal IHC. In the pod, we follow Charlotte's journey through school to decide between a love of Engineering and a passion for English Literature. We...

Larry Sullivan is a serial entrepreneur, business founder, angel investor and social philanthropist. In this podcast, we track Larry's journey from humble beginnings growing up in Essex to a sudden awakening to academia in sixth form, leading him to be the first in his family to attend university. 

A chance conversation led him to travel to America during his summer break with BUNAC https://bunac.org an experience that he feels offered as much, or more, to his personal development than his university experience alone. 

This podcast has taught me that entrepreneurship can be taught, an...

The joy of this podcast is that through it, we get to talk with designers, engineers and innovators at the very peak of their game and often informed by years or even decades of experience. At the same time, we have spoken with people at the very start of their careers, and are privileged to explore how they are shaping themselves and their careers for the future.

In this episode of Designed for Life, I am privileged to talk with Joshua Bruce, Aeronautical Engineering undergraduate, Mission 44 Youth Advisory board member and founder of the Young Engineers Summit. <...

Ben Edmonds is a designer, inventor, entrepreneur, engineer and self-confessed 'tinkerer'. In this episode, we follow Ben from school where aged twelve and asked what he wanted to do when he grew up; he answered, "I want to be a lead designer for Dyson".  Almost twenty years later, that's exactly what he did,  becoming a Principal Designer at Dyson.

But Ben's story is oh so much bigger than that. He has sold or donated almost every possession he owned twice as he upped sticks to start life elsewhere in the world. Left one job four times...yes, fo...