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[July 2004]
Ceramic School Initiative in UK
A 'summer school' announced by the UK's Ceramic Industry Forum (CIF) for future designers is promising to provide 14 young people with a detailed insight into the world of ceramics.
The Ceramic Futures 2004 New Talent Workshop will get underway on 1 August and, thanks to tie-ups with manufacturers in England's Potteries region, will provide the successful applicants with an interactive week of practical workshops, special on-site visits to high-tech factories and seminars from professional designers at Dudson, Portmeirion, Steelite and Wedgwood.
The project, which has been launched by the CIF in association with Staffordshire Partnership, will be based at Staffordshire University and has been developed to attract future talent to the industry and promote the changing face of design.
The 14 would-be designers - all aged between 17 and 19 - have been handpicked from over 2,500 applications and will come from all over the UK, including Lancashire, Essex, Kent and five candidates from Staffordshire.
Each member of the group will be working towards a brief that will give them experience in the shape and surface disciplines of ceramic design, firing and glazing and developing ideas for contemporary objects, all leading to a finished product at the end of the week.
The summer school has already enlisted support and materials from BPB Formula, Castle Kilns & Furnaces, Dudson, Johnson Matthey, The Hothouse, Portmeirion and Wedgwood.
CIF's Jodie Sanders, the driving force behind the project, said: "We are passionate about supporting ceramic design education in the UK and we believe that this event will be vitally important in building on the wealth of creative skills found both locally and across the rest of the country".
www.ceramicindustryforum.co.uk
ENDS