In 2019, the inaugural Outset Partners Impact Award was awarded to the V&A, to support its flagship national schools programme, DesignLab Nation, a project launched in September 2017. The Outset Impact Award of £25,000 supported the second (2018/2019) and third (2019/2020) years of the programme.
Working in five regions, Sheffield, Sunderland, Stoke-on-Trent, Blackburn and Coventry, DesignLab Nation brought together secondary schools, museums and local industry, complemented by loans of V&A objects, to support the teaching of art, design and technology education. It also provided teachers with training and CPD opportunities to develop new and innovative ways of teaching design. DesignLab aimed to inspire a new generation of creative practitioners as well as broaden young people’s understanding of the designed world around them, how it is made and its impact on society and the environment.
In the second year of the programme, 2018/2019, the V&A partnered with the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent, where students from three local schools worked with ceramicist Neil Brownsword. The projects focussed on the theme of Perfection vs Imperfection, challenging students to embrace mistakes and flaws as they work through a range of creative processes. With Neil and museum learning practitioners, the students experimented with ceramics to question their own perception of perfection using moulds, hand-building and plaster casting.
In Blackburn, the V&A continued their partnership with Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery to deliver projects. The students took part in print design projects inspired by the area’s industrial heritage of terracotta and architectural ceramics. School groups worked with BREAD Art Collective, a participatory art and design collective. They were challenged to design and make architectural ceramics to share secrets and stories about architecture in Blackburn.
In Coventry, in collaboration with the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, and working with artist Gemma Potter, the students were challenged to investigate the terms ‘play’ and ‘production’, and make links between two design disciplines embedded in Coventry.
Joined by the Millennium Gallery in Sheffield, students were challenged to create 2D and 3D designs that would enhance a user’s well-being. Visual artist Sarah Jane Palmer and learning practitioners from Museums Sheffield worked with the students to develop their designs through a series of drawing challenges, prototypes and experiments with nets.
With a new partnership launched in Sunderland with the National Glass Centre, projects focussed on the area’s rich social and industrial heritage in the production of glass and ceramics were delivered. Working with professional makers and designers from the National Glass Centre and the University of Sunderland, students experimented with an extensive range of glass and ceramic techniques.
In the third year of the programme, 2019/20, projects in Stoke-on-Trent focussed on social commentary and printing on ceramics. Working with The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery and ceramicist Harriet Coles, students designed their own ceramics range to communicate how they see living in Stoke-on-Trent.
The Blackburn projects focussed on the area’s reputation for creating paper and wallpaper. Working with the Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery and conceptual artist Dan Edwards, students were challenged to design their own printed wallpaper to communicate their viewpoints about where they would like to see social change in the world.
Working with the Coventry Transport Museum and explorative artist Nikki Pugh, the projects in Coventry, the birthplace of the modern bicycle, were based on the concept of cycling. Students were set the design challenge of addressing a social problem where they would like to see change and finding a bicycle-based solution.
In Sheffield, the focus of the projects fell upon the area’s reputation for metalwork, in particular silver and the impact of women silversmiths on the city. Collaborating with the Sheffield Millennium Art Gallery and silversmith Charlotte Tollyfield, students had to design their own sustainable metal product to combat the amount of waste produced as a result of celebration events.
Working with The National Glass Centre in Sunderland and a collective of glass and ceramic designers linked to the institution and to the University of Sunderland, with a focus on light, students were tasked to design their light for National Glass Centre to address a particular issue on their site, such as safety, access or welcoming new people.
