UDPRFNDS - BA (Hons) Product and Furniture Design

The School of Art, Architecture and Design’s BA (Hons) Product and Furniture Design course prepares students for their future careers through a course focused on live project briefs embedded in the industry and its professional practices. Practical and design skills are developed through those briefs enabling a full understanding of hands-on material selection and processing. These are supported by training in tradition and digital modelling and presentation skills using our in-house facilities, with specialist workshops for 3D printing, CNC machining, wood and metal working, ceramics, textiles, print and industrial finishing. Students are challenged with briefs, materials, and time constraints reflective of real-world workplaces, enabling adoption of the latest practice principles and collaborative approaches to innovative commercial design, but those which are also inclusive and sustainable. Students respond to their design challenges with visual research, sketch modelling, material experimentation and prototyping, all supported by good presentation skills. We regularly partner with leading brands to offer students the chance to develop their professional orientation by working on real-world creative briefs that place strong emphasis on the effective presentation of ideas to industry professionals who understand what the market expects and demands.
The course’s ambition is to educate product and furniture practitioners who share a commitment to improving the quality of people’s lives and experiences through their design and craft, and who understand their responsibility towards sustainable working and development, contributing positively to society, the environment and the economy, both in the present and more importantly for the future. Our graduates will keep their industry informed with the latest practice, principles and collaborative approaches to inclusive design and manufacture for product and furniture.

The School has a nearly 200-long year history of education for industry and the wealth of knowledge and resources for product and furniture studies held by the course is unsurpassed. Students are guided to exploit their talents to the maximum in the designing and making of commercially aware products graduating with unparalleled hands-on experience of contemporary design and making practice. The course and its team will ensure that every design pursued is developed and presented appropriately to the market sector for which it is intended. The course defines ‘furniture’ and ‘product’ very widely so that no opportunities for innovation and collaboration with others are lost. Students may design and prototype seat and case furniture, but also tableware, lighting, food, toys, systems, packaging, and other products. The course is designed to embed key skills as preparation for professional life such as effective research and analysis, innovation, aesthetic risk-taking, reflective enquiry, communication, negotiation, interpersonal, and presentation skills. These skills are developed incrementally and as an integrated part of modules through the course. The course programme integrates the development of academic attributes and subject-specific learning to help students to fulfil their potential as highly informed contemporary creative design activists with a capacity for independent thinking and problem solving. With its emphasis on critical, exploratory and investigative creative development alongside attention to manufacturing excellence, the course introduces the principles of contemporary product and furniture design practice in research thinking, design and making.
The course is recognised for its high-quality teaching, excellent facilities and unique interdisciplinary opportunities. Learning through practice, experimenting with process and working with clients, students will gain real world experience in both individual and collaborative projects, engaging with professionals, communities and companies. Our students enjoy a world class roster of teaching staff and visiting tutors offering a dynamic practice-based learning culture that encourages the exploration and discovery of each student’s own individual interests and approaches through rigorous experimentation in a supportive studio environment. Teaching methods are varied, including lectures, seminars, critiques, tutorials, external visits, live briefings and feedback from industry professionals, and specialist workshops, utilising blended learning to reinforce studio practice.

Each year, the course comprises four core 30-credit modules in the areas of design development, design realisation, product and furniture design technologies and production, and contextual studies. Students work through assignments and projects, sometimes in teams reflecting real-world studio practice, steadily building on existing skills, developing their individual ideas into concepts and realised outcomes. This approach ensures that students are carefully guided through the acquisition of key knowledge, industry-specific skills and critical thinking ability as the course progresses. This process of discovery and progressive development through the stages and levels of their studies enables students to understand the demands and opportunities of their discipline and how their talents and interests equip them for a future role in professional product and furniture design.

Fundamental to the course’s approach is to engage students with primary research from the very beginning. Students will work from direct observation and discussion with clients and end users, physically test materials, and present their design proposals to ensure that their learning experience mirrors the professional practice of their discipline as much as possible. In this way employability is fostered through learning from direct experience and real-world contact with external partners and live project opportunities, building the essential ability to work effectively with others. The course engages with national and London-based projects and competitions encouraging students to extend these opportunities as extra-curricular activity, including collaborative publication and exhibition wherever possible.

Embedded in the School of Art, Architecture and Design, the course draws on the strengths of teaching staff from across the School and the wide circle of academic and cultural contacts and collaborators attached to the School and University.

The course has been designed in consultation with students and employers in order to ensure that it meets the aspirations of our students and the demands of the contemporary employment environment in product and furniture design. The course’s aims are aligned with the qualification descriptors in the Quality Assurance Agency’s Framework for Higher Education Qualifications. Consideration has been given to the following: the Subject Benchmark Statement (Art and Design, 2019), the HE Qualification Framework, the University’s Strategic Plan and Student Charter, the University’s Undergraduate Regulations, the views and feedback of students, external examiners and employers/ clients, developments within the subject area, and the changing needs of the cultural/ commercial sectors and professions. Due consideration has also been given to inclusivity in course and assessment design.

The course promotes individual and collective, experiential, active and enquiry-based learning offering student choice in curriculum and approaches to study. Independent and critical thinking is encouraged so that students understand the opportunity to identify and redefine problems, offering creative and original design that meets the needs of current and future society. The course aims to prepare students as designers and makers to be independent practitioners or to work as part of a larger design or production team; for individual business start-up, and for entry to courses at a higher level. Graduates may also work in related fields such as design journalism, retail or marketing, management or teaching.

Graduates of the course will be able to use academic and other resources to build a detailed and coherent body of discipline-specific knowledge that together with analytical skills acquired through study will enable them to analyse problems, dealing with uncertain and ambiguous situations, and to propose solutions, sustaining argument convincingly. They will be able to work independently, pursuing self-development, managing themselves and others, able to communicate effectively with specialist and non-specialist audiences, and understand the transferability of their knowledge and skills.

The course seeks to ensure that its graduates are knowledgeable, creative, flexible, culturally, socially and environmentally aware, technically proficient and therefore of value to future employers. The course aims to enable students to think independently, take risks, and work in an exploratory way to seek innovative solutions to design problems. Students are encouraged to understand learning as an iterative process, with apparent success and failure both being relative and valuable as part of the process, thereby becoming critically self-aware and developing resilience and self-reliance.

The course seeks to provide and foster:

• learning through direct experience, connecting academic and creative studies;
• student choice in subject and style of learning and individualised learning and study support opportunities, that cater for different learning styles;
• a culture of independent and critical thought, encouraging the challenging of received ideas and practice;
• employability attributes through live projects, engaging with external partners, institutions and companies that create a realistic environment of professional expectations for students, preparing students for graduate-level employment;
• awareness of the duty of all to understand the impact of their decisions and actions as product and furniture designers and to strive to act responsibly;
• a blend of industrial studio and workshop practice, provided in digital and traditional manufacturing workshops, computer labs, design studios and multi-media facilities;
• student participation in collaborative project work with industry to ensure awareness of current industry practice and the use of London’s rich cultural heritage as a resource, allowing for projects to take place off-site as well as on campus;
• the ability to work independently, to manage time and tasks and those of others, to reflect objectively on performance, understanding of the opportunities for talents and interests, and planning effectively for the future, including self-development for career advancement.

On completion of this course, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding
1. recognise how products are situated within the broader histories and practices of material culture and the part that it plays in social and economic frameworks;
2. approach design questions, situations or problems through a systematic application of research, analysis and process, using observation, experimentation, recording, collaboration and creative thinking to develop material solutions that engage and enhance human experience;
3. apply ethical and sustainable principles and standards that are required for the proper conduct of professional practice;

Cognitive Intellectual Skills
4. apply critical intellectual skills to interrogate design problems; utilising direct observation and primary and secondary research to enable reflective analysis with reasoned and evidenced argument, and persuasive proposals;
5. generate relevant design propositions that challenge accepted paradigms and expectations of contemporary product and furniture design;
6. evidence considered judgements and decisions in situations where uncertainty, ambiguity and conflicting interests render simple solutions inappropriate, considering and balancing the needs of all parties and users;

Transferable Skills
7. independently and collaboratively communicate design proposals to colleagues, industry professionals, clients, invested communities and, where appropriate, the general public, through the effective use of a range appropriate visualisation techniques;
8. exercise independent project management skills, including time and task management, team leadership and collaboration, self-evaluation and critical reflection;
9. demonstrate creative approaches to the manipulation of ideas, materials and process and position practice within an appropriate contextual framework informed by critical debate;

Subject-Specific Practical Skills
10. make informed design and material choices utilising conceptual knowledge and understanding, manipulating a range of traditional and contemporary processes, at scale and full size;
11. analyse, communicate and represent structure, scale, form and material qualities through drawing, modelling, and visualisation;
12. describe and practically implement a considered range of human and sensory factors with consideration of function and interaction upon human wellbeing;
13. develop confident entrepreneurial and self-promotional skills to maximise employment and career opportunities.

QAA Subject Benchmark Statement; Art and Design (2019)

The assessment strategy for the course has been designed holistically, to ensure fairness, accessibility and inclusivity as well as manageable timing, workloads and clarity of expectations for students, and to avoid duplication of assessment of learning outcomes. Where appropriate, students are engaged as partners in the design of their assessments.

The assessment regimes for the modules and tasks are designed together with the briefs, prior to the start of the year, considering student, external examiner, professional collaborator and colleague feedback from previous instances. The requirements of briefs and their components, the assessment criteria, grading scheme and descriptors are published and explained to students at the start of the year and are designed to be used as consistently as possible, to avoid unnecessary complication.

In every case, there is required formative assessment and feedback prior to summative assessment at set points. This is recorded so that it can be used by both students and staff to track further progress and engage support where it is required. Feedback follows good pedagogic practice in that it is constructed as ‘feed-forward’, with a focus on specific actions and strategies as to how to improve, not only on what requires improvement.

Students are informed of the procedures for first, second and parity marking, and external examiner scrutiny of the assessment process and marks, to ensure that they understand and have confidence in the probity of the process and security of the final marks. Additionally, the course engages in Subject and School parity exercises to ensure that assessment standards are consistent.

Work-based learning is embedded in the course through live projects, industry visits, visiting professional speakers and participation in public events.

The majority of tutors and lecturers contributing to the course are practitioners who share their knowledge and experience with students throughout their course of study. The flexible practice-led model of delivery for the course means that evolving opportunities for work-related learning through collaboration with external companies, agencies, institutions, competitions and professionals are taken up as they arise.

Students’ understanding of professional standards and expectations builds as they progress from level to level. During their final year, students work towards completion of interview-ready professional portfolios of project work, exhibited at the annual summer show and associated events.

Part-time Course Structure

Year 1 – DN4021 & DN4022

Year 2 – CP4011 & DN4020

Year 3 – DN5023 & DN5024

Year 4 – CP5011 & DN5025

Year 5 – DN6039 & DN6043

Year 6 – CP6011 & DN6044

All modules on the course are core and compulsory, interim awards are therefore defined by the course structure. The part time route is prescribed within Course specific regulations section.

The course’s principle of guiding learning through a practice-led curriculum promotes ongoing reflection and personal development. This is supported by regular formative feedback on work in progress that enables students to understand their progress and find opportunities for multiple and individualised routes to successful outcomes. Most modules are year-long, with interim points of review, which ensures that students, together with their tutors, can devise study strategies appropriate to individual learning styles, while ensuring monitoring of engagement and progress. At these interim formative assessment and feedback points, students reflect on their progress to date with their peers and course staff (with the benefit of feedback from professional partners), seek help where they identify the opportunity for improvement in learning strategies and outcomes, and make recommendations to themselves for future development. The feedback and student reflection is recorded and forms an action plan for the next period of study.

This system is highly individualised, but also benefits from peer engagement in studio critiques. The School’s programme of employability events and embedded work-related learning within the curriculum supports students’ personal development planning. Through these initiatives, students are increasingly able, as they progress from year to year, to understand the professional environment of their disciplines, the various opportunities available to them, and how to shape their learning according to their ambitions. This ensures that personal development for career planning is effectively contextualised and suitable for the contemporary workplace.

Careers advice is integral to the course and supported by tailored input from the University’s Careers Office who support the review of student CVs. Portfolio surgeries are carried out in which students are given specific advice about their presentational focus in relation to their career aspirations. Students have contact with industry professionals throughout their final year and students are encouraged and supported to seek internships and work experience. Competition, exhibition and publicity opportunities exist throughout the course and students are encouraged to develop their public professional profile.

Students leave with a high-quality interview-ready portfolio of work and a range of practical, professional and academic skills, providing an excellent basis for both employment and further study. Most of our graduates go on to practice in product or furniture design or are employed by design studios or progress to postgraduate study. The course also provides graduates with transferable knowledge and skills that enable individuals to seek work in a wide variety of areas connected to the subject as well as related professions.

The teaching supports preparation for future careers in a wide range of professional occupations within product and furniture: as a designer and/or maker, educator, artist, technologist within industry or on a self-employed basis, community worker, curator, design journalist, or for postgraduate studies.
Students can also benefit from support and guidance from the Careers and Employability services and the University’s business incubator unit, ‘Accelerator’.

Your undergraduate design degree will be a valuable commodity in a world where boundaries between disciplines are blurred and design-thinking is a sought-after skill in both business and creative industries.

As a graduate of our School of Art, Architecture and Design, you’ll join a long list of successful alumni which includes fast-rising stars Yinka Ilori M.B.E. (with a London Design Museum mini-retrospective in 2022), Amechi Mandi (House & Gardens Magazine Rising Star 2022) and Ella Merriman (Merri Intimates underwear), in addition to more established names such as Lola Lely, Tom Price, Matthew Hilton and Michael Marriott.

Global design brands such as Tom Dixon, Made.com, Based Upon, Thomas Heatherwick, Established & Sons are based in London, as are many design studios, galleries, consultancies and a strong network of independent designers and makers.

Your time at London Met will help you find your own place within the industry and give you the skills needed to enter the workplace, self-employment, or undertake master’s level study.

In addition to the University's standard entry requirements, you should have:

• a minimum of grades BBC in three A levels in relevant arts, humanities and social science subjects (or a minimum of 112 UCAS points from an equivalent Level 3 qualification in relevant art and design subjects)
• a portfolio review

If you live in the UK, you will be invited to a portfolio interview. If you live outside the UK you will be required to submit a small portfolio of work via email.

We encourage applications from international/EU students with equivalent qualifications.

If you don't have traditional qualifications or can't meet the entry requirements for this undergraduate degree, you may still be able to gain entry by completing our Art and Design (including foundation year) BA (Hons) degree.

We also accept mature students with diverse backgrounds and experiences. We're proud of the fact that many of our students are changing their careers, finding their calling later in life. Formal qualifications are not always necessary since life and work experience can be considered. In such cases, we ask for a CV and supporting letter. Commitment and enthusiasm are key factors.