POST 16: PRODUCT DESIGN SITE VISIT
October 2023
Year 12 & 13 D&T Product Design pupils visited J Carey Design Ltd, a bespoke commercial furniture manufacturer in Crosshills.
Pupils enjoyed a tour of the large factory, including watching the panel saw, CNC, lipping machines in action and walking around the workshop reviewing various projects being handmade by the skills bench joiners. Richard Tillotson, the director, shared the 20 year history of the company, the numerous roles and opportunities involve and some of the impressive projects they deliver.
Year 12 pupils were introduced to the One Sheet Challenge project, which Carey's set with IGS each year. Pupils are challenged to make a piece of furniture from one sheet of MDF, where marks are awarded for solving problems, creativity, efficient use of materials, costings and of course, aesthetics. The winner can spend time in the design studio taking their idea from concept to manufacture, after which Careys make the product to their specification. Below you can Xerxes' and Fitz's winning pieces this year, yes two were selected! Please come and see these pieces of work in L block on Open Evening!
Words from Sophie and Immi;
We had a really fun time visiting JCarey design for a product design school trip. We had a tour around the workshop and saw how everything would be made and the production line the product goes through. We had a really great time meeting the team of really nice people. We learnt a lot about pricing and different material finishes that was really interesting as we hadn’t seen in real life all these options that you can have and we are so excited to start our One Sheet Challenge project.
Words from Isla & Tamimah;
We went to Crosshills to visit the J Carey designs office and manufacturing warehouse. We looked at the previous year 13’s winners designs and talked about how they could be improved and altered if they had made them in 3d previously and then they could see the small faults that that may have missed when designing the prototype on paper/software. We also looked around the factory so that we could develop a greater understanding of the production process behind manufacturing bespoke furniture. I will use the feedback that the designers were giving the year 13 winners to think about the materials and small details when designing my one sheet challenge idea.
