Excuse My Absence!

Another week has almost gone by, with another round of lazy blogging. But as always I'm full of excuses. So rather than coming with excuses, I'll giving you some blogging!

First of all its been my intention to tell you about the Danish Design School Open Day;

Argh lets see if I can even remember now! Hm, the first things that pops to my mind was that the place was absolutely heaving and it was steaming hot! Have they ever heard if air condition? They gave you a thorough tour of the campus, the atmosphere at Holmen, is probably what I'm most drawn to, it just seems really inspiring to be there. Just like most places the tour guides aren't brilliant, because the people at the back end up not hearing a thing - and the student kept going the wrong way, which was a bit of a bummer.

Also I would like to mention the fact, that they don't make it easy for disabled people out there either!

The course talk, was good, but again their organizational skills, weren't great, we were originally supposed to be in a lecture theatre, but ended up standing/sitting in the students workspaces/studio, which wasn't ideal.

After that there was an opportunity to look at some of the students work and exchange a few words. Thought it was rather funny that one of the girls had been working on a project inspired by Japanese dressing, considering what I'm doing for my FMP.

From experience the students are actually the most worthwhile talking to, half the time the tutors seems a bit out of control - haha, not best impression!

Then my parents and I went to see the graduates exhibition and I must admit that I was most impressed by the furniture or product designers. And of course the library, must see the library and get free coffee! One thing though, the libraries doesn't seem very impressive over in Denmark, in comparison to the ones that I have seen in the UK.

I'm slightly frustrated that in the first year at DKDS you HAVE to study all kinds of design - and when you're as impatient as me, you kind of want to get a move on! And whats even more frustrating is that it is DKDS that I was most drawn to out of all the Danish universities that I looked at.

Hm, should I give you some more uni updates with the English ones now? Or should I wait for another time, because when bloggers posts gets too long, you start to loose interest.

So I'll stop and hopefully keep your interest, because of the above statement!

xoxo

Hannah

TEKO

One of those rare occasions when I fly back home for a weekend to see go to a university open day in Herning!

I thought it might be a good idea to write a few woods about the Danish universities that I have visited?

I wouldn't exactly call these reviews like the English ones, merely thoughts.

TEKO is located in Herning in the part of Denmark called Jutland. My parents house is on Sealand.

It was all rather confusing at first, because I ended up at the wrong place to begin with. Have you noticed that I do that a lot?

When I finally sorted myself out we ended up in the right place with the BA students.

They have great facilities there, but Herning or more rightly TEKO is placed in the middle of nowhere. Although surrounded by lots of Danish culture centers. A rather big contrast to London or Manchester.

TEKO gave me a good impression by the end of it, although I'm skeptical about the course being in two parts, part one equals two years equals no BA, part two equals an additional one and half year equals "top-up" BA - if that makes sense.

Oh and they also have really good opportunities to live in the student village, which is really close! What is great about the student housing is that they are great mini houses! Its amazing what you can get for your money compared to the UK! So if you want somewhere nice to live go to Herning!

xoxo

Hannah

Central Saint Martins

My impression of CSM

First impression was fantastic building from the inside, looks like an old building from the outside. They are high on punctuality but don’t follow through themselves. It was a shame that I was to slow on booking on to the Womenswear Open Day, because then it would have been a bit more focused on what it is I want to do. On the other hand it was also great to hear about the other courses, especially because there was a least one student from each course, that you could ask questions to, which was really helpful.

I did find it rather strange that there were no tours of the building or the studios, no accommodation talk or similar things that other universities offered. I do accept that they did it on a weekday, but that should bring an even better opportunity to show what’s going on right now.

However I did leave the place feeling inspired and in some ways that I hadn’t missed out on much, although I had only been there for an hour and three quarters, but perhaps that’s the point they’re making.

I did have a little nose around on the ground floor before I left the building. It looked like they had great installation/exhibition place to showcase their students work, the overall feel was very industrial, but cool.

What really caught me though, was that the students that they had brought in for the course talk came from all over the place, at least fifty percent came from abroad. I know it might sound a bit silly, but it made me feel at ease and that I might just belong there, considering how they want fifty present of their students be international and then there’s the EU students too.

xoxo

Hannah

Middlesex University

My impression of MDX

I was so impressed by Middlesex, even though a few things didn’t go according to their plan, but the Jillian was exuding enthusiasm and passion for the course. I truly felt inspired after the Open Day. This is probably the first place that has made me really excited.

As it is a completely new build, the facilities are absolutely amazing, endless opportunities for getting creative and playing with new materials and techniques, yes, on that respect it reminded me a lot of University of West England, but Middlesex had a better university feel, where University of West England reminded me of a school or a college.

The location probably wasn’t the most exciting place, but its not too far away from central London and perhaps that is beneficial, that it’s not bang in city centre – less distractions and more focus on studies!

They also offer other great opportunity such as studying abroad, one downside they don’t attend Graduate Fashion Week.

This will definitely be on the top five-list.

xoxo

Hannah

Nottingham Trent University

My impression of NTU

I was really looking forward to NTU and I was overall really impressed, until the course talk. The tutors didn’t seem very enthusiastic about the subject, and they read up from pieces of paper. I expected that they would know what they are talking about and didn’t have the need to support themselves with pieces of paper.

So I was really disappointed, everything else seemed good, the atmosphere was great and people around there were really helpful.

I also went on a tour around the Bonington building where most of my time would be spent and it was students that were showing us around. In the studios they had laid loads of sketchbooks and portfolios out on the tables, so you could get an impression of the kind of level and projects they would be doing. I was really impressed about how diverse the students were and I could imagine myself studying in such a place.

I also got the opportunity to talk to one of the Fashion students. Basically she said that they were made loads of promises that their tutors didn’t keep, such as going abroad and the exchange was probably not going to happen, because of the cost. I also asked about what sort of CAD programmes they used, she said Photoshop and Illustrator, then asked if they used some of the CAD software that is specifically designed for the fashion industry and she just looked at me blank. You got the impression that she suddenly felt like she had been missing out, and said that after this conversation she would go and find her tutor and ask why the hasn’t been using any of that kind of software.

It makes you wonder when Sean said they were always looking out for the newest software to get the students the best opportunities…

xoxo

Hannah

Arts University College Bournemouth

My impression of AUCB

The university was really welcoming, and helpful with guiding you to the right places! The course talk covered both Fashion Design Technology and Fashion Studies, which I thought would be great as I could get a clear idea of which one that I was the most interested in, as I was in doubt when I arrived.

The question was raised several times; what is the difference between the two courses? It seemed like a hard question to answer, as the tutors weren’t exactly sure what to answer and looked searching at their students (there were two students there to talk about their experience with AUCB). As usual it is the students that are more helpful, and seem to be able to provide more information than the tutors. One student did mention the why and the how, which made sense in a way.

My understanding is that the FDT is more focused on the practical and technical side, such as pattern cutting, especially since they use 30% of their time using a CAD programme that is called Lectra. Whereas the FS course focuses more on the exploration of designing and how you can push the limits through that. Listening to the students it sounds like the actual pattern cutting and sewing skills are better achieved if you do the FDT course and you can tell the difference between the two courses by quality of making skills.

At the tour around the studios I went with the FDT tutor Sarah. I do want to become a fashion designer, but is it best to achieve that through a technical and practical background, because then you have a better understanding of what the limits are, or should you go the more creative way, because you might end up with really impressive ideas and designs that can take you far?

The atmosphere was great and you could sense a tight community-feel within the university.

xoxo

Hannah