The legendary British designer, Sir Paul Smith, once said that "you can find inspiration in everything... if you can't, then you're not looking properly". To reinforce this idea, each year the D&T department aim to offer all the GCSE students an educational visit to help inspire them and over the last few weeks both the Y10 Textiles and Product Design groups have been to London to make the most of the many opportunities to explore design that the capital offers. 

The first of the trips took place just before half-term [timed to coincide with its final few days] when Mrs Kinch took a group of students to visit the critically acclaimed 'Crown-To-Couture' exhibition at Kensington Palace. Described by the Evening Standard as: "Heaven for devotees of the A-list, past and present - with outfits of Kendall Jenner, Beyonce, Timothee Chalamet (and more) alongside the decadence of the 18th Century court attire this is surely the starriest fashion exhibition London has ever seen", it didn't disappoint. Set against the amazing backdrop of Kensington Palace, some of the dresses were simply astonishing in terms of their intricacy and impact. For anybody studying Textiles, and particularly those who are aspiring to work in the fashion industry, it was a truly memorable trip [impressing even the Product Design teachers who were supporting the Textiles team!].      

Earlier on in the day, once they had managed to negotiate the final bit of the journey on the London Underground, the group also got the opportunity to explore the Design Museum, which is located just at the other end of the High Street Kensington, and it was to there that the Product Design students then headed the week after half-term. 

The Design Museum moved to its new home - the old Commonwealth Building with its dramatic roof - in 2016 and since then it has established itself as one of the world's leading Design museums. Alongside the permanent 'Designer, Maker, User' exhibition, which gives the students a chance to explore the background to a collection of iconic products, it offers the opportunity to glimpse the past, present and future of design all in the one place. A highlight this year was the new 'Skateboard' exhibition looking at the sport from a design perspective. All of the students also got to take part in a hands-on workshop, each one with a different focus which this year included: chairs and seating; lighting; modern and smart materials.

This year however, the second destination of the day [replacing the V&A] was the new Technicians Gallery at the Science Museum, which proved to be just as fascinating and - in terms of future careers - hugely influential. Sponsored by the Sainsbury family, the new gallery [along with its 'sister' exhibition 'Engineers'] aims to introduce students, via lots of innovative interactive displays, to a whole range of interesting careers in the STEM and creative industries. This included some well-established roles, such as architectural technicians, and also some more unusual ones such as wind turbine engineers [for which you need a head-for-heights by the looks of things]. One of the highlights was exploring the life of a film-set lighting technician by setting foot inside Shuri's lab from Black Panther - unsurprisingly sponsored by Marvel Studios! 

This was also one of the first trips to be supported by parent helpers, something that the school are increasingly looking to promote, and the D&T department are obviously hugely grateful to the two parents who gave up their day to ensure that there were sufficient adults in the party to appease both the Design and Science Museums. Although it was also particularly pleasing that they both appeared to equally enjoy the experience.

Gavin Johnson