Students discover the world of interior design

Fashion and Textiles students at Burton and South Derbyshire College have been working on an exciting industry project with Edward Thomas Interiors and St. Modwen Homes to design and present their ideas for a new show home.

The brief given to students was to design a scheme for a three or four-bedroom house for either the Hilton Valley or Branston Leas sites for St. Modwen Homes.

Students were asked to design a scheme for each room with a clear direction and purpose, striking features and professional presentation. Their work had to show clear colour palettes, fabric for upholstery, floor options, accessories and furniture.

In order to create a mood board for each room, students undertook a range of research, including visiting a real St. Modwen Homes show home, creating customer profiles and gaining a deeper understanding of the interior design industry and available careers.

Students then had to pitch their ideas to Andy Richardson, Managing Director of Edward Thomas Interiors and Alison Maclean, Head of Marketing for St. Modwen Homes, who gave them feedback to develop their ideas further. The companies are also looking to offer work experience placements to students who presented the most professional pitches.

Andy Richardson, Managing Director of Edward Thomas Interiors commented: “The work that has come out of the project has been of a much higher standard than I’d initially anticipated. We’ve been pleasantly surprised by the students’ professionalism and the quality of work they have produced. It’s good to see fresh, young talent coming through who will be the future of the industry. Having external companies coming in to work with students is important as it shows them what is expected by employers and gives them the chance to gain first-hand experience of working on a real project.”

Alison Maclean, Head of Marketing for St. Modwen Homes added: “At St. Modwen Homes, we are designing the homes and communities of the future. The interior design of our show homes is crucially important as this helps to create a vision of what life could be like at our developments. The challenge we set the students has given us a unique insight into what is important to the next generation, and this will no doubt help us inform the way we design our show homes.”

Speaking about the experience of working on the project, Fashion and Textiles student, Abbie Barnett said: “I really enjoyed researching into interior design trends and designing the layout of the mood boards. The fact that it’s a live brief presenting to real employers has made the project more exciting. I am looking to get into interior design so this experience will be good for my future career.”

Emma Strange, Deputy Director of Creative Industries added: “I am very grateful for the time Alison and Andy have committed to the brief and project. This has been a valuable experience for learners to be involved in, enabling them to understand a real life creative brief scenario and the role of an interior designer. It has helped them make decisions about their future career path at such a critical time in their college course, and has helped them to develop their professional skills at interview.”