Thousands of pounds worth of care packs have been delivered to art and design students at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) in an extraordinary effort to enhance their learning during lockdown.
Lasts labelled and lined up, ready to post out
Students both in the UK and abroad studying courses from Architecture and Product Design to Fine Art and Fashion Buying, received parcels containing the materials and tools needed for projects relating to their studies, as well as the relevant health and safety guidance.
Tutors and technicians are running complementary online workshops exploring specialised techniques needed for getting the most out of the packs, alongside demonstrating helpful software. They’re also holding ‘surgery hours’ to answer student emails and hold one-to-one sessions.
The packages were originally designed to ensure that first and second year students could continue to gain valuable skills off campus, while enabling third year students to start creating their final projects or collection, which are crucial for their portfolios, entering shows and job interviews.
Fashion Design bundles ready for packing
With national lockdown measures starting to ease and students set to return to campus, the packs are still proving useful.
Final year Contour Fashion student Kelsey Colford said: “The packs have allowed us to start the making process at home, so when we return to campus we won’t be behind. They’ve given us structure and helped us to stay on track.”
Kelsey was ‘shocked’ by the volume of items in her pack, which contained everything she needed to get started on her final collection, including a range of fabrics, block patterns and all the key components for making swimwear and lingerie, such as elastics, clasps and bra wires.
“Not having to worry about physically sourcing the materials during a pandemic, especially for students struggling with money too, took a lot of pressure off us. They gave us everything we could possibly need, it was a really nice surprise,” said the 20-year-old from Leicester.
The contents of Kelsey's Contour Fashion care pack
Tailored to specific subjects and year groups, the contents of care packages ranged from canvas, paints and brushes for Fine Art students, to leather, lasts and specialist tools for Footwear Design students, and clay, moulds and chicken wire for Design Crafts and arts students.
A ‘bureau service’ has also been set up for students who won’t be able to access campus but need specialist equipment to complete their work.
Those studying subjects such as Photography and Video, Interior Design, Architecture and Product Design can send their digital files to technicians who can 3D print or laser cut their designs, print their technical drawings on A0 paper, develop their 35mm films and much more.
Second year Fashion Design student Sara Roudbari received care packs containing pattern paper, calico, jersey, patterns, sequins, yarn, knitting needles, crochet hooks and many more supplies.
Project pack for Footwear Design students
The 19-year-old from Iran said: “I’m really impressed and happy that DMU did this for us. They even ran knitting and macramé workshops so we could learn useful techniques, and when I called the person in charge of the knit samples for more, they were happy post some out to me.
“At the start of the pandemic we all really struggled, but our tutors were so reassuring. Della Swain, who is the programme leader and really busy, was an absolute angel. She took time to chat to me on the phone and put things into perspective, which really improved my mindset.”
Gavin Kew, Operations Manager in the Faculty of Arts, Design and Humanities, said: “Our programmes are very practical so we wanted to ensure that students could still develop the skills they need to succeed in industry even in lockdown.
“They’re still benefitting from the specialist advice of our technicians and even the staff in our art and design materials shop, which has been closed during much of the pandemic, joined in the effort by helping us with printing out instructions and packaging everything.
“It’s shown us that not everything has been bad this year. We’ve learned a lot and some real positives have come out of it, some of which we’ll be looking to roll out beyond the pandemic.”
Posted on Friday 5 March 2021