In this conversation, we follow Gordon Fraser, Co-founder of the Marloe Watch Company, on his journey from a difficult school experience to co-founding a successful British-designed watch company.

With his Co-founder Oliver, whom he met online, the two founded The Marloe Watch Company and produced their first two watches without meeting (and living in two different countries). As the company grew, Oliver was the first to 'give up the day job' and concentrate 100% on the success of their venture, followed closely by Gordon.

Gordon discusses the importance of understanding user requirements while designing a watch that you, as the designer, would be proud to wear. We also discuss the importance of storytelling in design and how we are all seeking to buy and wear objects that help define our tastes and unique persona.

You don't have to be a watch lover to love this conversation (although I have to confess that I am). Gordon's passion for what he loves to do shines through as we discuss the highs and lows of owning your own design business.

Gordon uses a phrase that is worth exploring on its own: his growing "intolerance to imperfection," especially when design translates to manufacturing. Process and 'value engineering' push you as a designer to one compromise too many.

So grab an hour to yourself. Take the dog for a walk, place us in your ears for your gym workout or just grab a coffee and listen to Designed for Life - in conversation with Gordon Fraser.

https://www.marloewatchcompany.com/
And if you want to fall down the rabbit hole we discussed on the pod (and I would recommend it) follow this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FhTu3aGM60&list=PLB00JHoTw1TeX82Qw8hoFLRJI89Us_jMw

In this episode, we are in conversation with Claire Holman, modelmaking professional and lecturer at Arts University Bournemouth.

We follow Claire's journey from a fairly nomadic start as her family moved first to Zambia and then to England, closely followed by Scotland as her father's work dictated their journey. This was followed at age sixteen by Claire leaving school and taking on a YTS course (if you are old enough, you know. If not, a government initiative to direct young people into training and employment). Here, she was subjected to some deplorable practice as the college concerned used the course as a 'cash cow', and the students were an essential part of the payment process for the college...but no more!

Sometimes, it takes a negative experience to produce a positive, and the bitter taste that this left with Claire drove her later in her career as she took a role (twenty-five years ago now) with the Arts University Bournemouth) "every student has a right to have teachers that are present, not just in the physical sense, but are on the journey with them, fully engaged".

We follow Claire's journey in modelmaking both in the UK and Canada and finally talk with her about what she has learned in over twenty-five years of educating students in design, modelmaking and prototyping in Bournemouth.

This discussion is one for students and educators nationally. Claire's love of teaching and her desire to get better at what she does professionally with each passing day comes over clearly in our discussion. I just know you are going to love this!

https://aub.ac.uk/
BA(Hons) Modelmaking: https://aub.ac.uk/course/modelmaking

NEW - BA(Hons) Creative Technologies: https://aub.ac.uk/course/creative-technologies

NEW - BA(Hons) Design for Sustainable Futures: https://aub.ac.uk/course/design-for-sustainable-futures

Other AUB courses of interest:

NEW – BA(Hons) Interior Architecture for Health and Wellbeing https://aub.ac.uk/course/interior-architecture-health-and-wellbeing

BA(Hons) interior Architecture & Design: https://aub.ac.uk/course/interior-architecture

This episode sees us in conversation with Sophie Hague - 2022 RSA Student Award winner and UX Designer.

Sophie found school difficult, not so much academically, but she found it over-stimulating, crowded and overall, just not an enjoyable experience. The one exception to this was design and technology lessons, where she enjoyed the 'open-endedness' of problem-solving activities and just 'clicked'.

As she progressed on her learning journey, Sophie found out just how she liked to learn. Experiential learning worked for her and she realised that to truly understand a topic, she needed to touch it, to feel it or to see the problem set within a real-world context that she could relate to. This metacognition became a major part of Sophie's development, and she developed a sound and blossoming love of learning.

At the age of 11, Sophie decided she wanted to be a designer, and she has been following that pathway since.

Her first degree opened doors in her mind that naturally led to a post-graduate Masters taken at Leeds University. It was here that Sophie was introduced to the RSA Awards, of which she says: "The brief allowed me to explore who I wanted to be, not only as a designer but also as a person. It changed my perception of what design is, what it can be and what I can make it".

This episode is the story of a young designer discovering her own academic ability as she explores the world of design. It was a joy to record, and I just know you are going to enjoy it too.

https://www.thersa.org/blog/2023/11/rsa-student-design-awards-winner

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophie-hague-b08b66197?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

https://www.instagram.com/sophs.design.stuff?igsh=MWNia2dra3hhN2J3cQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

https://www.sophiehague.co.uk/