Workshops and Training
Along with my sculpting work, I’m also an associate tutor at Cardiff Metropolitan University, where I teach on the Graphic Communications BA(Hons) course.
I offer training in practical design and drawing, and design workshops for creativity training, ice breaking, and team building.
Clients might be designers within a business, or individuals looking to find a way out of a rut, or to break away from Pinterest as a source of inspiration!
With the rise of A.I. as a creative tool, it has never been more important for us to remember that the random, illogical and instinctive are the hallmarks of human creativity. I can help to re-boot your way of thinking, and to break you free from the narrow pipeline of kowledge that algorithms serve up.
Why does thinking differently matter?
In nearly 30 years as a designer, I’ve come to believe that inspiration often lies beyond the confines of the brief at hand.
Some would call this ‘out of the box thinking’, but I think it’s more than that. Thinking outside the box is an oblique term, suggesting the abandonment of the parameters at hand in order to move forward.
For me, the parameters of a brief are the mirrors that help keep ideas focussed. Re-contextualising an idea doesn’t mean thinking out of the box, it means finding a different box with similar mirrors.
By helping people to break down topics to their fundamental elements, they can be empowered to bridge the gaps between diverse areas in wild and new ways.
Once you begin to explore a broad bandwidth of ideas, and practice simplifying them, it becomes an instinctive process to look at one problem through the eyes of another.
My lecture module helps people:
Cultivate a mindset that embraces the interplay between different disciplines
Develop the ability to identify the underlying principles shared by seemingly unrelated concepts
Enhance creative problem-solving skills by applying this thinking to practical tasks at hand.
The module adopts a free-form and hands-on approach to learning, often guided by participant responses. Throughout the program, participants will engage in a variety of discussions and practical tasks that encourage creative thinking and the exploration of diverse perspectives.