The UK has bags of talented young student and graduate designers who demonstrate that design education is worth funding, writes Alice Fisher.

October is the time of new academic terms and new beginnings. After hearing Keir Starmer’s pledge at last week’s Labour conference that 67 per cent of young people will get higher skills levels, either through university, further education or an apprenticeship by 2040, I’ve been thinking about students and graduates and where they’ll be heading next.

I’ve thought more about this since July, when I met an exhibition space full of graduates. I was on the judging panel for the New Designer of the Year award at New Designers, the annual graduate showcase that gives students from around the country a dedicated space in London to show their final projects to potential employers.

I wasn’t expecting to be so impressed by the displays of degree shows

Prowling the floor of the Islington Design Centre with a judge badge on my T-shirt and, as per, a fairly judgey look on my face, I wasn’t expecting to be so impressed by the displays of degree shows or the variety of skills on show. Sure, a few of the samples and models were a bit wonky and some students a little inarticulate, but the imaginative brains and gifted hands in that room seemed exceptional to me.

The other judges agreed. Though to be honest, I was really impressed by the judging panel too – it included a well-known jeweller, the founder of one of the largest ceramics companies making pottery in the UK, a trailblazing social entrepreneur involved in sustainability and making, and an award-winning artist who was greeted like a rockstar by the students.

As the day went on, what really struck me was the disconnect between the way we spoke to the students and the way we talked to each other in the judges’ lounge. Out on the floor, we discussed inspiration and source materials; to each other, huddled round a table in a windowless room, the conversation was about redundancy, working two jobs to make ends meet, and venture capitalists.

We fretted about the environment and supply chains. We worried about making the wrong choice for the prize and wondered why we’d been asked to be judges at all.

This dichotomy feels fundamental to the design world – the impulse to spotlight creativity and clever conversations and presentation while keeping problems in the shadows. But looking around the exhibition centre, I did wonder whether we were giving these bright kids flirting with the idea of a career in design all the support they deserved.

The British design education system is sorely underfunded. There’s such a terrible shortfall of design & technology (D&T) teachers that 20 per cent of schools in England and Wales can’t offer the subject anymore.

Just a glance at a college’s stand gave an idea of where the well-off kids were choosing to go for their education

Funding deficits have meant deep cuts to supplies – D&T and art teachers report skip-diving to find basic materials for lessons. It’s no surprise that there’s been a 68 per cent fall in pupils taking D&T GCSE over the last decade. And that absence of money goes all the way through the education system – UK universities are now facing over £1 billion in funding shortfall, according to higher education body Universities UK.

Though inequality is never far away. Even on my judging tour of New Designers, just a glance at a college’s stand gave an idea of where the well-off kids were choosing to go for their education. You could see it in the quality of materials used in models and samples, and the confidence with which they shook the hands of the visitors. These things are not a substitute for talent, but they certainly help showcase skill, especially in an industry naturally drawn to the aesthetically pleasing.

I’m not writing this to stop wringing my hands at the injustice of it all, but because I think there’s great talent out there and it needs to be nurtured if the design sector is going to continue to contribute nearly £100 billion annually to the UK economy and employ millions of people. There’s a national curriculum review overseen by Education Endowment Foundation CEO Becky Francis nearing conclusion and this year the British government identified the creative industries as one of eight “growth driving” sectors it will prioritise in its industrial strategy.

It’s great to get recognition and support from the government, but the design industry needs to be more engaged with shaping the next generation of designers – with knowledge and funding.

I write about people with great ideas rather than coming up with them myself, but at New Designers, even I was half-daydreaming about having a team of non-judgemental judges walking around behind us to tell students how their presentations could have been better. And as prizes were announced by the many brilliant business partners who collaborated with the fair, I wondered how useful that money would be if it went to train great design teachers instead.

The conversations that moved me were those with the students

With the new academic year underway, please make sure you accept any opportunity you get to talk to students and teachers or to visit and see their work. It’s not just good for the future, it’s good for your business too. Sally Bent, director of the New Designers, says how important connections with industry can be, not just for students but for us as well: “Whatever your expertise, you’ll meet a student working on something that offers a fresh perspective.”

She was right too. I loved the judging camaraderie, but the conversations that moved me were those with the students covering everything from cutlery and fairy stories to regional economic decline and wild clay.

We picked a blacksmith as the new designer of the year, in case you’re interested (pictured top). A choice I would never have anticipated in a million years of guessing. But that’s what good design can do – it makes you see new potential in the world.

Alice Fisher is a lifestyle journalist based in London. She was previously lifestyle editor at The Observer, and has also written for The Guardian and the Financial Times, among others.

The photo, showing Axiomatic Composition 3 by Cameron Pearson, is by Mark Cocksedge.

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