New opportunities with the Design Scholarship
Guest teachers from the industry and practically oriented courses
The crocheted steel wire lamp lets out a soft light between the layers of wire and casts a vibrant shadow on the wall of the school's showroom. She developed the lamp in one of the modules at Kvällsskolan where the guest teacher was Fredrik Paulsen, designer and former student at Beckmans and selected as Inspiration of the Year at the Elle Decoration Awards in January. In the course, they were tasked with designing a product that drew both inspiration and material from the same place.
"The place I chose is at home in Luleå and the inspiration came from my grandmother who works a lot. Since steel is an important industry in Luleå, the crocheted metal wire had to symbolize it. What was extra fun about the course was that we ended up doing a real exhibition with the final products in the gallery at the school.
Emilia is studying specialisation product design at the evening school and thinks that the courses are even more practical than she thought before. So far, they have had courses in sketching techniques, wood workshops, interior design, model building and a materials course where they had to choose a material from the kitchen, such as toothpicks, and create a product out of.
"The courses have really been about doing. We have had to practice working quickly, which has been good because through it I learned to quickly get into the process and to dare to trust the gut feeling.
Design scholarship enabled relocation to Stockholm
Interest in colour and product design started at Sunderby folk high school in Luleå and their 2-year education Konstskolan. But after two years there, she felt that it was not primarily art that she was passionate about.
"I wanted to add function and realised it was a designer I wanted to be," he said. So I looked at several courses and schools but stuck with Beckmans because I like the breadth. There's room to be more artistic and you don't have to target yourself so narrowly. The fact that all teachers are also professionals has been very positive, I think I have learned a lot from it.
In parallel with Kvällsskolan, Emilia works at Telia, which she also did in Luleå. When she moved to Stockholm, she was able to continue with the same job and brought her computer and logged into the Telia office in Stockholm instead.
"But without the Design Scholarship, I still wouldn't have been able to accept the training. Since I didn't already live in Stockholm, it was a pretty big step to move down the course. It costs a lot to move and in order to catch up with the evening school I have also gone down in working hours.
Full focus on work test tasks
The pace of the evening school is relatively intense. Each week, students receive assignments to be resolved until the following week. Right now, Emilia has also switched up further because she has started the work test assignments for the Form program, which she is applying for for the third time.
"Maybe I should apply to another school, because I really want to get into a design education, but I prioritize the work samples for Beckmans," he said.
"This year's work test tasks are fun, although my first reaction when I read them was that it felt unreasonable!" But now I've processed the tasks mentally and I'm going to start working. The hardest part is how to communicate them so that my idea comes out in a clear way. At the same time, I feel safer in it now because we have practiced a lot on it at Kvällsskolan so I feel more prepared for this call for proposals.
