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Postgraduate

MA Designer Maker

Sculptural furniture by Ning Zhang.
Ning Zhang.,
MA Designer Maker, Camberwell College of Arts, UAL
College
Camberwell College of Arts
Start date
September 2024
Course length
15 months (full time)

MA Designer Maker at Camberwell College of Arts aims to take the lead in re-asserting the position of craft and making in the contexts of contemporary design discourse, society and humanity.

Subject to re-approval

This course is undergoing re-approval. This is the process by which we ensure the course continues to provide a high-quality academic experience. During re-approval there may be some changes to the course content displayed on this page. Please contact us if you have any questions about the course.

Applying for more than 1 course

You can apply for more than 1 postgraduate course at UAL but we recommend that you apply for no more than 3. Find out more in the Apply Now section.

Course overview

MA Designer Maker engages with current debates around craft and making activities in the design industry and beyond. It enables you to explore new materials, innovative tools and methodologies and address ethical issues such as diversity, ecology and inclusivity in relation to design. 

You’ll have the opportunity to develop a project from proposal to final exhibition, discovering new materials and processes as you explore the meaning of ‘making’.

What to expect

  • A diverse cohort: Learn new perspectives from fellow students from different cultures and creative backgrounds, including craft, product, furniture design and architecture.
  • Inter-disciplinary learning: Be part of a community of postgraduate design students from different courses who share the same teaching and learning spaces.
  • New ideas: Take part in seminars and discussions that cover material culture studies, anthropology, philosophy, sustainability, consumerism, museum studies, psychology and literature.
  • Critical thinking: Engage with contemporary debates in applied arts, design and object-based art.
  • Creative facilities: Access to course specific digital resources as well Camberwell's shared workshops, including printmaking, photography, film, moving image, digital, plastic, ceramics, wood and metalwork. View the Camberwell facilities.

Industry experience and opportunities

You’ll have the opportunity to access collections, makers’ studios, galleries and museums to help advance your critical understanding of designer maker practice.

You’ll also use the Camberwell ILEA collection housed at Camberwell College of Arts, where you’ll work with the UAL Archives and Special Collection curator. This will give you insight into the role of archives as you engage with the history of design and craft.

Mode of study

MA Designer Maker is offered in full-time mode and runs for 45 weeks over 15 months. You will be expected to commit an average of 40 hours per week to your course, including teaching hours and independent study.

Course units

Unit 1: Exploring and understanding research context and methodology  

This unit is an introduction to your course, the College and the University. You will devise your own brief and use it as a tool to develop and refine a project proposal. 

Moving between studio practice and theoretical research will help you understand the full design process and the contemporary and historical discourses that underpin it. As part of the brief, you’ll also keep an online journal to reflect upon the nature of your practice and skills, as well as the types of knowledge you have engaged with. 

At the end of this unit, you’ll submit a research portfolio that includes practical work, experimentations, visual material and theoretical research. 

Unit 2: New practice methodologies 

This unit builds on your chosen research theme in your project proposal. You will form and test a methodology through experimentation and field work. You’ll be encouraged to actively seek opportunities to collaborate with external partners in order to identify your target audience and align your work with current debates and discourses. Once you have obtained your research findings and outcomes, you’ll build a research portfolio, a project proposal and a research paper.

Unit 3: Synthesising research and implementation of practice 

The final unit of the course will focus on the production of your personal project. Once completed, you will submit a professional statement, research portfolio, project proposal and resolved body of work for final assessment. You will also present your work in the College postgraduate show. 

 

Note: 120 Credits must be passed before the final unit is undertaken.

Learning and teaching methods

  • Context seminars
  • Group and one-to-one tutorials
  • Guest practitioner lectures and workshops
  • Lecture series
  • Professional development 
  • Student-led crits
  • Workshop inductions

MA Designer Maker

Open day recording

Course Leader Oscar Lessing gives an overview of MA Designer Maker at Camberwell College of Arts.

Student work

  • Camberwell-MA-Designer-Maker-Chieh-Ting-Huang-1000.jpg
    Chieh Ting Huang - MA Designer Maker
  • Camberwell-MA-Designer-Maker-Meghan-Hutchins-1860.jpg
    Meghan Hutchins - MA Designer Maker
  • Camberwell-MA-Designer-Maker-Emily-Rohrer-MA-Designer-Maker-1860.jpg
    Emily Rohrer - MA Designer Maker
  • Camberwell-MA-Designer-Maker-Ruining-Han-1000.jpg
    Ruining Han - MA Designer Maker

Staff

Fees and funding

Home fee

£13,330

This fee is correct for 2024/25 entry and is subject to change for 2025/26 entry.

Tuition fees may increase in future years for new and continuing students on courses lasting more than one year. For this course, you can pay tuition fees in instalments.

Students from countries outside of the UK will generally be charged international fees. The rules are complex so read more about tuition fees and determining your fee status.

International fee

£28,570

This fee is correct for 2024/25 entry and is subject to change for 2025/26 entry.

Tuition fees may increase in future years for new and continuing students on courses lasting more than one year. For this course, you can pay tuition fees in instalments.

Students from countries outside of the UK will generally be charged international fees. The rules are complex so read more about tuition fees and determining your fee status.

Scholarship search

Entry requirements

The standard minimum entry requirements for this course are:

  • BA (Hons) degree or equivalent academic qualifications
  • Alternative qualifications and experience will also be taken into consideration
  • Personal statement
  • Portfolio of work

Entry to this course will also be determined by the quality of your application, looking primarily at your portfolio of work and personal statement.

APEL - Accreditation of Prior (Experiential) Learning

Applicants who do not meet these course entry requirements may still be considered in exceptional cases. The course team will consider each application that demonstrates additional strengths and alternative evidence. This might, for example, be demonstrated by:

  • Related academic or work experience
  • The quality of the personal statement
  • A strong academic or other professional reference
  • A combination of these factors

Each application will be considered on its own merit but we cannot guarantee an offer in each case.

English language requirements

All classes are taught in English. If English isn't your first language you must provide evidence at enrolment of the following:

Selection criteria

We look for:

  • The ability and competence to creatively formulate and develop design concepts and to clearly organise and present your ideas
  • Demonstrable affinities to materials and processes
  • Demonstrable interest and involvement in material-based practice with a consideration of associated historical, social and cultural contexts
  • Evidence of proactive engagement with the critical debate around designer maker practice
  • Demonstrable ability and capacity for self-reflection
  • Ambition and aspiration for higher level of practice and research

Apply now

Application deadline

Deadline

Round 1:

13 December 2023 at 1pm (UK time)

Round 2:

3 April 2024 at 1pm (UK time)

Digital portfolio and video task deadline

Round 1:

16 January 2024

Round 2:

16 April 2024

Decision outcome

Round 1:

End of March 2024

Round 2:

End of June 2024

Round 1
Round 2
Deadline
13 December 2023 at 1pm (UK time)
3 April 2024 at 1pm (UK time)
Digital portfolio and video task deadline
16 January 2024
16 April 2024
Decision outcome
End of March 2024
End of June 2024

All applications received by 3 April will be treated equally. If there are places available after this date, the course will remain open to applications until places have been filled.

Read more about deadlines

Apply now

Application deadline

Deadline

Round 1:

13 December 2023 at 1pm (UK time)

Round 2:

3 April 2024 at 1pm (UK time)

Digital portfolio and video task deadline

Round 1:

16 January 2024

Round 2:

16 April 2024

Decision outcome

Round 1:

End of March 2024

Round 2:

End of June 2024

Round 1
Round 2
Deadline
13 December 2023 at 1pm (UK time)
3 April 2024 at 1pm (UK time)
Digital portfolio and video task deadline
16 January 2024
16 April 2024
Decision outcome
End of March 2024
End of June 2024

All applications received by 3 April will be treated equally. If there are places available after this date, the course will remain open to applications until places have been filled.

Read more about deadlines

Apply to UAL

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How to apply

Follow this step-by-step guide to apply for this course

Step 1: Initial application

You will need to submit an initial application including your personal statement, CV and study proposal.

Personal statement advice

This should be maximum 500 words and include:

  • your reasons for choosing the course
  • your current creative practice and how this course will help you achieve your future plans
  • any relevant education and experience, especially if you do not have any formal academic qualifications.

Visit our personal statement page for more advice.

CV advice

Please provide a CV detailing your education, qualifications and any relevant work or voluntary experience. If you have any web projects or other media that you would like to share, please include links in your CV. If English is not your first language, please also include your most recent English language test score.

Step 2: Video task and digital portfolio

We will review your initial application. If you have met the standard entry requirements, we will ask you to submit a video task and digital portfolio.

You’ll need to submit these via PebblePad, our online portfolio tool. Please submit your video task on the first page followed by your portfolio.

Video task advice

We’d like you to submit a 2-3 minute video to help us learn more about you. When recording your task, please face the camera and speak in English.

What to include in your video task

  • Select 2 things in your possession, 1 made by you and 1 that was not made by you.
  • Spend 2 minutes showing and talking about the 2 objects, comparing their similarities and differences, their interesting qualities and why you chose them.

Read our guidance for how to submit your video task and which file types we accept.

Digital portfolio advice

Your portfolio should consist of recent work that reflects your creative strengths.

It should:

  • be maximum 30 pages, including your video task
  • show work that provides good overview of your creative practice.
  • demonstrate your technical skills and documentation of material experimentations and model making, including design development process
  • include captions or short explanations that give context for your work, communicates ideas and reasoning in the development of your work
  • feature work that demonstrates a close understanding of material qualities and processes which may form the basis of your research.

For more support, see our Portfolio advice and PebblePad advice.

Step 3: Interview

You may be invited to an interview following our review of your application. All interviews are held online and last 15 to 20 minutes.

For top tips, see our Interview advice.

You also need to know

Communicating with you

Once you have submitted your initial application, we will email you with your login details for our Applicant portal.

Requests for supplementary documents like qualifications and English language tests will be made through the applicant portal. You can also use it to ask questions regarding your application. Visit our After you apply page for more information.

Applying to more than 1 course

You can apply for more than 1 postgraduate course at UAL but we recommend that you apply for no more than 3 courses. You need to tailor your application, supporting documents and portfolio to each course, so applying for many different courses could risk the overall quality of your application. If you receive offers for multiple courses, you'll only be able to accept 1 offer. UAL doesn't accept repeat applications to the same course in the same academic year.

Visas and immigration history check

All non-UK nationals must complete an immigration history check. Your application may be considered by our course teams before this check takes place. This means that we may request your portfolio and/or video task before we identify any issues arising from your immigration history check. Sometimes your history may mean that we are not able to continue considering your application. Visit our Immigration and visas advice page for more information.

External student transfer policy

UAL accepts transfers from other institutions on a case-by-case basis. Read our Student transfer policy for more information.

Alternative offers

If your application is really strong, but we believe your strengths and skillset are better suited to a different course, we may make you an alternative offer. This means you will be offered a place on a different course or at a different UAL College.

Deferring your place

We do not accept any deferral requests for our postgraduate courses. This means that you must apply in the year that you plan to start your course and you will not be able to defer your place to start at a later date.

Application deadlines

For postgraduate courses at UAL there are 2 equal consideration deadlines to ensure fairness for all our applicants. If you apply ahead of either of these deadlines, your application will be considered on an equal basis with all other applications in that round. If there are places available after the second deadline, the course will remain open to applications until places have been filled.

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