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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 2023 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.

Course overview

In the last 10-15 years craft and making activities have been attracting more attention in the design industry and beyond. Engaging fully with the broadening and diversifying debates around making, the course reflects the notable shift in the discipline’s focus towards ethical and environmental issues.

These may manifest in the development of new materials, or reconfiguration of existing systems and resources, while others address diversity, ecology, inclusivity and empowerment of individuals.

Students on the course typically come from craft, product, furniture design and architecture backgrounds.

What to expect

  • To develop a project from proposal to final exhibition
  • To explore new and existing materials and processes
  • To be part of an inter-disciplinary and inter-cultural cohort where multiple perspectives and diversities are recognised as a rich resource for learning
  • A transdisciplinary learning environment in which MA Designer Maker students are part of a community of postgraduate design students who share the same teaching and learning spaces
  • Seminars and discussions that cover material culture studies, anthropology, philosophy, sustainability, consumerism, museum studies, psychology and literature
  • Access to collections, makers' studios, galleries and museums
  • To engage with contemporary debates in applied arts, design and object-based art
  • To explore human-object relationships and the meaning of making
  • A lecture programme
  • The opportunity to access the ILEA collection housed at Camberwell College of Arts, working with the UAL Archives and Special Collections curator
  • Access to Material and Spatial Practices digital resources as well as Camberwell's shared workshops that include printmaking, photography, film, moving image, digital, plastic, ceramics, wood and metalwork. View the Camberwell facilities

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.

Contact us

Register your interest to receive information and updates about studying at UAL.

Contact us to make an enquiry.

Course units

Unit 1 - Exploring and understanding research context and methodology

This unit is an introduction to your course, the college and the university.

  • Inductions to learning resources and workshops at Camberwell
  • An introduction to the notion of practice as research, which is one of the guiding principles of the course
  • To devise your own brief and use it as a tool to develop and refine a project proposal
  • To be encouraged to move between studio practice and theoretical research
  • To critically reflect on the nature of your practice and skills, as well as the types of knowledge you engage with through your practice
  • A programme of personal and professional development
  • To explore contemporary debate and historical discourses
  • Seminars, tutorials, crits, lectures and workshops
  • To submit a research portfolio that includes practical work, experimentations, visual material and theoretical research
  • To keep an online reflective journal throughout the course

Unit 2 - New practice methodologies

This unit builds on your chosen research theme in your project proposal.

  • To form and test a methodology through experimentation or field work
  • Encouraged to actively seek opportunities to collaborate with external partners
  • To use your research findings and outcomes to form a unique approach to your work
  • Seminars, tutorials, crits, lectures and workshops
  • To identify the target audience for your project
  • To submit a research portfolio and project proposal
  • To write a 4000-5000 word 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.

  • To present work in the college postgraduate show
  • To submit a professional statement, research portfolio, project proposal and resolved body of work

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

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

£12,700

This fee is correct for 2023/24 entry and is subject to change for 2024/25 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.

Home fees are currently charged to UK nationals and UK residents who meet the rules. However, the rules are complex. Find out more about our tuition fees and determining your fee status.

International fee

£25,970

This fee is correct for 2023/24 entry and is subject to change for 2024/25 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.

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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

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Home International

Apply

Home students apply by direct application.

Apply

Personal statement

This should be about 500 words long and include:

  • Your reasons for choosing the course.
  • Your current creative practice and how this will help with your future plans.
  • If you do not have any formal academic qualifications please describe your relevant education and experience.

Portfolio advice

  • A maximum of 30 pages showing work that provides good overview of your creative practice.
  • Demonstration of technical skills and documentation of material experimentations and model making, including design development process.
  • Captions or short explanations that give context for your work, communicates ideas and reasoning in the development of your work.
  • Work that demonstrates a close understanding of material qualities and processes which may form the basis of your research.

For more support, please visit our Portfolio advice page and PebblePad advice page.

Video task

  • We'd like you to submit a 2-3 minute video to help us learn more about you
  • Please speak clearly in English and face the camera
  • Your video task is submitted along with your portfolio. Read our guidance for how to submit your video task and which file types we accept

As part of your video task please respond to the following direction:

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

What happens next

Communicating with you

After you’ve submitted your application, you’ll receive a confirmation email providing you with your login details for the UAL Portal. We’ll use this portal to contact you to request any additional information, including inviting you to upload documents or book an interview, so please check it regularly.

Initial application check and selection

We check your application to see if you meet the standard entry requirements for the course. If you do, you will be invited to submit a digital portfolio through UAL’s online portfolio review system. These will be reviewed by the academic team.

Following the review of the digital portfolio, a small number of applicants will progress to the interview stage. All interviews are held online and last 15 to 20 minutes. For support with your interview, visit our Interview tips page.

How we notify you of the outcome of your application

You will receive the final outcome of your application through the UAL portal.

Applicants for this course may be given an alternative offer. This decision will be based on our assessment of your creative and potential interests.

Feedback requests:

If you would like to request feedback please contact us through the UAL Portal using the Contact Us button in your My Application(s) tab.

Deferring your place

Read our Admissions Policy for details, and request your deferral by contacting us through the UAL Portal using the Contact Us button in your My Application(s) tab.

Transfers

If you are currently studying at another institution and if you have successfully completed 60 credits in the equivalent units/modules on your current postgraduate course and wish to continue your studies at Camberwell College of Arts, you can apply to transfer. The Admissions Tutor will consider applications on a case by case basis, subject to places being available. You must apply directly to the course via the course webpage as early as possible. Please check our Student Transfer Policy for more important information and be ready to provide us with your current course handbook and transcripts.

Please be ready to provide an official document (translated into English if necessary) from your current university, explaining the learning outcomes of the units you have completed.

Application deadline

19 December 2022 and 3 April 2023

Our equal consideration deadlines have now passed. This course will remain open to applications for 2023 entry until places have been filled. Please be aware that courses can close without notice.

We recommend you submit your application as early as possible to allow the Admissions team to resolve any initial queries about your application as quickly as possible.

When you'll hear from us

If this course requires a digital portfolio as part of the application process, we will contact you to invite you to submit this through UAL’s online submission tool, PebblePad. For Round 1 applications, you will need to submit your portfolio by 9 January 2023 at the latest and by 20 April 2023 for Round 2.

This course receives a high volume of applications. We need to make sure that we give all applications equal consideration, so the course team will review them in 2 rounds, after each application deadline date. This means you won’t hear from us about the outcome of your application until after the relevant application deadline date. Outcomes for Round 1 will be released by (at the latest) end of March and outcomes for Round 2 will be released by end of June 2023.

Remember to check the outcome of your application in the UAL Portal. If you apply in Round 1 and don’t hear back from us, we will consider your application within Round 2.

Find out more about what happens after you apply.

Apply

There are 2 ways international students can apply to a postgraduate course:

Apply

Read our immigration and visa information to find out if you need a visa to study at UAL.

You can only apply to the same course once per year. Any duplicate applications will be withdrawn. Read the UAL international application advice for further information on how to apply.

Personal statement

This should be about 500 words long and include:

  • Your reasons for choosing the course.
  • Your current creative practice and how this will help with your future plans.
  • If you do not have any formal academic qualifications please describe your relevant education and experience.

Portfolio advice

  • A maximum of 30 pages showing work that provides good overview of your creative practice.
  • Demonstration of technical skills and documentation of material experimentations and model making, including design development process.
  • Captions or short explanations that give context for your work, communicates ideas and reasoning in the development of your work.
  • Work that demonstrates a close understanding of material qualities and processes which may form the basis of your research.

For more support, please visit our Portfolio advice page and PebblePad advice page.

Video task

  • We'd like you to submit a 2-3 minute video to help us learn more about you
  • Please speak clearly in English and face the camera
  • Your video task is submitted along with your portfolio. Read our guidance for how to submit your video task and which file types we accept

As part of your video task please respond to the following direction:

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

What happens next

Communicating with you

After you’ve submitted your application, you’ll receive a confirmation email providing you with your login details for the UAL Portal. We’ll use this portal to contact you to request any additional information, including inviting you to upload documents or book an interview, so please check it regularly.

Initial application check and selection

We check your application to see if you meet the standard entry requirements for the course. If you do, you will be invited to submit a digital portfolio through UAL’s online portfolio review system. These will be reviewed by the academic team.

Following the review of the digital portfolio, a small number of applicants will progress to the interview stage. All interviews are held online and last 15 to 20 minutes. For support with your interview, visit our Interview tips page.

How we notify you of the outcome of your application

You will receive the final outcome of your application through the UAL portal.

Applicants for this course may be given an alternative offer. This decision will be based on our assessment of your creative and potential interests.

Feedback requests:

If you would like to request feedback please contact us through the UAL Portal using the Contact Us button in your My Application(s) tab.

Deferring your place

Read our Admissions Policy for details, and request your deferral by contacting us through the UAL Portal using the Contact Us button in your My Application(s) tab.

Transfers

If you are currently studying at another institution and if you have successfully completed 60 credits in the equivalent units/modules on your current postgraduate course and wish to continue your studies at Camberwell College of Arts, you can apply to transfer. The Admissions Tutor will consider applications on a case by case basis, subject to places being available. You must apply directly to the course via the course webpage as early as possible. Please check our Student Transfer Policy for more important information and be ready to provide us with your current course handbook and transcripts.

Please be ready to provide an official document (translated into English if necessary) from your current university, explaining the learning outcomes of the units you have completed.

Application deadline

19 December 2022 and 3 April 2023

Our equal consideration deadlines have now passed. This course will remain open to applications for 2023 entry until places have been filled. Please be aware that courses can close without notice.

We recommend you submit your application as early as possible to allow the Admissions team to resolve any initial queries about your application as quickly as possible.

When you'll hear from us

This course receives a high volume of applications. We need to make sure that we give all applications equal consideration, so the course team will review them in two rounds. This means that offers won’t be sent to successful applicants until after the relevant application deadline date. Outcomes for Round 1 will be released by 31 March 2022 and outcomes for Round 2 will be released by 30 June 2022.

Remember to check the outcome of your application in the UAL Portal. If you apply in Round 1 and don’t hear back from us, we will consider your application within Round 2.

Find out more about what happens after you apply.

Careers

Camberwell College of Arts

Contact

Telephone

+44 (0)20 7514 6302
Address
Camberwell College of Arts
45 - 65 Peckham Road
London
SE5 8UF