Three years ago, Thomas Winfield started the Foundation degree in Kitchen Design at Bucks New University. Today, he has a pass with merit, and a new-found respect for kitchen design.
Thomas Winfield was sponsored by Blum UK – who lead the way in apprentices in their parent country of Austria. He comments: “I really enjoyed the course, and being exposed to the many different sides of design thinking. One lecture which really stood out was by Andreas Fabian, where he led an interpretation of design using the shapes and parts of spoons!
“I also enjoyed a project management scheme, which included a trip to the Roundhouse factory, following a kitchen from initial concept to the end installation.
“One of our most challenging projects was to design the kitchen area for a Maggie Centre, this was in Dundee, designed by Frank Gehry, but it was great to be using our skills in a real-life situation.”
The course consists of ‘blended-learning’ online tutorials, with weekly material released. There are also bi-weekly individual Skype discussions with lecturers, and three residential weekends a year. The students are expected to do approximately 15 hours a week, from September to June. The course is open for applications now for the 2017/18 year, at www.tket.co.uk
As to the future for Thomas Winfield? “This course is going to be very useful in my role as Test Drive co-ordinator for our Test Drive kitchen at Blum in Milton Keynes, where retailers and consumers can bring their plans, and we create their kitchen using life-sized kitchen units, and then give advice about any changes they may find necessary.”
