Designed for Life

The Design & Technology Association is proud to enter its second year supporting Samsung's Solve for Tomorrow competition.  Solve for Tomorrow is a free-to-enter, tech-for-good competition which empowers students aged 11-18 to solve real-world problems in one of three carefully selected design contexts. Its objective is to empower young people, regardless of their background, to develop t...

For the second year running, I am delighted that Designed for Life was recorded live at New Designers in London in early July.  I know some listeners won't be familiar with New Designers (https://www.newdesigners.com/), so what is it, and why is it so important?  N ew Designers is the UK's leading annual graduate design exhibition, showcasing the work of over 2,500 emerging designers acr...

3D printing has gone from strength to strength in recent years within UK schools and is now firmly established as one of the major tools used by students to fast prototype.  The majority of D&T departments now have at least one printer, and with the market now dominated by Bambu Lab, these new machines are making 3D printing available to all (including many students now having their own machin...

In part two of this two-part mini-series, we dig deep into what system changes might be necessary to make teaching the attractive profession that it once was. One-third of all teachers who have qualified across all subjects in the last decade have already left teaching; here we ask why that might be the case and what needs to change.  We also talk to more students graduating from their PGCE qualif...

Goldsmiths, University of London is one of the longest-established providers of D&T teacher education in the country and, over the years, has been instrumental in helping shape the subject that we now know. In this short mini-series of two episodes, we spent a day at Goldsmiths talking with Alice Hellard, who leads the PGCE programme at the university and some of this year's graduates who...

At the end of 2025, I was privileged to be asked to visit the JLR plant in Gaydon in the West Midlands to attend their Creative Showcase. I don't hide the fact that I am a car enthusiast, so I must admit that letting me loose amidst the creativity, design and engineering excellence on show was a little akin to letting a child with a sweet tooth free in a sweet shop.  One of the highlights of...

Ilā is a British artist, producer and vocalist. When you are approached by an agent stating, "Would you like to speak with an artist who operates at the intersection of quantum computer music,  AI and the human voice, well, you kind of say yes straight away! I spend a lot of time researching my guests. If someone is good enough to give up their time to be a guest on the podcast, then the very...

Leia Milburn is an industrial designer working at Tone Product Design in London. Leia was born in London but grew up in Hong Kong and Singapore. Her father is a D&T teacher and trained as a furniture designer, so she was raised around strong design influences, but has developed her own unique identity as a designer through her degree at Loughborough University and subsequent work at Tone.  In...

The countdown is on – the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition closes on 1st February 2026!  This podcast takes on a different format as we talk to Jessie Soohyun Park, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility for Samsung Electronics UK,  about the Solve for Tomorrow initiative, why a multi-national company such as Samsung believes this work is so important, and how design and technology educatio...

On the first day of 2026, and if we are honest, a touch later than planned due to the Christmas break, we are delighted to open the New Year with a conversation with the Co-founder of Applied Design (https://helloapplied.com), one of New York's leading branding and design agencies. A short while back, Applied Design was commissioned for what, at first, appeared to be a relatively straightforw...

One pattern that has repeated across the 108 podcasts published since Designed for Life launched in the summer of 2020 is the role of serendipity in aligning people and their careers.  Today's podcast is a case in point. Driven by a primal desire to help people, Olivia set her heart on a career in medicine. School and academia did not come easily to her, and she realised at a very early stage...

You can cover so much learning within the confines of the classroom, but with design & technology education, whether at the primary or secondary level, a carefully planned educational visit can add so much. At the Design & Technology Association, we are always seeking potential visits to recommend to teachers and their students. With this in mind, we are delighted to talk with Julie Brierl...

We have been offline for a short while whilst we evaluate, reconsider where the podcast is heading and reset. This is the first of what will be a regular series of brief updates between the main podcasts.  In these, we aim to tell you what we are up to at the Design & Technology Association, highlight any primary areas of work you might not be aware of, discuss what's going on with the su...

In this podcast, we are going to test your knowledge of UK manufacturing, your memory, and empathy for items that, by their very nature, invoke nostalgia, as we take you through a journey that transcends technological change and leads through a combination of determination, an 'old-fashioned' desire to be the very best in a field, and contains equal amounts of passion and innovation.  So...

New Blades is an annual model-making exhibition and recruitment fair held in London each year, showcasing the work of graduating students from various UK universities and colleges. It's a key event for connecting emerging talent in the model-making industry with employers and professionals. The event is organized by 4D Modelshop, a major supplier to British model makers.  This is the first ti...

The Smallpeice Trust is a charity dedicated to inspiring young people to explore careers in science and engineering. It was founded in 1966 by the British engineer and entrepreneur Dr. Cosby Smallpeice (who invented the Smallpeice Lathe). The trust exists to help young people turn their passion and ideas into reality. In 1991, a group of committed headteachers came together, motivated by the convi...

Many people familiar with this podcast will recognise the name 'F1 in Schools', a design, teamwork and engineering challenge that has existed in schools for over two decades. Some of you will have competed in either regional or, if you are fortunate enough, national finals. Others...I want to say the elite few, as getting there is some achievement, will have made it to the world finals,...

In this episode, we focus on primary education, specifically design and technology education in the primary phase. Our guest in this episode is Senior Lecturer in Primary Education at St. Mary's University, Twickenham, Janine Pavlis.  In recent years, we at the Design & Technology Association have seen significant growth in our primary membership categories, as schools (driven by Ofsted r...

Dr Aakeen Parikh is a mechanical engineer with a background in research, design, sustainable technologies, and social impact. She currently works as the Project Manager for the Vehicle Future Hub at Imperial College London. Aakeen discovered engineering through her passion for product design, and she has worked on numerous projects over the years. Aakeen is passionate about increasing diversity, a...

In this, the second episode of a two-part mini-series, we continue exploring the journey of school design and technology leaders and departments as we visit and speak with staff, students, and parents at Simon Langton Boys' Grammar School in Canterbury, Kent.  Before anyone assumes this is a story of overprivileged students enjoying an experience facilitated by wealth and connections, please...

In this episode, we continue exploring the journey of school design and technology leaders and departments as we visit and talk with staff, students, and parents at the Simon Langton Boys Grammar School in Canterbury, Kent.  Before anyone decides this is a story of overprivileged students enjoying an experience created by money and connections, please know this is not the case. This department has...

This is a big episode for Designed for Life, as we proudly reach number 100! We are delighted to have Dean Kamen, an American engineer, inventor, and businessman, on the show. Dean is known for his inventions of the Segway, iBOT, and Slingshot (a water purification system) and for founding what he proudly calls his greatest invention, FIRST.  In this episode, we investigate the mindset of a serial...

How do you build a successful design & technology department from the ground up with an entirely new staff? What curriculum changes should you make at KS3, KS4 and KS5 to ensure you stretch and challenge what are undoubtedly very bright students? What physical changes can you make to the department's look, feel and function when the budget is tight but you want to improve how students and...

In this episode, we are delighted to welcome Marisa Kurimbokus, who was announced as the IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year 2024 at the end of last year.  In the podcast, we follow Marisa's journey from primary school, where a teacher dropped what I can only assume was a casual comment, but it is one that sticks with her to this day. Through secondary school, where Marisa describes her jour...

In this episode, we take the podcast on the road to Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) and talk with YouTube stalwarts Brothers Make, Louise Dennis, Curator at MoDiP (Museum of Design in Plastics) and Will Strange, Senior Lecturer and Course Leader (Sustainable Design) at AUB. The podcast was recorded on February 5th in the main lecture theatre at the university with an audience comprising AUB stud...