Introduction
Our January Entry (Spring Term) BA (Hons) degrees allow students to study flexibly at home, in the studio or at one of our dedicated international host institutions. You'll complete your first year of study by the beginning of August, progressing straight into your second year in September 2021, after a summer break.
How it works
We are excited to offer a selection of BA (Hons) creative courses through our new distance learning provision, starting in January 2021. Our vision for excellence in art and design distance learning, under the banner of our Connected Campus, affords students flexibility in their studies whilst being a valued part of our community.
These three-year courses all share a common distance-learning first year, while specialising in a chosen subject, then progressing into named awards in year two and three. The first year of your January Entry BA (Hons) Interior Decoration, Design & Styling course can be studied at home, in your own studio space, or at our dedicated international host institution. You will begin in January 2021, and your studies will finish in August 2021, allowing you to immediately progress on to your second year of study in September 2021.
What will I study?
This course is one of a rare few in the UK designed to develop your skills in Interior decoration, design and styling, emphasising colour, surface and ambience in a range of environments. From a door handle or light switch to the impact of colour, texture and materials in a range of interior environments, this course will ensure you enter the industry as a well-rounded interiors specialist.
We generate inspired graduates, who are both visually intelligent and acquainted with manufacturing techniques. Cutting across a range of interior disciplines, here you’ll gain a great introduction to designing and interiors for a range of environments - from residential and commercial spaces to the public realm and even transport.
Learning within the School of Design + Communication, your studies will place special emphasis on colour, surface, decoration and ambience in a range of interior contexts, both public and private. You’ll develop your own distinct taste in style curation, exploring lighting, furnishing, ornaments and textural finishes to make your mood board concepts a reality.
Through a variety of projects, you'll find your own interior specialism, which could range from hospitality design or styling for editorial to designing yachts or aeroplanes. You’ll also develop a keen understanding of consumer trends and learn how to design for different levels of the market, whilst refining your presentation skills.
Specialist modules cover interior project management, history of design, event planning and live design briefs. Hard skills that you will develop include technical drawing, visualisation, editorial photography and use of CAD software.
Sessions by industry visiting lecturers are recorded wherever possible and shared with the college community.
How will I learn?
On this course, you’ll be taught by industry-active academics and highly specialised technicians who are responsible for some of the world’s most impressive design and styling choices in hotels, restaurants and private residences. Boasting a combined client list that includes The National Trust, Made.com, Marks & Spencers and LuLuLemon Athletica, amongst multimillion-pound commissions in New York and Barbados, our Interior Design & Styling team are well connected and at the forefront of their field.
This course places a high value on both local and international industry connections, encouraging students to attend London Design Fair, Tate Modern, The Design Museum and Dutch Design Week – alongside group visits to interiors shows such as Maison&Objet in Paris and IMM Cologne in Germany.
Through industry projects, you will combine your knowledge of spatial composition and design with an appreciation for object arrangement, successfully delivering styled solutions to real-world client briefs. You’ll also gain from our staff’s knowledge of entrepreneurialism and self-promotion so that you too can see your creativity featured by Elle Decoration, Ideal Home, and The Times.
Through our industry links with Decorex, Chelsea Harbour, Heal’s, Desso London, and many more suppliers and agents, we will help establish you as one-to-watch in the competitive world of interior design and styling.
What will I have access to?
UK students will enjoy access to our dedicated design studios, with skilled technical support staff. You will have access to our Fab Lab for digital prototyping, as well as wood, metal and glass workshops, digital print facilities, AVA CAD 3D design software and design intelligence facilities.
Our extensive photographic resources include large-format scanners as well as an infinity cove - a seamless curved studio with solid backdrop for commercial- standard photography.
International students can access facilities available at our dedicated host institutions, based in China. Access to specialist facilities can support your studies, however, it is not essential to succeed in this course.
Entry Requirements
Although many of our students do come in with top grades and high UCAS points, these aren’t necessarily essential for entry. We typically ask for a minimum of 112 UCAS points, but we understand that talented artists, designers and makers can have a wide range of relevant strengths and skills beyond formal qualifications. We’re just as interested in exploring your portfolio and discussing your creative experiences as we are in seeing your grades.
We recognise the value of a variety of qualifications and relevant experience and welcome applications from students who have followed less traditional routes. We also accept a range of international qualifications and will look at each application individually.
Course and Units
The School of Design + Communication acknowledges the rich history of the design relative to industry and manufacturing, whilst embracing radical new forms of design as modes of intervention, play and transformation. By utilising new technologies, identifying emerging markets and defining more sustainable methods in their work, we bring purposeful design into everyday lives to solve the most urgent issues we face as a community and society.
Study with us and you’ll expand your critical approach alongside developing skills in research and analysis. Our creative programmes encourage diversity in thinking and making - from practical applications through to reflective, analytical writing.
We provide a dynamic, stimulating learning environment from which to test new models of practise while investing in the rich relationship between practice and theory - based on the potential in material and visual exploration, collaborative working, cross-fertilisation of ideas and the exploration of histories and contemporary contexts.
*Please note unit details listed are correct at time of publication and indicative content only. If you have any questions about course content and structure please email hello@pca.ac.uk
Year 1
Module 1: Academic Skills for Creative Learning
Module 2: Exploring Practice
Module 3: Contextual Studies
Module 4: Professional Practice
Module 5: Amplifying Practice
Module 6: Interdisciplinary Practice
Year 2
BAID201 Interior Decoration - Styling
BAID202 Self-directed Project
BAID203 Professional Practice & PDP 2
GCOP200 Contexts of Practice
Year 3
BAID301 Research & Experimentation
BAID302 Creative & Professional Development
BAID303 Creative & Professional Conclusion
BAID304 Contexts of Practice 3
Careers & alumni
The content of this course has been designed in close consultation with industry professionals so that you can be confident your learning will future-proof you for a dynamic and competitive job market.
Professional practice is embedded within all of our programmes. Throughout your studies, you will have the opportunity to develop the key professional, transferable skills for employability in the creative industries and potentially work in partnership with other sectors locally, regionally, nationally or internationally.
Bringing your studies to life in the industry is central to your experience as an aspiring interiors professional. Through the college’s Industry Liaison Groups you’ll gain access to local and international brands and agencies, visiting Decorex, Chelsea Harbour and many other interior-related events in London and Europe to help you build your network of companies and products.
Our teaching staff bring a wealth of interiors experience, including design and decoration for major hotel chains, shop fittings and private accommodation. Study trips to the international trade fair Maison & Objet in Paris also provide students with the chance to see cutting-edge installs up-close, developing a professional network and broadening their awareness of trend.
We also hold fantastic connections with many well-respected furniture and material suppliers and they regularly contribute to the course through visiting lectures, live briefs and collaborative projects.
The college’s strong international connections allow students to take a semester of study with one of our partner institutions within Europe and North America, and in turn, we welcome overseas students from those institutions to join us in our design studios, creating an exciting cultural exchange.
Graduates become:
Interior & Spatial Designers
Interior Product Designers & Makers
Set Designers
Exhibition Designers
Product Stylists
Trend Forecasters
Retail Buyers/Merchandisers
Magazine Stylists
Interior Decorators
Recent alumni:
Kate Bond, Vitra
Ewan Pogson, Wearth
Kelly Rice, Lang & Potter
Anna Wycliffe Jones, Princess Yachts
Resources
Access to specialist resources will support your learning but is not essential to succeed on the BA (Hons) Fashion course, starting in January 2021.
For UK students studying on this course via our January 2021 Entry route, our facilities will be available to supplement their studies as part of our bookable access model. International students will have access to facilities at our dedicated host institutions in China.
Upon progressing to the second year of study, all Spring Entry students will be based on-campus and have full access to studios, equipment and seminars. With excellent access to technical support, professional studios and audiovisual equipment, you will be able to realise your visions from mood board to runway presentation, transforming sketch concepts into quality garments, accessories and styled campaigns, establishing your DNA as an emerging fashion-designer with ease.
Drawing Studios and Drawing Lab
With north-facing windows, a ‘methods and process’ area, individual studio space and a specialist life-drawing studio, our impressive, open-plan, triple-height Drawing Studio is a huge space, perfect for many different activities and specialisms.
Imprint Lab and Digital Print Bureau
Our Digital Print Bureau offers affordable and quick print services for all our students who are looking for anything from large-format or solvent printing, to photo printing, scanning or vinyl cutting, and a wide range of finishing services.
Multimedia Lab & Equipment Resource Centre
Our Multimedia Lab offers you the kit and expertise to become skilled in a wide range of processes and techniques across the fields of photo media, moving image and sound.
Fab Lab
Our ‘fabrication laboratory’ is kitted-out with the latest in digital design technologies – from 3D printers to 3D scanners, a vinyl cutter, CNC milling machine, CNC router and laser cutter. It adds a whole new level of opportunity for students across all creative walks of life.
Woods and Plastics Workshop
Alongside the latest in new technology, we value the long-standing traditions of making in wood and plastics – and have developed an excellently-resourced workshop that is open to all our students. It boasts a wide range of kit, including an impressive CNC router, plenty of saws and lathes, and strip-heaters, as well as greenwood-working facilities.
Film and Photography Studios
Our students make full use of our industry-standard dedicated studio spaces – including our infinity cove, green screen, and specialist sound studio (with Foley pit and vocal recording booth) – plus our stop-motion suite, our darkrooms, and plenty of individual edit suites, all up-to-date with the latest industry-standard software, etc.
Textile Studios
With views out to sea and 35 metres of print tables to encourage experimentation, our Printed Textile Design Studios also boast a fantastic Mimaki fabric printer, digital embroidery resources, industrial sewing machines, sublimation printers, a dye lab, heat presses, a tufting gun and a Mac suite. It’s got to be one of the best-printed textile workshops in the UK.
Animation and Game Art Studios
Our Animation Studio is well equipped with 25 x PC Computer Workstations with 4K monitors, Dragonframe Animation Digital Compositing Software and the full Adobe Creative Suite.
Material Lab
In the Material Lab, you will be encouraged to acquire haptic – touch-based – and manipulative skills and gain an understanding of material properties.
Learning Lab
The Learning Lab comprises several teams who design and deliver activities, resources and workshops to support the academic and professional development of all HE students. Find out about The Library, Careers, Learning Technologies & IT Support and more.
