"Working directly with materials and exploring processes is critical to our student experience. The physical investigation of materials enables new ideas to emerge. Having a good amount of hardwood to play with has allowed us to explore structure and prototype freely, both at scale and full size. This means every student has had the opportunity to establish their own structural principles and to manufacture their own full-size finished prototypes to a high standard.”– Carl Clerkin, Tutor, Product & Furniture Design, Kingston University

"The next generation of designers, more than any before them, will need to adapt to a new way of thinking about the materials they use and the environmental impact of the designs they produce. This project has given these students a valuable experience of working with a timber species that is currently out of fashion but has the potential to offer so much to the world of product design. It has also shown that, with imagination, you can make beautiful products from what would be rejected as unsuitable in the commercial world.”– David Venables, European Director, AHEC