Artist Designer: Maker BA (Hons)

Makers are artists, designers, craftspeople, innovators, creatives, technologists and many other things besides. This degree has ‘making’ at its heart.

What makes this course so unique is the combination of traditional skills and cutting-edge technologies. You will gain hands-on experience with materials from metals, glass and ceramics through to wood, textiles and digital fabrication.

You will learn to bridge the gap between age-old skills and the latest technology and create new and original ways of making for our ever-changing world.

Alongside this skill acquisition you will be learning about the context of making practices. You will identify where your work is situated within the broader parameters of creative practice; are you a designer, an artist, a craftsperson or do you work across a number of disciplines?

You will learn how to investigate and develop an idea into a fully realised material outcome, whether this is a functional product, a decorative artefact, an installation or an expressive object.

Throughout the degree, you will learn from professional practising artists, designers and makers, sharing in their passion and acquiring their skills.

Whatever your interests as a maker are, this course is structured to help you explore them.

• Whilst your learning is designed to develop you into a rounded and capable artist/designer and intellectual, your curriculum is similarly structured with your potential in mind.

• As such, the emphasis that will have been placed upon your work ethic, both creatively and academically, is matched with significant focus on real world experience; from building contacts and undertaking placements to live briefs and, should you choose so, support in forming your own business.

Place of study: Llandaff Campus

Course length: 3-4 years full-time, dependent upon taking a year-long sandwich placement

Entry requirements: Typical offer: 96-120 UCAS Points plus portfolio and interview

Opportunities to study part of this degree in Welsh are available

“The Artist Designer: Maker course at Cardiff Met has allowed me to freely explore an eclectic range of technical processes within my university experience, as well as connecting me with other like-minded creative practitioners. Guided by clear module briefs and with continuous support from tutors and technical demonstrators, I was able to develop my skills to achieve a high standard of work that I am proud to display.”

Zoe Worton

Artist Designer Maker – BA (Hons)

Clay has a visual and material language crossing all cultures. It is intrinsic to people’s lives, needs and memories. By studying for a degree in Ceramics with us, you will become a skilled ceramicist able to work with this most versatile of materials and contribute to this expanding field.

You will explore an anthropological approach to making, socio-geographic mapping of materials and practices, and the social capacity of skills by working with local initiatives, such as galleries, marketplaces, and collections as part of our ‘global studio’. You will examine creative strategies to identify your own tendencies and patterns in idea development, studying glaze and material technology to turn those ideas into form.

Our dedicated studios will be your home throughout the course. You'll work across a broad range of processes, exploring the full potential of ceramics and gaining advanced skills. You'll learn from a team of practising ceramicists and have opportunities to experience a variety of taught practices – including:

Alchemy - Ceramics and Material Science, glaze technology, encompassing geographical and socio-historical debate

Throwing – traditional pottery techniques from domestic ware to sculptural composite forms

Hand modelling – the human form in clay, from ornamental and sculptural work to fine base relief

Mould making – casting in plaster, mixed-media moulds (fabric/ combustible), composite moulds, lathe turning

Surface pattern – printing techniques – including transfers, screen print and on-glaze

Firing – electric, gas, raku, soda, saggar, building external kilns to explore both function and performance

Digital fabrication – including learning software and application of 3D printing, laser cutting, CNC modelling

• With opportunities to work real-world contexts on live briefs, creative competitions and interdisciplinary projects, you will be encouraged to identify and build your own independent practice and work towards your future career.

• CSAD has an internationally renowned reputation for postgraduate and PhD studies in Ceramics. On completion of your undergraduate studies, you can progress your academic and creative ambition further through these pathways.

Place of study: Llandaff Campus

Course length: 3-4 years full-time, dependent upon taking a year-long sandwich placement

Entry requirements: Typical offer: 96120 UCAS Points plus portfolio and interview

Opportunities to study part of this degree in Welsh are available