Paice award

£1500 for a design project of our choice, yes please sir! The Paice award, offered up for us Goldsmiths 2nd year design students as a way of realising a potential project of our choice, me and Livia had a few things on the cards but decided to propose to use the funds to initiate a project with children in disadvantaged circumstances being a subject close to our hearts. Through the KidsCompany charity who deal with such children we were channeled down to the underfunded St. Marys primary school in Stoke Newington to investigate the type of project the children would like to engage with. 

Our initial thoughts were to engage them throughout the creative process, from ideation, development, and execution positioning them essentially in the driving seat to foster an air of ownership which we felt would be beneficial all round to them and the project.

We arrived at the school with open minds, cameras and an array of materials for the kids to express themselves with. The school itself had preconceived ideas about the type of project them deemed would be beneficial to the children, a garden, playground improvements etc... but we the source of material had to flourish from the children themselves so we took them on a tour of the grounds, and encouraged them to document the factors they preferred and those they did not to eventually form the premise of the proposal.

It transpired that the playground was chronically devoid of visual and physical stimulus which was collectively confirmed, inciting a modeling session in the playground to conjure up scenarios of what the children would like having the power to do so. Some fantastic models and concepts were devised.

The workshop as a whole was successful, I was amazed by the unbridled enthusiasm of the children and fantastic ideas they struck up so we shall have to see what happens. What a fantastic bunch of kids, a little provocation goes a long way in formulated unprecedented responses.