Since 2015 the MEng4 class of Product Design Engineering have engaged in the ‘Retail therapy’ project as their main Semester 1 project. The aim of the project each year has been to design and make a batch of giftware products to be sold through art/design retail shops.

The first 3 years of the project took place in collaboration with GSA Enterprises, with the work being offered for sale through the GSA shop. The Mackintosh fires closed the GSA shop resulting in the 2018 project being hosted by a GSA pop-up in Princes Square, Glasgow. In 2019, with no GSA retail operation, a new partner was sought, with the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) shop on Sauchiehall street being utilised for Retail Therapy 5.

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The last few years C19 played havoc with the high street, and everything else, it was decided to link up with high tech companies HP Inc, Autodesk and Formlabs to provide access to cutting edge 3D printing and state of the art design software. Access to these technologies allowed the students to continue to design and make their products spanning the full spectrum from the hand-crafted to the digitally printed which were sold through the www.pdecollection.com web-site.

 

This year we have again linked up with Autodesk. The eighth PDE Collection consists of products by 19 students each of whom is selling their products through personal ‘Big Cartel’ shops linked to www.pdecollection.com