Monday 3 March 2014

A Visit to the Inspiring Workshop of Theo Fennell

Following on from our inspirational Technology Department Master Class with Theo Fennell in October, Theo was so impressed with the calibre of work produced that he opened the doors of his prestigious Fulham Road Store to eight of year 10 students who study GCSE Resistant Materials or GCSE Graphic Products as well as Mr Mohammed and I.  Located in South Kensington, Theo’s shop is regularly frequented by the likes of Elton John, The Beckham’s and the cast of Made in Chelsea.  


 To prepare us for our afternoon with Theo we first took in some culture at the V&A museum where the students: Daniel Bowman, Aidan Mailes, Ryan King, Joanna Rotherham, Rhiannon Dallow, Yasmin Denham, Tino Mungoshi and Freddie Fisk took in the opulent jewellery exhibit, the metal work exhibit and other exhibits from around the world .  The students had time to observe and create work in their jewellery design sketchbooks that have been ongoing since Octobers Master Class.
 
Theo was extremely generous with his time, firstly showing us around his shop then upstairs into the design studio. There his team were busy drawing up new designs on Photoshop ready for his craftsmen to make in the workshop that we were shown next.  Once in the workshop we did not want to leave the surroundings of such creativity and craftsmanship. Theo talked about his designs with such passion and even let the students try on some of the jewellery and handle the trophies created in the workshop. 
 
 

After such a great day, how do we follow this up? Well Theo has taken samples of all eight students work to look over, very soon he will return to Winston to feedback his thoughts on how their designs have progressed and mentor them further. Finally Theo will be offering one, or maybe two lucky work experience positions for the young designers that impress him the most.

Miss Blackman