What a year (or so) it has been! I think we are all in agreement that these past 18 months have reared some turbulent obstacles, bringing about some much-needed resilience. Here at Realise we’ve been keeping our shoulders to the wheel and tackling challenges with a number of new faces – adding some strings to our bow.
We’re champions of cutting out the middleman and communicating directly with our clients and stakeholders – so it only makes sense to show you the people behind the process…
What sparked your interest in product design?
I was equally interested in maths and art/design growing up, so discovering I could combine the two was a winner. I also had teachers at school who empowered and encouraged females to go down technical creative routes, so I went for it.
What took your fancy about Realise?
After finishing my degree, I wanted to explore the world of consultancy and work across a variety of products. When I discovered Realise, their warm online presence and impressively diverse portfolio shone through. People want to work with people, and the team were incredibly approachable.
What’s been one of your favourite project exposure/experience working with realise?
An air pollution mask Kickstarter project ‘Airhead’. Meeting the clients and witnessing the impact and excitement of getting a real product into their hands has been fantastic.
How is it moving to and working in a new city/Bristol?
Bristol is a crazy cool city, moving and working here there has not been a dull moment! Creativity is widely celebrated here and Realise are at the heart of the action. You can read more about it here.
Who would you change places with for a day?
My dog, I can imagine it would be a pretty chilled day and I’d also love to know what he’s thinking.
What got you into design in the first place?
I think the realisation that almost everything I interacted with was designed and made by someone, design seemed like the perfect way to have a positive impact on people’s lives.
What’s something you’ve learnt since being at Realise?
I feel like I’ve become a more grounded designer with a better understanding of the context which we design in and how good design and good business practices interact.
What next after Realise?
I’ll be returning to university for my final year where I’m excited to put all that I’ve learned here a Realise to use on both my projects and Abserd, a group I run centred around sustainable design for young designers.
If you weren’t a designer, what would you be?
If I wasn’t designing then I would be teaching people to carve spoons in the woods.
Who would be your dream dinner guest?
Maybe Alastair Humphreys, he’s this English adventurer who’s done some absolutely mad trips and I think he’d have some great stories to tell.
What’s been the biggest change from university to working in the industry?
I’ve learnt pretty quickly not to get precious over your ideas! Working in a team requires you to detach from your ego and get over yourself. It’s also introduced a purpose and sense of meaning outside of education.
How do you see the next 6 months/1 year at Realise?
Learning and growing as a digital marketer and graphic designer to help raise the profile of Realise.
Name a creative influence or role model?
Other than Andrew our MD… Neri Oxman, an amazing Bio Architect & Designer. She inspired me to think about design as an opportunity to combine practices to effect change and progress as human beings.
Who would you change places with for a day?
I would travel the world and experience amazing places as Sam Kolder – a wildly creative businessman.
When you’re not working where can we find you?
I’ve always loved sport and training, so finding me might be hard as I’m normally out and about doing something active.
Realise
When we say multidisciplinary, we mean it! Recruiting individuals from dynamic design backgrounds has been paramount to complimenting the existing team. Together we have been working incredibly hard to concept, develop and deliver products which make a positive impact, our most recent being IONA. Read about how we prototyped and produced a scalable network of sensors that provide metrology-grade data and creates automatic manufacturing processes.
There’s more! We will also be sharing our work on Airhead, a sustainable and modular air pollution mask. We took the initial basic concept and sculpted it into a manufacturable and marketable product.
Saving the best for last – we will soon be revealing an exciting announcement of two Red Dot awards this year! After some serious hard work and dedication, we can’t wait to share our journey with you. Stick around to get the inside scoop, and feel free to reach out in the meantime…
