When local girl, May Burgess, came into our kitchen showroom looking for some input to her school design project, I don’t think anyone expected she would soon be helping to design our new ‘Home Office’ display!

With the ambition of studying product design at university next year, May was so pleased with the help from one of our senior designers, Craig Lacey, on her school project, she asked if she could come in for some work experience to understand a little more about what we do and how we do it.  We were delighted to help and here’s some of her highlights:

“Having held little expectations for the week ahead of me, I walked into Pittville’s kitchen showroom on the morning of Monday the 31st of August to be greeted with smiling faces from Lindsay and Craig, the designers. Shortly after I met Alison, the manager, who outlined Pittville and its many branches as well as providing me with a flexible day-to-day plan for the week, to dip in-and-out of: an elevating start.

My main project for the week was introduced; to re-design a section of the downstairs showroom to reflect a home office theme that tied into the existing living space display, while remaining functional for use by staff to (sit clients down and discuss products).  Having been given time to go through product brochures to help me produce an outline for the space, I began sketching some ideas to be drawn up on the computerised design program Pittville use later on in the week.

My week was spent shadowing all the staff to get an understanding of what each area of the business does.  I learnt how important it is to double check plans and measurements with suppliers before work begins to ensure that few surprises occur and any potential lag time in production is prevented.  (Something that was very relevant to my school design projects too!)  I was also amazed by the amount of work that goes on ‘behind the scenes’ to help make sure customers jobs are completed efficiently and on time.

Towards the end of the week I was let loose with the design program to begin bringing my sketches for the home office showroom to life; using genuine dimensions to fit the space provided as well as experimenting with and changing materials to create a style that followed current trends.   On Friday I presented my ideas to Alison and Lindsay (they seemed really pleased!) and we wrapped up with a friendly discussion of my week over some tea and cake!

This wonderful opportunity has given me a glimpse into the industry and has added new skills to my roster, ones that would be hard to gain from purely a classroom surrounding.

I started the week with no expectations and finished with a smile.   Thank you Pittville!”