ABOUT

Designed & Made was formed in 2002 as an artist-led,
not-for-profit organisation, to promote the work of its
Membership to a national and international audience. It is the only selective Membership network in North East England dedicated to the designer-maker sector and is led by a Board of seven Directors, five of whom are designer-makers living and working in the region: Alice Highet, Nick James, Bridget Jones, William Pym and Fiona Rutherford.

Following a period of research and development, Designed & Made’s first touring exhibition was launched in summer 2004.TrailerMade - a contemporary caravan with interior furnishings commissioned from twenty regional makers - travelled to eleven venues in the North of England, and to Designers Block in London. A joyous and colourful experience, it turned the traditional notion of the caravan experience on its head.

More recently, the Membership’s first Gallery exhibition On the Road was mounted at Mushroom Works in Newcastle upon Tyne in association with mima (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art). Mushroom Works - the city’s newest artists’ studio complex in the Ouseburn Regeneration Zone - is also currently home base for Designed & Made’s management and administration.

We are particularly pleased that 2006 will see Designed & Made Members involved in two significant Creative Opportunities projects - details are given under ‘Events’.

At the close of 2005 our Membership (Professional and
Associate) totalled 35; their details can all be found here.
As reports of Designed & Made spread with the launch of this website, it is hoped that creative talent, newly emerging from the region’s colleges and universities, will be drawn in alongside the expanding core of more experienced makers. Partnerships with professional bodies, educational organisations and others for whom design excellence matters, are also of central importance, and we look forward to a growing list of Associate and Corporate Members from within these ranks

Finally, our thanks go to all those organisations without whom none of this would be possible, and to Business Link Tyne & Wear for their support of this website.