Nope, not a typo. Werkhouse Weekend is a two-day workshop for students, graduates and junior designers, put together by a group of local industry professionals, and held at our friends Taxi Studio, right here in Bristol.

 

It’s designed to bridge the gap between design graduates’ expectations of the world of work, and what the world of work needs from them. Our Junior Designer Louise was lucky enough to get a place (149 people applied for only 32 places!). Here’s what happened…

“Feeling a little nervous when I first arrived on the Saturday morning, we were welcomed with a lovely breakfast which gave us the perfect opportunity to get to know one another and the workshop leaders before the weekend began.

We were divided into teams, then thrown in at the deep end with a creative briefing session. Our brief was to design a festival stand for Frontier, a craft beer sub-brand from Fuller’s. The stand had to be striking, memorable and appeal to a demanding audience, as well as standing out from other competitors.

We then started to develop our ideas and responses to the brief. Throughout the weekend we were given the chance to talk through our ideas, with the various industry experts from Werkhouse, which helped us to eventually narrow them down to one route.

James from Hunter & Sons, an expert in craft beer, gave us a mini-workshop and tasting session where he took us through the history of beer and how it’s brewed. He gave us some samples to taste – a perfect little lunchtime treat and a great way to immerse ourselves in the brief.

In the evening we all got together to talk about our experiences at university and expectations of ‘the real world’. Everyone had a different story to tell and the experience was so varied – from being self-taught to studying in places like Sweden and Canada.

When we regrouped on Sunday, we spent time with Bob Myttton from Mytton Williams and Oli Ware from True Digital, who taught us the art of how to pitch our creative ideas to an audience.

The advice that they gave really helped me to manage my nerves and present our ideas confidently at the end of the weekend.

Werkhouse was a brilliant experience. I was surprised by the amount I learned in just one weekend – real skills, that I can bring back to my working life. It was great to meet new people and bounce ideas off each other too. We’re lucky to be part of such a supportive creative community here in Bristol.”

What’s it like where you are? We’d love to hear your experiences of similar events – or even help you develop one of your own.

 

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At Home we change employees’ lives. We put people at the heart of everything we do, creating movements that captivate, energise and inspire. We believe we can only do this if we invest in our Homies, and in the wider community around us. We think it’s better to get better, together. So if you’d like to share some learning and some love, get in touch.