Kingston University

MA in Product and Furniture Design

Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom

DURATION

1 up to 2 Years

LANGUAGES

English

PACE

Full time, Part time

APPLICATION DEADLINE

Request application deadline *

EARLIEST START DATE

Request earliest startdate

TUITION FEES

GBP 10,900 / per year **

STUDY FORMAT

On-Campus

* there is no application deadline for postgraduate courses

** home full-time: £10,900 | international full-time: £18,700

Key Summary

About: The MA in Product and Furniture Design focuses on developing advanced design skills and innovative thinking in creating functional products and furniture. The program combines theoretical knowledge with practical application, encouraging students to explore materials, processes, and sustainability in design. Students engage in projects that challenge traditional design norms and develop a critical understanding of the design industry.

Career Outcomes: Graduates can pursue careers in various fields, including product design, furniture design, interior design, and consultancy. Other opportunities include working for design firms, starting their own businesses, or engaging in research and development roles within the design industry.

Introduction

Why choose this course?

You may specialise in either product or furniture design. A hands-on approach incorporates research techniques, collaboration and group working, developing finished objects intended for craft, industrial production or conceptual prototype.

The course is studio and project-based. You will practise interdisciplinary methods of working, often collaborating with postgraduates from other courses. Activities may include specialist lectures, workshop inductions, group and personal tutorials, seminars and symposiums. In your final project, you will be able to develop your own interests and agenda. Your work will culminate in an exhibition, attended by design professionals and the press.

Reasons to choose Kingston University

In our workshops, you will be able to practise traditional making techniques as well as the latest 2D and 3D rapid prototyping and digital cutting technologies.
You will be supported by expert tutors, professional designers and specialist practitioners who bring a broad mix of experience to the course.
The course offers the opportunity to gain valuable industry experience through live client projects. Previous project partners include IKEA, Tefal, MADE.com, Camden Town Brewery, British Airways, Network Rail, Black+Blum, and Herman Miller.

Gallery

Admissions

Curriculum

What you will study

The course offers a hands-on approach to design, encompassing research techniques, collaboration, and learning through making and developing finished objects intended for craft, industrial production or conceptual prototype. You'll work in the studio and workshops on specific projects reflective of the modules comprising the course. Activities can include specialist lectures, workshop inductions, group and personal tutorials, seminars and symposiums.

You'll need to be self-directed, reflective and practical in your approach, with direction and purpose.

This course is part of the Design School's postgraduate programme. The structure, shared with students from other design courses, enables you to explore your individual specialist interests within an integrative learning environment that provides an understanding of the value and role of interdisciplinary methods and ways of working. The influences and impact of thinking from other related design subjects on your own specialist study is an important aspect of the identity and the community of interdisciplinary practice at the master's level in the Design School.

This structure is designed to help progress and develop your independent learning, encouraging you to construct and explore projects concerned with areas of particular personal interests. The overarching course philosophy, based upon an emphasis on research, methodology and design thinking, allows individual and personal concerns to be explored through focused study in product and furniture design.

Modules

The two shared modules of the Design School's postgraduate framework both commence with a symposium, in which high-profile external speakers present their work and contribute to a debate on a topic of relevance to all courses in the Framework.

Core modules

Designing Research
Creative Futures
Creative Practice 1: Design Thinking & Making
Critical Practice
The Major Project

Optional placement year

Many postgraduate courses at Kingston University allow students to do a 12-month work placement as part of their course. The responsibility for finding the work placement is with the student; we cannot guarantee the work placement, just the opportunity to undertake it. As the work placement is an assessed part of the course, it is covered by a student's Student Route visa.

Optional modules

Professional Placement

Please note

Optional modules only run if there is enough demand. If we have an insufficient number of students interested in an optional module, that module will not be offered for this course.