BA (Hons) Craft & Material Practices
With almost 150,000 people employed in the UK’s craft industry, skilled craftspeople are putting the country on the map for original, forward-thinking contemporary design. The relationship between thinking and making is constantly evolving, with experimentation and innovation driving a new wave of craftspeople to explore original directions.
<p>On BA (Hons) Craft & Material Practices at Arts University Plymouth, you’ll often explore methods in which we can live harmoniously within natural and fabricated environments while supporting a healthy ecosystem, developing your practice through materials, processes and making.<br /></p>
Find out more about BA (Hons) Craft & Material Practices at Arts University Plymouth.
<ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Degree: BA (Hons) Craft & Material Practices</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">UCAS codes: 3-year degree 67T2 / 4-year Integrated Foundation 69K5</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Typical UCAS points: 104–120</p></li></ul>
<p dir="ltr">Our spacious Materials Lab includes specialist facilities for ceramics, glass, metal and wood, encouraging you to explore traditional making. It is complemented by the rapid digital prototyping facilities within Fab Lab South West, giving you the opportunity to reinvent craft for the 21st century.</p>
<p dir="ltr">However, learning isn’t limited to our studios and workshops. You will meet some of the UK’s most inventive and entrepreneurial contemporary makers and thinkers through gallery visits, demonstrations and presentations.<br /></p>
From collective installations to traditional making and digital fabrication - your experience will be filled with opportunities to diversify and try new processes.
I knew I needed to see the university in person, and the facilities were just unbeatable. That was when I realised how much the course had to offer. I was unsure which creative route to follow, so I took the opportunities offered to learn as much as possible across a number of disciplines, and I found my specialism.
Caroline Barr, BA (Hons) Craft & Material Practices student
<p dir="ltr">On this course you will have the opportunity to explore a wide range of techniques and processes across materials and making:</p><ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><strong>Ceramics:</strong> throwing, slip casting, slab building, coiling, glazing and raku firing</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><strong>Glass:</strong> hot glassmaking, kiln-formed glass, coldworking and lampworking</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><strong>Metals:</strong> casting, welding and grinding</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><strong>Woodworking:</strong> woodturning, joinery and CNC routing (if you choose to specialise)</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><strong>Fab Lab South West:</strong> laser cutting, CNC milling and 3D printing</p></li></ul>
Jason Mcanuff working in the glass-blowing house within our £8m funded Craft, Design and Fabrication workshops.
<p>As a student, you will learn about enterprise and entrepreneurship, and how to price, display and promote work for a range of different markets. This includes large-scale site-specific work, individual exhibition pieces and domestic products, all based on knowledge of your customers and the experience gained by working on live briefs, pitching to clients and entering competitions.</p>
Student work by Ben Kew
<ul><li><p dir="ltr">Explore an expansive range of material practices, including glassblowing and kiln-formed glass, ceramics, large and small scale metals, woodworking, concrete, plastics and textiles, in our industry-standard workshops.</p></li></ul><ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Engage with live briefs and real clients: students have worked with Tate Exchange, The Box, MAKE Southwest, Mount Edgcumbe Estate, Eden Project and New Designers among others.</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Become part of the international maker community by participating in our renowned, biennial Making Futures™ conference, a research platform exploring contemporary craft and maker movements as ‘change agents’ in 21st-century society.</p></li></ul>
<p>Career opportunities include: Designer/Makers, Ceramicists, Glass Artists, Wearables Designers, Sculptors, Architectural Surface Designers, Mixed Media Artists, Fine Artists, Gallery and Museum Professionals, Teachers, Technicians, Material Restoration Technicians and Conservators, and Prop Designers.</p>
<p>It’s about contemporary craft and the evolving relationship between thinking and making, shaped by experimentation and innovation in materials, processes and making.</p>
<p>You’ll be supported to enter industry as a well-rounded interiors specialist, ready to work on projects from super yachts to magazine photoshoots.</p>
<p>You’ll design for environments from residential and commercial spaces to the public realm and even transport.</p>
<p>Your studies place special emphasis on trends, colour, materiality, sustainability and accessibility in interior contexts, both public and private.</p>
<p>Yes. You’ll develop your own distinct taste in style curation, exploring lighting, furnishing, surface and textural finishes to make your design concepts a reality.</p>
<p>Yes. You’ll develop a keen understanding of consumer trends and learn how to design for different levels of the market.</p>
<p>Specialist modules cover interior project management, materials and regulations in design, event planning and live design briefs, and you’ll develop skills including technical drawing, visualisation, editorial photography and industry-standard CAD software.</p>
<p>You’ll be taught by industry-active academics and specialist technicians whose combined client list includes the National Trust, the BBC, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Sheraton, and who have delivered multi-million-pound commissions in New York and Barbados.</p>
<p>Graduates of this course can access application guidance, portfolio preparation and progression planning for relevant taught postgraduate programmes at the Royal College of Art through our progression agreement.</p>
<p>Your undergraduate degree is taught and awarded by Arts University Plymouth. Applications to the RCA follow its normal admissions process, and applicants must meet the entry requirements for their chosen programme.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/royal-college-of-art-progression">Explore the RCA progression route and scholarships for 2027/28 entry</a>.</p>
<p>This degree is also available as a four-year <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/integrated-foundation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Integrated Foundation</a> option. Our <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/integrated-foundation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Integrated Foundation</a> provides you with a preparatory year that will support your creative development, through a broad understanding of art, design and media skills relevant to your chosen degree subject. Learning through experimentation, exploration and discovery will support you in progressing to the next level of your degree at Arts University Plymouth.</p>
<p>All students at Arts University Plymouth can access specialist support via our Student Support Team. Our trained advisers offer information and guidance on student finance and funding, disability support, counselling and more. <br /><br /><a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/disability-support-and-reasonable-adjustments" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Click here</a> to read more about the support we offer.</p>
<p><strong>Email: </strong><a href="mailto:admissions@aup.ac.uk">admissions@aup.ac.uk</a></p>
<p><strong><strong>Instagram: </strong></strong><a href="https://www.instagram.com/aup_craft/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">@aup_craft</a></p>
<p>After graduating from BA (Hons) Film & Screen Arts, you could continue your studies at Arts University Plymouth on one of the postgraduate courses listed below. Our graduates are entitled to a 15% discount on tuition fees for our MA programmes.</p>
<p>Through our <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/royal-college-of-art-progression">partnership with the Royal College of Art</a>, graduates of this course can also access application guidance and portfolio preparation for relevant RCA postgraduate programmes.</p>
