What's on Calendar

THE DESIGN CHALLENGE 

Ushaw Historical House, Chapple and Gardens are hosting a Design challenge for 20 County Durham creative businesses to develop bespoke products and services that celebrate its history and future.

USHAW HISTORICAL HOUSE and GARDEN  

Ushaw is truly one of the hidden jewels in Durham’s crown and is quickly establishing itself as a fantastic new centre of contemporary creative practice with over 50 resident artists, studio spaces and a rolling programme of arts activities for the general public. Ushaw’s stunning Chapels, Refectory, Exhibition Hall & Parlour are must-see attractions, and its unique and tranquil atmosphere makes Ushaw a remarkable and incomparable place visitors want to return to time and time again.

Pre-covid, Ushaw’s audiences had grown from 7,000 in 2015 to over 55,000 in 2019. To build on this success, Ushaw is inviting creative entrepreneurs, artisan food makers, designers, artists, makers, crafters or performers based in County Durham to join its journey by developing products and experiences that make the most of Ushaw’s assets and can be sold, for mutual commercial benefit, to Ushaw’s visitors.

THE THEMES 

• Consumer products and services
• Indoor and Outdoor experiences

THE PROCESS 

The project will launch in October with an information day at Ushaw. We will be inviting people to register their initial interest by application.
Those shortlisted will participate in design thinking workshops and will be offered the opportunity to develop their pitch in preparation for submission in December.
Successful applicants will be announced in January and contractual agreements will subsequently be made. Whilst Ushaw cannot commit to offering commercial opportunities to all those submitting ideas, we will endeavour to create them for all proposals that support Ushaw’s business development plans.

Key Dates

Friday 8th October 2021, 2pm: Online Design Challenge Launch

Discover more about Ushaw, the Design Challenge and how to register your interest to take part.

Day 15th October: Information Event

Visit Ushaw, meet the Design Challenge team, and find out more about commercial opportunities

Sunday 31st October: Final Registration Date

Friday 12th November: Workshop 1: Design Thinking

• Ushaw’s assets
• The customers
• The market opportunities
• Ideation

 Friday 19th November Workshop 2: Experimentation

• Rapid Prototyping
• Testing
• Validating

 Friday 26th November: Workshop 3: Perfecting your Pitch

• Develop and practice your submission pitch video
• storyboard submission video to showcase the idea and film the pitch with expert support and advice.

SUPPORT

Jane Shaw of Create North, Andie Harris and Nick Devitt of the Rural Design Centre will be working with Ushaw to support the Design Challenge process and will be running workshops designed to helps you generate, test, develop, and bring your innovate ideas for products and services to market.

Nick and Jane both have considerable experience of designing and developing innovate products and services and have many years supporting hundreds of creative practitioners generate income from their work. Andie, Nick and Jane also have extensive knowledge of heritage, the business support next work respectively and can sign-post to additional market opportunities and support available across the region.

 This Design Challenge has been developed thanks to support from Business Durham and The Rural Design Centre and Create North