Recently, Derek Yates, Course Leader for the FdA in Graphic Design visited the creative agency, Mother, who are based in the Biscuit Building on Redchurch Street. He met with Sam Payne to plan the content of a talk that Sam had agreed to do at Camberwell. Before the meeting, Sam, gave Derek a guided tour of the space that Mother inhabit. Every aspect of this space has been considered to enable dynamic, flexible relationships between the people that work there. A huge concrete table circulates the main space and staff can spread out, hold informal meetings or hide away in purpose built lounge areas if they need some privacy. Teams are made up of people with an equal investment in every part of every project and each member is never pigeon holed into a restrictively defined role. There are many lessons for contemporary education in this approach – not least in the way they avoid entrenched division between departments and the alienation of an overly rigid hierarchy. When they sat down, Sam took Derek through Mother’s strategy for research that enables communication with appropriately specific cultural reference. This includes utilizing a world-wide team of film makers to produce mini documentaries that record the lives of people at the forefront of evolving contemporary vernacular cultures. The depth with which people like Sam develop this reference provides genuine understanding and the process was particularly interesting for Derek as he continues to develop new approaches to contextual research at Camberwell. Sam Payne will be about his role at Mother in the Wilson Road Lecture Hall at Camberwell on the 19th of October at 9.30am.
