Going ‘wild’ with design.

Vincent Woods of Benchmark Communications organisers of Design North East finds out how Andy McDermott’s unique business sprung into life.

Amongst the components, tools and metal work of our past industrial success we walked through to the gallery area of Test House 5 set up by Andy McDermott.. Andy, who came here from London to study at the former Newcastle Polytechnic, gained a Fine Art degree and slowly but surely made his way into running his own business. To make ends meet he did performance and catering work,

"Versatility is essential I suppose, if you want to survive in business."

So how did you start working for yourself?

"When I was working part time in 1993 I started making lamps, goblets and candlesticks etc out of scrap metal."

Why scrap?

"Mainly because I had a small space out of Morley’s Coach Works in Ouseburn which overlooked a scrap yard, but looking through the yard was like a history lesson to the industrial past of the area. Each layer revealing another chapter of the workshops and factories, which once thrived around here. I then had a large exhibition of my work at the Hancock Museum and I nearly sold out. I realised I had a genuine demand for my products."

Did you get any support to enable you to set up your business?

"I had joined a scheme with Tyneside TEC which gave me some income while I got started, I think it was a follow up to the Enterprise Allowance, it was of great benefit."

How did you sell your work?

"Word of mouth and Tynemouth Market, which was my main outlet. I kept my prices low but essentially I was test marketing, researching what people wanted and evaluating the potential of my products. That face to face interaction was beyond value. From this I established a business which had its own niche market, designing and building craft metal work but from essentially recycled materials salvaged off local scrap-heaps."

So are you still selling to the same people?

"More of the same type of people but to a more broader market place. I now sell to companies, community groups, educational establishments, local authorities, and individuals. I have grown my market without having to go into mass production, people like buying from me because I offer a product that is completely individually designed and built, and there isn’t many people or companies who can offer that level of service."

But how have you grown?

"It’s more to do with demand, built on reputation. Though my prices where maybe low initially I managed to find my niche giving increased scope to ask for better and realistic prices."

What product range do you offer now?

"A key area is now fencing and gates, I can compete with international companies simply on design and build. My competitors in this field are mainly on the continent now, it seems to be where most of the iron work and fencing is made, probably because it’s cheaper to make it there. I look at their brochures and I think they see design as more knobs and swirly bits. Maybe its simpler for me in the end as I can get pieces together and design something new quickly and inexpensively, that’s my competitive advantage. I was asked to design and build gates for Benwell Nature Park. As it was part of an urban renewal scheme the fact that I was making the gates from recycled metal, made me a preferred supplier."

What would you say to the larger manufacturers of things like fencing and gates?

"Look more carefully at the potential in a little expense on design, take a risk in offering a better product. The North East seems to me to go for the lowest common denominator, price not design and maybe now they’ve lost out to continental manufacturers. I don’t want to be critical of general manufacturing in this area. But you could go wild with design sometimes. I’m looking at a project on the theme of Jazz for instance its not just a matter of putting notes and bars on a fence it could be a visual language, a linear framework which could be tremendously exciting. I find now that the customers are thinking creatively as well."

Education Spotlight

The University of Northumbria offers a BA (Hons) in Design 3D Design course. The course runs for three years the first year of the course, concentrates on the basic elements of design and 3D drawing and in the second year of study, you can decide whether to specialise. The University is the only provider of the 3D Design course in the region and places are very sought after. For further information on the course, contact Trevor Duncan at the School of Design on 0191 227 3347. Alternatively a Fine Art degree has been the starting point for many a future designer. Fine Art sculpture work offers training in metalwork, stonework and other materials. A key difference from the specialists design courses is that you’re making things for yourself rather than to a brief. Newcastle University, University of Northumbria, Sunderland and Teesside all offer courses, some will specialise in certain areas ranging from new media to painting. Web sites can be found at: www.ncl.ac.uk, www.unn.ac.uk, www.sunderland.ac.uk and www.tees.ac.uk.

Business support for Designers

"Design, creativity and innovation, all these can make your business unique providing a competitive edge, development of new markets and benefits to your customers, adding up to increased profits and turnover. To help support designers we provide cutting edge technical infrastructure including broad band Internet access and a co-location IT Centre all accessible by our tenants."

Richard Clark, Project North East – Partners of Design North East. For information on business support, workspace and training from Project North East Tel: 261 6009 or visit - www.pne-bss.org.uk

For further information on Project North East's Workspace project visit www.silicon-alley.co.uk

Historical note:

Ghosts of the past

With Andy’s work you get the feeling that he has brought back the ghosts of our industrial heritage. Utilising the very tools and components of a once thriving industrial community to create and fashion new products for a new, far different market place. Old bombshells from The Royal Ordnance factory in Birtley now remade into goblets. More recently waste motherboards from Viasystems in South Shields remade into screens. Both now are part of the past. Ouseburn itself, is one of the oldest industrial centres in the region, at its peak having many workshops and factories with innovators and entrepreneurs of all types. After a long slow decline it’s being revived with new business and residential developments, but there are no scrap heaps planned.

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This document is reproduced with he kind permission of The Journal and Benchmark Communications.