Applications are now closed.
Earlier this year the Royal Designers invited applications from early-career designers, scientists and engineers from all backgrounds to join us at our three-day residential Summer Session at Dartington Hall in Devon.
Supported by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, we were delighted to offer free places to forty successful candidates including accommodation, meals, and transport from London.
Successful applicants will join twelve Royal Designers and eight ‘wildcards’ over three days and two nights. The Session’s full complement of sixty provides a chance for cross-inspiration, reflection and activity as we share experience and search for insight.
Mend, Do and Make
This year's theme is "Mend, Do and Make". Can a kinship of design, science and thought help mend our planet through ingenuity and empathy?
We extend an invitation to join this conversation - to those finding their feet or looking for a catalyst or safe harbour; beyond formal education with its curriculum, classes and friends; to those moving beyond a first job, a teacher, or a mentor; to those who may want to engage with kindred spirits that spark them into the next phase of life and work.
The Session will take its unique shape when we come together as this year’s cohort. It is open-started, open-ended and open-hearted. There is no expectation of a particular outcome (though past participants have remarked on the Session’s profound and lasting effects). The Session gives everyone space for a pause for thought, to enjoy shared experience with like-minded people across generations. Dartington Hall is in a beautiful landscape, with a history of hosting creative people to think, make, show and perform.
More information
Mend, Do and Make: September 2024
Dartington Hall, Devon
What Is It?
A welcome chance to step from the everyday world into an immersive residential retreat for a three-day collaborative experience with other early career designers, scientists and engineers, Royal Designers and "wildcards". It is an opportunity to explore this year's theme of "Mend, Do and Make" openly, playfully and inventively as a springboard to bring about change for the better...
When Is It?
The 2024 RDI Summer School Session will run from noon on Friday 27 September to Sunday 29 September 2024.
Where Is It?
The Session will take place at Dartington Hall, Devon. Dartington is a charity delivering progressive learning programmes in the arts, ecology and social justice, set in a beautiful 1,200-acre estate. It is a creative community with its own year-round programme of art and craft short courses, theatre, music, cinema and dance.
Who will be there?
In total, the Session will have 60 participants:
● 40 early-career designers, scientists and engineers.
● 8 wildcards: people whose life intersects ours in some way. They may come from arts and music; from economics, from health; from think-tanks; they may be carpenters, baristas, soldiers, spies, philosophers, teachers, shopkeepers.
● And 12 Royal Designers.
What happens while we're there?
The Session programme is designed so that everyone has something to learn, and everyone has something to give. The only prerequisite is to bring an open mind and the ability to let it run free for a while. We usually work in close-knit groups of between 4 and 8, in a mix of early-career, wildcard, Royal Designer. There will also be shared sessions, often centred around meals, where we will come together for reflection and more-or-less-gentle stimulus.
We will stay on or near the Dartington Estate and have all our main meals there. We will use many of Dartington's amazing collection of indoor spaces, including the Great Hall which we use as our base. The gardens and grounds are uplifting and well-aligned with human nature, so many spend a lot of their time wandering the estate and the riverbank, to which we have generally free access.
No charge for attendees
We are grateful to the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 whose grant support means there is no cost to attend. The Royal Commission's support covers all main meals and accommodation at Dartington.
Getting there
The Royal Designers will provide complimentary transport from the RSA, London to and from Dartington Hall. We are unable to cover other travel costs to the event. If you are travelling independently by rail, Totnes is the nearest train station with a regular taxi service.
Detailed joining instructions will be sent to successful applicants.
Reflections from RDI Session 2023
‘I know it was a pivotal experience, even though I don't yet know where that pivot will lead.’
‘Bringing together cross-generational and cross-discipline groups in deep discussion was an insightful, enlightening and refreshing experience, encouraging the space for further conversation and action to grow.’
‘The retreat creates interactions that trigger you to think, explore, discuss outside your comfort zone, dip into sources of data that you'd forgotten or that were hidden.’
‘The weekend … was transformative. Engaging discussions, inspiring walks, and invaluable networking made it an unforgettable experience. It was a weekend where ideas transcended boundaries, and I found myself partaking in a collective journey toward a brighter, more imaginative tomorrow.’
The title ‘Royal Designer for Industry’ (RDI) is awarded annually by the RSA to designers of all disciplines who have achieved ‘sustained design excellence, work of aesthetic value and significant benefit to society’.