from Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts,
BA Object Design to Bath Spa University UK, BA Product an furniture Design
spring semester 2021
I spent the 2nd semester of the 2nd year BA Textile Design as an exchange semester in Bath, England. The partner school was Bath Spa University. Because of Corona, my first module was completely online, which is why I was able to participate from Switzerland. The task was to make an innovative and sustainable gift wrapping or card collection targeting children or men. We were supported with one or two weekly feedback sessions with the tutors and voluntary weekly inputs on techniques or Photoshop/Illustrator. I liked this module a lot, we were very free in the implementation. I had absolutely no contact with my fellow students from the 2nd BA. However, this was probably because the module took place online and therefore social exchange was practically impossible.
There was a weekly Virtual Café on Fridays, which was organised by the International Team in England for exchange students. I thought it was very good because I was able to get to know the other exchange students a bit and exchange information about travel plans and so on. I was able to enter Bath at the end of March, and after 10 days of self-isolation and 3 expensive covid tests, I was able to start my second module at Bath Spa University. I lived in a student accommodation for three months, which the International Team had organised for me. I was able to share a flat with 3 other exchange students. There was a total of 8 exchange students this semester, all from other fields of study. So, I didn’t feel alone, but was part of a social network.
My second module at the university was with the 1st BA. In this module we learned the basic techniques of knitting, crochet, and printing. Because of Covid measures, we were only allowed to be at school 2-3 days a week, so we had, for example, a day on Monday when we could work freely in the studio, on Wednesday an introduction to printing and on Friday an introduction to knitting. So, we all had the techniques at the same time, which encouraged mixing of techniques. So, you could print something first, then embroider freely on it or overprint something knitted. Unfortunately, you couldn’t go into it as deeply as you could in Lucerne when you have 3 weeks at a time for one technique.
Besides, after about 4 weeks of introduction, we were free to book places in the workshops and then work independently in the school. So, you were free to decide whether to work from home and then make a lot of handmade pieces or book a place in the school every day and work there with the machines. You were very free to go deeper and if you wanted to learn more, you had to actively approach the workshop staff and ask them for advanced techniques.
Another difference to Lucerne was the final presentation. In Lucerne, we had to do a big presentation at the end of the semester with reflection, etc. In Bath, we had to write a written reflection, photograph all our sketches and fabric samples and hand them in online. We then only had about 3 minutes in a virtual meeting to roughly explain what we had done, but this was not assessed.
Bath is a beautiful city. There are many parks where you can linger and almost everything is within walking distance. The old town has small shops and cafés, as well as restaurants. There is everything you need. The historic city also has a lot to offer culturally, with theatre, cinema, and many museums.
Overall, I really enjoyed the exchange semester, I was able to develop personally, practise my English and
make new contacts. I would recommend doing an exchange semester in Bath to anyone!
