Life After KLC

WORDS FROM THE WORKING WORLD

An Interior Design Diploma Graduate and a Garden Design Diploma Graduate from last year tell us about life after KLC

JANE DANSIE, KLC INTERIOR DESIGN DIPLOMA 2002
Since graduating for KLC in July 2002, life has been a whirlwind – I started work at Taylor Howes Designs two weeks after finishing the KLC Interior Design Diploma course and my feet haven’t touched the ground since! The dedication and commitment required for the KLC course certainly stood me in good stead for the demands of my new job, and I was extremely grateful for my knowledge of Chelsea Harbour and its showrooms as I was sent out in my first week to source the extremes of fabric for under £20/metre and wallpaper at £500 a roll!

On my second week I was in at the deep end, covering for a colleague who was off work for a month, overseeing a deluxe office refurbishment for a private client in Mayfair. I had to liase on site with building contractors, security consultants, mechanical and electrical engineers, architects, and joinery contractors - the list goes on and on. Little did I know the intricacies of air conditioning, fan-coil units, ducting and grommets!

But all of this has been thoroughly enjoyable and I'm learning something new every day. Six months and a few grey hairs later the job is finally finished. The Russian client has moved in, not having seen the site since commencement of works, and is thrilled with the transformation. I'm immediately onto juggling the next few jobs: a 4 storey house off Eaton Square, specifying for a development in Paddington, and helping to finish off a penthouse showflat above a cinema in Mayfair.

My job is never the same two days running- I can be meeting private clients for residential work, or scaling 3 flights of scaffolding in a hardhat and muddy wellies to see a developer! Never let it be said that interior design isn't glamorous!

Having taken a leap of faith from the city to the design world, my life couldn't be more different - but I wouldn't have it any other way!”

Jane Dansie, KLC Interior Design Diploma 2002

MARIE-LOUISE AGIUS, KLC GARDEN DESIGN DIPLOMA 2002
KLC for me seemed to be the most comprehensive, all round full time course available, with it's strongest selling point being that it appeared to have it's feet firmly grounded in the market place. Its students were taught with a very real view to entering a career as a Garden Designer.

This was realised through a curriculum that covered a great many aspects of the discipline, from horticulture to construction, history to maintenance, design to specifications; all of which were taught by people who were either practicing designers or active within the landscape industry themselves.

From the very beginning we were never under any illusions about the level of commitment that was going to be needed throughout the course. It was unbelievably hard work and it consumed your mind, body and life for the next year with a steep learning curve that required dedication, commitment and focus to get the best from the unique education that was being offered to you. It would be naive to think that however hard you worked and however well you did that you could learn it all in a year!

One of the basic natures of Garden Design as a discipline is that you never stop learning, no matter how long you have been in the game. KLC was very clever in the way that it recognised this; so as well as teaching the fundamental principles of Garden Design - Technical Drawing, Horticulture, Construction, Maintenance etc. it was extremely thorough in how it introduced you to the breadth of the discipline. This is what has stood me in such good stead having graduated and now being employed in a Landscape Design business.

The principles that were instilled in me are always there at the base, and as and when I am faced with a completely new situation, with it's own set of challenges, I am able to draw upon that wider base and it gives me a starting point from which I can be confident to draw an informed decision. The intense nature of the course, both in terms of content and time was invaluable training for the pressures of working life.

Marie-Louise Agius, KLC Garden Design Diploma 2002