From Sheffield with love (9.-15.10.2016)

This was the third work shop of the 4 E's project. First one was in Florence, Italy; second one in Ikaalinen, Finland and this was in Sheffield, England.

In this workshop our main task was to desing a product that can solve some real word problem. The thing was that it had to have something to do with a bicycle. The product that can be used while cycling, and  which can solve problems... What could that be?

Our flight arrived in Manchester on Sunday afternoon. We were so tired of travelling. We didn't sleep at all because of the early flights. Some of us took a train straight to the lodgings in Sheffield, but others wanted to explore Manchester. I was one of the curious ones, so I decided to spend some time in Manchester before heading to Sheffield. Our first mission was to find some place to eat, because we were so hungry.

We found a place to eat!

After eating we had time to look around the Manchester city center. Then we finally took train to Sheffield. In Sheffield we found immediately many interesting places. The city was beautifull and people seemed to be
very polite.

There were many lovely buildings in Sheffield.

Some street art.

One of the buildings from Sheffield Hallam university.

This one was one of our faworite pubs and the food was delicious.

More street art.

 
On Monday was the first day at the workshop. We took a tram from Sheffield city center to Hillsborough, where the College was. There we finally met the other 4 E's students.

Then we devided to groups, where we were supposed to work during the workshop. Each group had one Italian, one Finnish, and a few English students. First the English students introdused the college to us. Then we had to figure out the name for our team. We decided to be F.S.G.S.M. Where each letter represent the name of the citys where we were born.

Next was a time to get started with the product. We started to think about the problems. Rain was our main problem, but we were thinking of the darkness too. We decided to search some inspiration on the internet. We also looked some pictures of bicycle accessories. Then we made sketches.

We had many ideas, like baskets, jackets, raincoats, windshields and radios. Finally we desided to focus on the jacket because that was the most suitable for our problem. We started from the rainjacket which looks great and still feels comfortable.

We also wanted that our product could help people to be seen in dark. So we added some reflectors and led lights on it. We even thought about putting the indicators in the back, so they will blink in the same side where you are turning on.

Sketching.

First we thaught about rain poncho.

One of the ideas was a bag for water bottle for example.

A little gift from college.

On Monday afternoon we wento to Millenium Gallery to get some inspiration for our job. There were exhibition named "Made in Sheffield". Permanent exhibition, "The Sykes Gallery: Metalwork Collection" had a large amount of metalworks that have made Sheffield famous.

The gallery had also a beutifull Winter Garden.We came in throug it.

Millenium Gallerys Winter Garden from outside.

A sign welcomed us in Sheffield.

A nice chandelier in the carden.

Tools floating in the air.

Beautiful rings.

This knife was very nice.

One of my faworites in the museum. A bag made from climbing equipments.

I want these!

There were a large collection of tablewares and knives.

On tuesday we continued our work.
We found many interesting ideas when searching the inspirations on the internet. One of them was a lovely retro radio, which was attached to bicycle handelbar. We wanted to add the radio in the jacket somehow. First we thaught some kind of wristband radio, but the problem was that it will get wet during the rain. So we added a transparent pocket for it in the sleeve of the jacket. The pocket could be used for mobile phone too.

We made a mind map.

I drew some ideas for the radio.

The radio had a little led light on it. Abow is the final version of the pocket.

On Wednesday we went to Chatsworth. During the 40 minute buss trip we had a change to see the beautiful English countryside.

A beautiful landscape on our bus trip to Chatsworth.

We saw a lot of sheeps.

Then we arrived at Chatsworth. Chatsworth is a stately home in Derbyshire, England. It is the seat of the Duke of Devonshire and has been home to the Cavendish family since 1549. It has a large garden an a plenty of sculptures and other art.

This was one of the modern art pieces.

A lovely dog.

The guide told us that this "road" looks really good in rain.

These big "lilys" was a example of the modern art in the gardens.

...And this one too.

A giant "Fruit cake" made from sand molds.

The statue at the end of path is a pickle.

The close picture of the pickle.

There were also a Rock Garden.

So many rocks!

A beautiful view to the garden.

Me and my frend went also inside to the Chatsworth house. Unfortunately we didn't had time to explore it properly because we had to hurry to the next place. There is some of the pictures taken in a hurry.

The dining room.

Copy of a shield of Hercules.

The next stop was a David Mellor gallery. The gallery was about David Mellor who was a Englis designer, manufacturer, craftsman and retailer. He is known for designing buss shelters, cutlery and the traffic light system. There were also a shop where they sell some of Mellors products.

Mellors cutlery designs.

We had also a lecture "Stars on Starting Out" on Wednesday evening. That was held in the Hallam University and it was about entrepreneurship. There were two ceramic artists who told us about how they have achieved their success. The other was, a well known English ceramic artist, Kate Malone.


We continued our work on Thursday. We had to be ready by the afternoon because the presentations were meant to be in the friday morning. This meant that we had to work hard to get everything ready. So we drew the final pictures of our product, scanned the sketches and started to write the Power Point -presentation.

We still taught that we had to add somethin in our product. Somethin that can keep us warm in the cold weather and cool us down during the hot weather. And first of all, keep us safe. Finally we ended up putting the solar panel system in the jacket (for heating and cooling). After all that, we still added the air bags in the nec to cover it if cyclist crashes and falls down. So our product ended up to be a real "Life saving Jacket".

The shape of our final jacket.

A rainy wiew from the classroom.

We visited the Sheffield Cathedral after the school. It was really beautiful.

A gorgeous sealing.

Beautiful altarpiece.

On friday was the last day at the college. Each group presented their work to other groups and teachers. It was really nice to hear and see what kind of products the other teams had made. I was positively surprised that everyone had a different ways of solving the same kind of problems.

I am also really glad about our job. Our team worked hard and everybody had their own jobs. Even if we sometimes had a difficulties about speaking and understanding each others, we solved them well. For example our Italian student was a really good at drawing so she replaced the lack of language skills in that way. She was the one who drew the final pictures of the jacket.

After the presentations we filled our Europasses and then the school offered the traditional scones to us.

At the end of the school day came the time to say cood bye to our new friends. But we saw some of them later, because in the evening our hosts took us to a fairwell meal in the Indian restaurant named Aagrah.
 
I was so happy to be choosen also in this trip. I really enjoyed my time in England. The whole journey was such a great experience!

One of my biggest personal tasks during all these workshops was to improve my English skills. I think that I really got the confidence of speaking English. I am not afraid to open my mouth anymore, and I am so happy for that. I know that I would not have succeeded that well without those wonderful people in the workshops. The best part of all was to meet all those people. I got many new friends and I hope that we stay in touch in the future.

Bye bye England! See you next time! :)