14 November 2005
Monash University's Art and Design faculty has established Australia's only university-based clay modelling studio. The studio is currently being used by industrial design students specialising in automotive design.
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| From left: Industrial design fourth-year (honours) student Mr Tom Marminc with Ms Sheryl Garrett and Mr William Mattana from General Motors' headquarters in Detroit. |
Automotive industry interest in the new facility is so great that executives from General Motors' headquarters in Detroit, Michigan, visited the studio last month as part of a worldwide audit of 20 universities from which the organisation recruits graduates.
The studio is based at Monash's Caulfield campus and is being used by third-year and honours students to create three-dimensional scale models of their automotive designs.
Nine of the students working in the studio were finalists in the 2005 Wheels Automotive Design Award for Young Designer of the Year, which was won by industrial design honours student Mr Adam Ty Dean Smith.
The designs currently taking shape include cars, a school bus, an ambulance, a utility, an off-road vehicle and a three-wheeled motorcycle.
Industrial design course coordinator Mr Selby Coxon said the studio could be expanded to include modelling of other consumer products such as whitegoods.
"There is a world-wide shortage of clay modellers, and the Monash studio is a way of developing this expertise in our students and adding to their skill set," Mr Coxon said.
The new studio is a result of the Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education (PACE) alliance that involves Monash's Engineering and Art and Design faculties, General Motors (represented in Australia by Holden Limited), Electronic Data Systems, Sun Microsystems and software provider UGS.
The head of the Art and Design faculty's Department of Design, Associate Professor Arthur de Bono, and transport design lecturer Mr Mark Richardson were instrumental in establishing the studio.
Mr Mike Chester, head of the clay modelling studio at General Motors, is conducting twice-weekly studio sessions at Monash as part of General Motors' commitment to the PACE agreement.
For information contact Ms Lauren Bialkower, Art and Design faculty on +61 3 9903 1832 or Ms Karen Stichtenoth, Media Communications on +61 3 9905 1253.
Photographs of students working in the studio are available.
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