Paul Thurston to head up Welsh service design project

From Monday, Thurston (pictured) will be leading a three-year scheme for Design Wales, aiming to raise awareness of service design among advanced manufacturing companies.

Virgin Atlantic head of design Joe Ferry has also promised to lend his expertise to the programme.

Design Wales operations director Gavin Cawood says, ‘There is no service design industry in Wales at the moment, but we see the discipline as capable of helping manufacturers to compete on more than just technological innovation and cost by looking at the service packages they offer customers.’

‘We are interested in learning how we can develop a service design sector here and we will have to be working in parallel to raise awareness of the sector and create a supply of service designers,’ continues Cawood.

This could mean working with universities and colleges to create service design courses in Wales. ‘Ultimately, the goal is for the initiative to become self-sustaining,’ says Cawood.

The Welsh Assembly is funding the project, which it hopes will help build advanced manufacturing in Wales.