University for the Creative Arts - GOWER Mark

Mark Gower leads our BA Interior Architecture & Design, BA Product Furniture & Design and MA Product Design courses at UCA Farnham and he is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Before joining the university, Mark was Principal Lecturer and Head of the Fashion and Design Programmes at Regent’s University London where he also practiced in the field of design.

Mark graduated from the Royal College of Art (RCA) in 1999 with an MA in Architecture and Interiors and formerly attended Kingston University, where he achieved a BA (Hons) in Interior Design with First Class Honours. While at the RCA Mark received a commendation for his dissertation entitled ‘Football's hidden Architecture'.

Mark has worked with various design companies, including Imagination Ltd. and Studio db, on projects ranging from the recent redevelopment of Fenwick on Bond Street, to designing a European tour stage set for a pop band. Mark has been responsible for leading design teams for major clients in the UK and worldwide including Hong Kong and India. His clients have included Aquascutum, B&Q, Land Rover and Eureka! The museum for Children

Contact
mgower@uca.ac.uk

Current research consists of a cluster of related activities/output around the underpinning theme of the role of physical “making” in interior design processes, resulting in dissemination in a number of formats and contexts. While the relationship between making, and designing has been a focus of my thinking and pedagogy for 12 years, with this submission I am coalescing this practice-based expertise into outputs for dissemination and impact in the field. The elements of the cluster are as follows: Co-editorship of IE Studio: Making and submission of paper titled: Transformative learning, making space - A Case Study of Trans-Institutional Peer-to-Peer Learning

Book Proposal: Mastering the Art of Design Conversations.
Written as a joint endeavour between Mark, an interior designer and Dr. Elaine Kaskett, a counselling psychologist, Mastering the Art of Design Conversations translates skills from the fields of psychology, psychotherapy, qualitative research, and even mediation into the interior design context, teaching both trainee and qualified interior designers to conduct more skilled, more powerful, more truly collaborative assessments of clients’ needs. Through simple explanation of relevant psychological theory and numerous practical examples, the book will help designers go beyond nuts-and-bolts, surface-level discussions about client’s needs and preferences and to have deeper, more values-driven conversations about what is important in clients’ life and work.

Mark Gower

Programme Director Product, Furniture and Interiors, UCA Farnham

Academic, School of Crafts and Design

Research Statement

Professional Membership, Affiliation and Consultancy