Daniel Heath talks to us at Manchester School of Art

I was really excited for Daniel Heath's talk today; it is the first time a screen printer has come to speak to textiles students since I came to Manchester School of Art, and I really like his work. I had looked at his website earlier this week, 

http://www.danielheath.co.uk/ 

and emailed about the chance of getting some work experience with him. It was great to hear from someone in my field about the way they work, opportunities encountered, different collaborations, how to get started, preparing images for press and lessons to be learned along the way. One important thing to take away was that sometimes a project may not be financially lucrative, but the press, publicity and experience may be worth the effort, and may lead to bigger things.

From danielheath.co.uk, his new range of cushions for Heal's. I love the mix of bold colour and detailing. It shows that when tone is used well it can be highly effective and sophisticated; this might be something I could experiment with in future.

He is very clear and positive about his work, which is another important thing to take on board - you need to be confident to sell your ideas and designs. He stressed that finding suppliers you trust is a huge help, and producing pieces that are affordable and appeal to a wide audience (such as cushions) may lead to larger commissions. A lot of mileage can be gained from a few motifs, and running out of, say a certain fabric or material can be a good trigger to make new motifs. He stayed to talk to a group of us and answer our questions about working as a freelancer, building a network and finally the chance of work experience and was very helpful and willing to take time to give useful answers. In the summer he may need some help preparing for London Design Festival, so nearer the time I will get back in touch to see if something can be arranged.

Hopefully there will be many more talks by inspiring print designers in future!