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Certified Passive House Consultant
Freelance
May 2012 - Present (12 years 4 months)
Passivhaus, Passive House or passiv haus? They're all the same! Passivhaus is the leading international low energy design standard. The official Passivhaus Institute is headquartered in Germany, and they translate it as Passive House in English. However the British Passivhaus trust http://passivhaustrust.org/ use the German spelling. Main point is I've done the training, passed the exam and am helping people build or remodel their homes using Passivhaus principles to save money and energy. More info at www.blackwell-design.co.uk
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Designer
Ortho-Europe
Jan 2012 - Present (12 years 8 months)
A three-day-a-week venture. Working in an great little factory making orthopaedic footwear and still freelancing -
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Freelance Footwear Designer
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Jan 2010 - Present (14 years 8 months)
My main job for rmany years, before developing a taste for green building. I'm still very busy designing footwear for clients from around the world. I love finding the right design for my clients and working with them to source the product and bring it to market.
Specialist in technical and comfort footwear having worked with Goretex and Vibram with a soft spot for children's shoes. portfolio at www.coroflot.com/blackwell
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Designer
Pavers shoes
Sep 2010 - Dec 2011 (1 year 3 months)
3 days a week here in York and 2 days at home to persue other projects including a new range of Children's shoes for a company in New York.
Currently working with factories in India, Italy and China.
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Footwear Designer
Hotter
Jun 2008 - Jul 2010 (2 years 1 month)
Just 2 days a week, (I'm not really into a five day trans-pennine commute and had a house-project on the go) Loved the job,it's a very interesting company to work for. Now that I've left I miss all my great workmates. Plenty of my designs still on their website.
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Designer
Bacup Shoe company
Dec 2006 - Dec 2007 (1 year)
A fast paced job hurtling through footwear designs for Marks and Spencer, BHS, Monsoon, Tesco and most of High Street UK. Lots of licensed product - Simpsons, Disney etc. etc. It was fun putting their characters to work though and I learnt to work smarter and faster.
However on the whole I prefer to work on quality footwear that is well crafted and thoughtfully designed - hopefully a more sustainable product.
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Designer
Brasher
2001 - 2006 (5 years)
The sole (haha) designer for this growing outdoor footwear brand which is part of the Pentland Group. They are still selling my designs.....
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Designer
Berghaus
Mar 1999 - Dec 2000 (1 year 9 months)
This company makes fantastic outdoor gear. I just helped by designing the footwear. Part of the Pentland Group, I followed my boss to Brasher.
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Technical Design Manager
Reebok
Aug 1997 - Dec 1998 (1 year 4 months)
Based in Bangkok I travelled to their factories across Thailand to make sure the shoes we made followed the intentions of the US design team.
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Designer
Clarks
1990 - 1997 (7 years)
Footwear design and CADCAM design engineer, training others to use the Shoemaster CAD system.
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Designer
NC Graphics
1989 - 1991 (2 years)
The company guinea pig - I'd never used a computer but I was the resident specialist in footwear design and development.
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Designer
Bata Shoe Company
1982 - 1989 (7 years)
Moved to France, USA, Italy and finally back to the UK. A great time!