The first Nottinghamshire Summer of Design signs off this Wednesday (September 30), after welcoming over 110 people from 27 businesses and local organisations to workshops and events over the summer months.

The Summer of Design was set up to provide opportunities for small and medium sized businesses in Nottinghamshire to get together with industry experts to explore innovations in design that may help to resolve business design challenges, respond to new opportunities or lead to new ideas.

A series of five free workshop sessions and an exhibition were held at Mansfield Library, covering a variety of themes, including 3D printing, scanning and laser cutting, a chance to learn how to create a prototype for your design and a design showcase.

The Mansfield Summer of Design was organised by Nottinghamshire County Council in partnership with Nottingham Trent University.

Betty Ching, Applied Artist and Owner of Made by Hand based in Mansfield, who attended all of the Summer of Design sessions, said: “It brought everyone together from different disciplines and offered a hands-on approach with all of the latest technologies, such as the 3D printer along with the background processes.

It showed the software that’s needed, how to convert it and print. It’s filling up all these gaps which helped make this programme fantastic.”

Coun Diana Meale, Chair of Nottinghamshire County Council’s Economic Development Committee said: “The response to the Summer of Design has been great and has shown the demand from local businesses for hands-on support to help them develop new ideas or move their business to the next level.

I’m very hopeful that we can look at ways to build on the programme and to deliver further events across Nottinghamshire.”

Nottingham Trent University’s Future Factory project provides business support in both Sustainable Design and Product Design practice. It offers creative solutions for eligible small and medium sized enterprise (SME) in the East Midlands. SMEs can benefit from access to specialist research and talent across a broad range of disciplines and work in partnership with the team on expert-led and tailor made projects.

Future Factory is supported by the European Regional Development Fund.