Key details
Date
- 6 March 2024
Author
- RCA
Read time
- 4 minutes
Our technicians have been described by our students as the ‘local heroes’ that make their RCA experience possible. Everyday they work to ensure students have the skills and knowledge to realise their art and design visions.
Although women in technical services have historically been underrepresented across the sector, things are improving. Since 2012, the number of female technicians at the RCA has increased by nearly 20%, to 44% in 2024.
This International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating the RCA technicians who are part of that change.
Key details
Date
- 6 March 2024
Author
- RCA
Read time
- 4 minutes
Kelly Allsopp (Technical Coordinator, MA Jewellery & Metal and MA Ceramics & Glass)
Kelly has worked at the RCA for sixteen years. She now coordinates technical services for our MA Jewellery & Metal and MA Ceramics & Glass, both based at RCA Battersea. Kelly knew she wanted to build a career around making ever since she first worked with clay.
“Ever since I got my hands on clay for the first time, I was hooked.”
‘Ever since I got my hands on clay for the first time, I was hooked. I knew right then that I wanted to build my career around it. Clay as a material is amazing. There are endless ways to create with it.’
After completing a BA in Ceramics, Kelly started work as a technician following her passion for teaching and developing her own clay making practice. Fifteen years later, she enrolled on the MA Ceramics & Glass at the RCA, where her practice was enriched by being ‘immersed in a community of creative minds.’ As she neared the completion of her degree, a Technician position came up allowing her to continue contributing to the RCA’s unique creative community.
“We need to make sure everyone feels they belong, has a voice and can talk openly.”
Inspiring inclusion is for Kelly a crucial aspect of her work. She outlines the three main ways she champions inclusion for all through ‘embracing diversity’, ‘support and training’ and ‘creating a welcoming atmosphere’. As she explains ‘we need to make sure everyone feels they belong, has a voice and can talk openly – and that we can handle any unfairness when it arises.’
Carolina Stanislas (Technical Instructor, MA Fashion)
“I interact with so many students with different personalities, I love that. Nothing is the same, they are all so creative.”
‘I interact with so many students with different personalities, I love that. Nothing is the same, they are all so creative,’ Carolina Stanislas says of her role as Technical Instructor on our MA Fashion where she has worked with students to help them realise their designs for the last thirteen years.
Carolina has been making clothes since childhood. A career in fashion followed, working in fashion houses including Jasper Conran. Her role at the RCA came after she came here to do some freelance work. ‘I loved it,’ Carolina told us. So she decided to apply for her current position.
On gender equality in the workplace, Carolina emphasises the importance of having more women in leadership roles to ensure voices are heard and equality is supported across an organisation.
You can see Carolina in the tour of our Fashion Studio on YouTube.
Charlotte Raymen (Lead Technical Instructor in Visual & Immersive Technology)
As Lead Technical Instructor in Visual and Immersive, Charlotte has run the XR Lab and Motion Capture space since 2021 helping our students to use virtual reality tools, motion capture for visual effects and extended reality experiences.
Before joining the RCA, Charlotte worked in filmmaking and post production for television and broadcast immersive experiences. Her last role was as Immersive Content Manager at Sky where she designed 3D environments, and managed 360 and 180 degree video for virtual reality experiences on Sky Sports, Premier League, F1, Superleague Netball and Sky Drama show Britannia.
Charlotte told us she enjoys the RCA’s ‘creative environment and the opportunity to build community within different areas of the College. For example, I have started working with ceramics and will be 3D printing a vase designed using virtual-reality.’
In 2022 Charlotte joined the Aurora Training programme, which develops leadership skills in women in higher education. This year she spoke at the 5th annual Aurora Symposium with fellow members of Technical Services, Kristina Walsh and Nerys Edwards. On equality in the workplace, Charlotte emphasises the importance of building networks in your place of work, taking part in equality, diversity and inclusion activity as well as ‘critiquing and addressing gender bias and unconscious bias in the workplace.’
Becky McGowan (Specialist Technical Instructor, Making)
Becky joined the team in our Battersea wood workshop last year. Having previously worked in the furniture industry and as an instructor giving local communities woodwork skills to help them back into employment. She told us about what it’s like working at the RCA.
‘There have always been more men in workshops than women, which I think is slowly changing. I have been extremely lucky to work in a supportive environment here at the RCA. But I know that not every woman in male-dominated industries has this experience – and that needs to change.’
“We need to break down the stigma of practical and digital industries being targeted at men as this is outdated and unnecessary.”
Becky is positive about the possibilities of her role giving students the skills to realise their design visions. And she told us she would like to see more women taking up similar roles.
‘We need to break down the stigma of practical and digital industries being targeted at men as this is outdated and unnecessary.’
Maria Li (Technical Instructor, Biomaterials)
‘My days are spent keeping the Natural Matters Biolab running smoothly and helping students with anything from biofabrication to biological and biodesign experiments’ Maria Li told us.
Maria joined the RCA last year with an academic background in biology. After graduating from university, she set up a DIYBio group to democratise biology, making it accessible to all, and worked as an instructor in citizen science.
In our Biomaterials Lab, Maria supports students with new innovations across the spectrum of art and design. For example, she recently taught an MA Architecture student how to grow mycelium tiles.
“At the RCA, I'm primed to foster innovation and support budding creatives in unleashing biomaterial wonders.”
As a ‘science enthusiast with a flair for creativity’ Maria is very much at home at the college where she is constantly inspired by students and tutors aligning creativity with practical innovation to solve real world problems. ‘At the RCA, I'm primed to foster innovation and support budding creatives in unleashing biomaterial wonders.’
And Maria explains that these innovative collaborations are best forged in an equal workplace. ‘It's vital to ensure equal opportunities’ Maria told us. For her an equal workplace creates a safe place for dialogue and addresses biases through training. ‘Leading by example can foster a culture of inclusion and diversity within the industry.’
About the Photographer
Aisha Seriki is a Nigerian visual artist based in London, who completed her MA Photography in 2023 and has continued her masters studies as a student on our MFA Arts & Humanities programme. Discover her work via the RCA2023 exhibition platform and via her website.