She left us to do a BA in Product Design at Kingston University and her final major project at university was finding a collaborative approach to designing traditional orthopaedic products that you would normally find within an NHS setting. This is how ‘Design for Disability’ was launched which aims to reduce the social stigmas around orthopaedic products in public. The platform was born out of some of the challenges she faced as a small child, growing up with cerebral palsy.
Jessica did many courses after leaving university including additional product design courses and a business boot camp with ‘Urban MA’. At the end of this course she pitched for and won some funding for ‘Design for Disability’. With that money she created a pop-up shop in Peckham, where she brought design and health practitioners together, to open conversations around disability inclusion and design.
The products she has designed can be found on her website and include a ‘button hook hairclip’ to enable her to take off her own cardigan and a dog tag with a hidden pull aid. Jessica describes herself as a blogger, a product designer and a business founder and she has worked with some amazing companies like the ICA, Tate Exchange, the National Maritime Museum, The Courtauld Institute of Art and Shape Arts.
Your best choices in life come from exploring the things that interest you most. So, be you. And if you can, try out as many things as possible.