Pursuing Other Interests: Proud Father Moment

Louise, my eldest daughter, has finished her product design course at Bournemouth University. The final requirement is that she, along with all the other final year students, exhibit their final year projects at the university's Festival of Design & Engineering. An excuse for a weekend away by the sea, if ever I had one.

The Design & Engineering department had commandeered two halls on the university campus and each student had a small area to display their project. Whilst it was interesting to see so many innovative ideas, for me the core purpose was to see Louise and her stand and I accept I'm biased, however I do think hers was one of the best.

Her product is best described in her own words, as written on the display board pictured above:

"No one will protect what they don't care about

and no one will care about what they have never experienced"

- Sir David Attenborough

The RSPB believes that the lack of connection between children and nature due to an uprising of technology is leading to apathy among younger generations and is considered a huge threat to wildlife in Britain.

Existing products such as bird houses and bug hotels rarely include long term user involvement or high levels of interactions and are placed in gardens only to be observed.

HABIHEX is a 'build-your-own' product, enabling children to design and create their own bug house and fill it with natural debris they forage from the outdoors. In doing so, a deeper child-nature connection is made as they witness their individual creations, alongside their classmate's creations, being used and inhabited by wildlife.

Louise has always been fascinated by bugs and little creatures. I can remember her, pre-school, spending many hours in the garden moving bricks and logs so she could examine the uncovered wild life. It's great to see how that early interest has come to fruition. Louise has also been selected by the department to represent Bournemouth University at the New Designers exhibition, hosted at London’s Business Design Centre, so another day out coming shortly! I really am so very proud of what she has achieved.