Biography – 15 years in a creative field

Starting his creative working life in the Midlands in mental health occupational thearpy, Jamie’s next move was to the big city of Manchester to work as a Creative Activities Instructor. Again in mental health, but this time for the deaf he facilitated art groups and one to one Independent Living Skills sessions in sign language.
Working part time meant he was able to study for an Art and Design foundation which he passed with distinction at the Arden Centre Manchester. Following the final shows, he dabbled with Fashion Styling, by collaborating with photographers Marie-Luce Giordani and Christoph Shaw.

Jamie graduated with a first BA(Hons)Degree in Fashion and Textile Design at Liverpool Art school in 1998, collecting a BBC Vision Design Award along the way. During summer terms he worked in film as a Costume Design Assistant. Films included, Working Title’s “What Rats Wont do”, “Hilary and Jackie” and “Beautiful People”.

To enhance his technology skills, he gained a Post Graduate Certificate in Multimedia at Liverpool University. And with the taste for film, he co-created Frictionburn with writer Billy Cowan to produce short films and Pop videos.

Moving to sunny ‘Silicon Beach’ Brighton in 1999, and along side the Frictionburn pop promos, he worked for 4 years as lead graphic designer in a multi-media e-learning company. As part of a project team on the conception and creation of e-learning and computer based training materials, he designed interfaces, websites and interactive learning courses for clients such as Unicef, British Airways, LloydsTSB, BNFL, BBC, Dfes and many more. As line manager to a small team of designers, his duties included staff appraisals, objective setting for the team and individuals, ISO procedures, and the creation of a graphic/photo library database.