Art and Design student Skye Griffiths has completed her placement at Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust, where her work will be seen by thousands of visitors each month.

The former Telford Priory student’s 20-day paid internship, paid for by the Arts Council, allowed her to express her creativity in the trust’s costume department, as well as building experience in other areas of the organisation.

The internship opportunity only has one place each year and is open to students in art & media. Budding applicants have to write an application letter explaining why they would like the position. If successful, they then take part in the interview process where one student is then awarded the position of the internship role.

“I originally applied for the role as I knew it would look good on my CV” explains Skye. “I also knew how valuable the experience would be to make a costume for such a well-known client, as well as having my work displayed publicly.”

Skye’s costume consists of a long sleeve chequered shirt, blue dress and hat commonly seen in the Victorian era and is set to be on display to the public at the Costume Project space within the Trust’s Enginuity museum in Coalbrookdale, Telford.

“I went to Blists Hill to make my piece; they had templates of period designs available and authentic material. After using the templates to design my piece, I got to use the museums antique hemming machine. It was so old and I’ve never used anything like it before!”

As well as the work she did in the costume department, Skye had the chance to spend time in different areas at the trust. “I did some work with the marketing department and wrote a short piece about my experience working at the museums.”

“I also had a chance to work in the café at Enginuity which I really enjoyed. It gave me the chance to speak to customers of all ages about their experience at the museum, which I think really boosted my communication skills.”

“I really want to work in fashion design when I leave college, I really like the hands-on element of making things and bringing my creations to life.”

The college has worked with the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, a heritage conservation and education charity, on numerous occasions, including working with the Costume Project on live externally set briefs to design a costume inspired by historic costumes between 1700 – 1910 and an element of Telford.

The winners gained a week long work experience at the Costume Project to make their winning designs, with the costumes included and modelled at the Trust’s Fashion Through The Ages catwalk show.

Andrea Nelson, Community Engagement and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Manager at the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, said: “Skye was great on her placement with us, she was eager, punctual and put all her effort into every task that we set her to do. Every department she worked with over her placement had only positives to say about her.

“We really enjoy working with Telford College on our projects, we’d like to open the door to have more placements to work with us. People don’t realise we have 10 Museums in our Trust, so we always need volunteers to help us run our iconic heritage sites.”

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