BA (Hons) Interior Design & Styling

Cathryn Bishop, the founder and Director of Cornish Interiors, has designed boutique hotels, restaurants and private residences all over the world, as well as working with the National Trust and designing interiors for Plymouth landmarks such as The Glassblowing House and St Elizabeth’s House. With over 15 years experience working in the industry, Cathryn established Cornish Interiors in 2003, specialising in interior design and project management of any size and style of interior. She is currently working on projects in New York, Barbados, the Channel Islands and across the UK, with budgets ranging from £75,000 to multimillion pound levels.

Ally studied BA (Hons) Interior & Spatial Design at Falmouth University from 2003-2006. At the end of her degree, she exhibited at New Designers, and from that got a job at an interior design company called Agile Space, based in Clerkenwell, London. Working on commercial interior design projects for household name brands including the BBC, Pret A Manger and Itsu, Ally also designed for London Council and lots of independent cafes and restaurants all over the UK. In 2011, Ally moved to the South West and continued to design interiors for both commercial and residential clients, from Pizza Express to high end homes for private clients. Setting up her own practice, Ally went on to work with a range of clients, from designing visitor centres, restaurants and retail spaces for the National Trust, to creating student accommodation interiors for UAL (University of the Arts London). In 2011, Ally also began lecturing in Interior Design at the University of Plymouth, joining the Interior Design and Styling academic team at Plymouth College of Art in 2017. Alongside teaching on our BA (Hons) Interior Design and Styling degree, Ally is conducting research into how live briefs and student projects impact learning and teaching in a positive way. As part of her action-based local research projects, Ally has worked with Devon & Cornwall Refugee Support on a socially valuable project which has raised £6,000 in fundraising money, which will be used to help refurbish the charity’s space.

Katie has taught at Arts University Plymouth since 2009, and is a dedicated and experienced lecturer specialising in print design. With a decade of experience teaching across both HE and FE programs at Arts University Plymouth, Katie currently teaches on our BA (Hons) Interior Design & Styling programme, and previously taught on BA (Hons) Fashion Design and our pre-degree Foundation course. Katie’s MA in Textile Design enabled her to link together theory and practice, and understand the importance of ongoing research to delivering any creative subject in a taught environment. Her ongoing design practice has explored print for both fashion and interiors, working on both fabric and paper manipulation techniques. Katie’s varied teaching experience has allowed her to expand her design knowledge and use this to enhance her pedagogic practice. She has a great deal of experience of developing module briefs such as Interdisciplinary 300, where our first year students take part in a collaborative project, exploring interior styled photoshoots.

Louise is a creative interior designer with over twenty years of experience within the architectural and interiors profession; as well as, over twelve years’ experience of lecturing within the further and higher education fields. She has been responsible for successfully managing a team of designers from concept through to completion; producing NBS, sanitary, ironmongery and FF&E specifications, as well as client liaison. Her experience ranges across projects as diverse as commercial offices, retail and Extra Care facilities, through to award-winning health clubs and spas. Recent projects include Haydon Court Extra Care in Newton Abbot; complex refurbishments such as at Marjon's in Plymouth; the new Hi-Tech Centre at South Devon College and schemes for several student accommodation providers across the country. Louise is also an Associate of PATOSS and works with SpLD students at the university.