Internship

During my internship I worked within the department of Product Innovation and Design at Goossens Wonen & Slapen. I have chosen this company to experience how it is to use the knowledge I have acquired during my study in a real life setting. I want to see if I can be of value for myself and the company when working in a professional work environment.

Before the internship I had set goals in my personal development plan to guide myself. I will explain briefly what these goals were and how I developed myself regarding these goals.

User directed design: When designing I think the user is very important, that is what I have learned and experienced during the industrial design courses. I have improved myself within this area because there was a lot of data available at Goossens which I learned to use correctly in order to create products that are appealing to the user.

The business aspect of design: This was an underdeveloped area and I did not utilize it in my projects. During the internship I was able to experience tough competition when designing for the furniture market. Going to professional furniture fairs, working with suppliers and learning from experienced people has taught me different things about the commercial side of a good product.

Sustainability: I have always had a fascination for sustainable design and would like to mean something in Goossens’ path towards a sustainable production process. During the internship I have come to the conclusion that it is quite difficult to work towards a sustainable future for a company that has not focused on that from the beginning. This gave me the opportunities to explore the possibilities in terms of branding and do’s and don'ts.

Communication skills: Since the design department is just starting I wanted to create a successful cooperation between the existing department and the design department. Doing this I improved my communication skills between people with different backgrounds and skills.

After the internship I am confident I was able to lay the basis of the Product Innovation & Design department and show its potential to the company. There are good fundamentals on which the department can be evolved further in the future. Next to that I was also able to provide multiple designs that are currently being produced for the market.

This internship was also useful to develop my professional identity and vision and has provided me with skills and knowledge that I will take with me to my final bachelor project.