Hear straight from our graduates.
I was a mature student at Shillington—very mature. It took every ounce of courage to walk through the door into what I assumed would be a group of individuals far younger than me, all of which I assume would be techno savvy creative geniuses.
Founder, A Making Life
Dawn Moloney
What were you up to before Shillington?
I studied at Shillington Sydney as a part time student commencing in Feb 2014. I didn’t realise at the time what a profound impact this would have on me and my life. I had expected to learn some great new skills in a fabulous environment but I had not expected it to fundamentally change the perceptions I had of myself.
I was a mature student at Shillington—very mature. I was a moderately successfully business woman and had worked mainly in the pharmaceutical industry almost all my working life. So, why would I change and become a graphic designer? Many have asked me this question and to explain I must briefly return to my upbringing and early career. Born in the East of London in the 60s into a working-class family—life in the arts was never going to be deemed a suitable career, so I became a pharmacist the perennial “square peg in a round hole”. I painted at lunchtime, sewed at the weekend and worked all the rest of the time. Don’t get me wrong I had/have a great career, I have had some magnificent experiences which always made it harder to give it up and follow my dreams of being a fully-fledged “creative person”.
In 2002, at the age of 40, we sold all our possessions, uprooted ourselves and our 2 young kids and moved half way around the world and started again. We have never regretted that decision but once again it meant my creative dreams were put on hold. Whilst I always knew I wanted to design my own fabric and make my own patterns it wasn’t until we had established ourselves that I could focus on gathering the skills I needed to fulfil my dreams. That’s where Shillington came in, and I finally enrolled.
How did you find the course?
I knew Shillington would be challenging, at the time I barely knew how to turn on a MAC!! But even I was surprised at the depth of my nerves that very first day. It took every ounce of courage to walk through the door into what I assumed would be a group of individuals far younger than me, all of which I assume would be techno savvy creative geniuses.
I haven’t ever admitted the fact that I threw up in the toilet 10 minutes before that very first class. Yes, a confident business woman in her 50s who had presented 1000s of times to 100s of people was a total nervous wreck on the first day of design college. Fortunately I used my experience to cover my nerves. Looking back, I think I was so nervous because I had waited so long for this and I had finally arrived and I wanted to be good.
The year at Shillington was fun but hard and very challenging, constantly changing and evolving briefs and all the new things to learn pushed me hard to keep up. I was surrounded by supportive students and fantastic teachers, which helped keep me going.
Tell us about A Making Life.
My creative business, A Making Life, focusses on teaching others the love of making things for themselves. In the short term, we will be teaching lampshade making, sewing, block printing, lettering, watercolours and floristry with many more in the pipeline. I want to provide a space for participants to enjoy the craft of hand making with other likeminded people and help them build lifelong skills. And yes, I have designed and have had my first fabric printed. I’m even training to teach InDesign. Anyone from my course reading this will probably choke with laughter at this point -yes me the person who took 6 weeks to toggle between stroke ad fill is planning to teach. Life is a constant surprise!
Rachel Urquhart
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Lori Beth Kaye
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Ray Wong
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Keiran McCann
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Emily Campos
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Jaira Adlawan
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Katie Lodge
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Jordan Demetriou
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Ashley Ronning
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Emily Somers
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Anara Davletaliyeva
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Erin Gale
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Tiffany Yee
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Amy Sheehan
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Emma Ladlow
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Alexis Waller
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Halah El Kholy
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Alexander Rog
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Jessica Bakker
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Bianca Chu
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Tally Thompson
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Greg Bemis
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Arnold Omanyo
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Tahmena Lutfi
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Meredith Wallis
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Miranda Mayne
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Lindsay Koffler
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Mark Osmond
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Lily Moore
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Liana Modolo
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Victoire Scherer
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Mikel McCavana
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Kelly Hansen
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Alexander Wu-Kim
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Kirsten McColl
Designer, WH-O
Nicole Rogers
Designer, Birchbox
Frankie Young
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Pooja Dharia
Branding Designer, FCB Health
Jackson Todd
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Dawn Moloney
Founder, A Making Life
Caroline Keefe
Freelance, Nickelodeon
I was a mature student at Shillington—very mature. It took every ounce of courage to walk through the door into what I assumed would be a group of individuals far younger than me, all of which I assume would be techno savvy creative geniuses.
Founder, A Making Life
Dawn Moloney
What were you up to before Shillington?
I studied at Shillington Sydney as a part time student commencing in Feb 2014. I didn’t realise at the time what a profound impact this would have on me and my life. I had expected to learn some great new skills in a fabulous environment but I had not expected it to fundamentally change the perceptions I had of myself.
I was a mature student at Shillington—very mature. I was a moderately successfully business woman and had worked mainly in the pharmaceutical industry almost all my working life. So, why would I change and become a graphic designer? Many have asked me this question and to explain I must briefly return to my upbringing and early career. Born in the East of London in the 60s into a working-class family—life in the arts was never going to be deemed a suitable career, so I became a pharmacist the perennial “square peg in a round hole”. I painted at lunchtime, sewed at the weekend and worked all the rest of the time. Don’t get me wrong I had/have a great career, I have had some magnificent experiences which always made it harder to give it up and follow my dreams of being a fully-fledged “creative person”.
In 2002, at the age of 40, we sold all our possessions, uprooted ourselves and our 2 young kids and moved half way around the world and started again. We have never regretted that decision but once again it meant my creative dreams were put on hold. Whilst I always knew I wanted to design my own fabric and make my own patterns it wasn’t until we had established ourselves that I could focus on gathering the skills I needed to fulfil my dreams. That’s where Shillington came in, and I finally enrolled.
How did you find the course?
I knew Shillington would be challenging, at the time I barely knew how to turn on a MAC!! But even I was surprised at the depth of my nerves that very first day. It took every ounce of courage to walk through the door into what I assumed would be a group of individuals far younger than me, all of which I assume would be techno savvy creative geniuses.
I haven’t ever admitted the fact that I threw up in the toilet 10 minutes before that very first class. Yes, a confident business woman in her 50s who had presented 1000s of times to 100s of people was a total nervous wreck on the first day of design college. Fortunately I used my experience to cover my nerves. Looking back, I think I was so nervous because I had waited so long for this and I had finally arrived and I wanted to be good.
The year at Shillington was fun but hard and very challenging, constantly changing and evolving briefs and all the new things to learn pushed me hard to keep up. I was surrounded by supportive students and fantastic teachers, which helped keep me going.
Tell us about A Making Life.
My creative business, A Making Life, focusses on teaching others the love of making things for themselves. In the short term, we will be teaching lampshade making, sewing, block printing, lettering, watercolours and floristry with many more in the pipeline. I want to provide a space for participants to enjoy the craft of hand making with other likeminded people and help them build lifelong skills. And yes, I have designed and have had my first fabric printed. I’m even training to teach InDesign. Anyone from my course reading this will probably choke with laughter at this point -yes me the person who took 6 weeks to toggle between stroke ad fill is planning to teach. Life is a constant surprise!
Sophie Lord
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Ocki Magill
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Andy Vargas
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Moshe Bien
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Crystal Lin
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Stephen Grace
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Jing Ong
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Paul and Amoni Liddell
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Eleanor Rogers
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Andy Tharagonnet
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Erin Donati
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Ben Peters
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Brad Holten
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Natalia Baker
Freelance Graphic Designer
Guy Pittard
Freelance Graphic Designer
Bea Sambalido
Freelance Graphic Designer
Oceane Combeau
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Charly Tudor
Graphic Designer, Holdens
Anna Mullin
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Theo Witrylak
Visual Designer, EPAM
Stephanie Antill
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Paul McKie and Myles Sharpe
Directors, Autumn
Pete Conforto
Designer, For The People
Nicol Reid
Founder, Little Creative
David Scott
Designer, The Mix
James Birks
Freelance Illustrator and Designer
Jane Durlacher
Graphic Designer, Paper Stone Scissors
Rachel Lee
Freelance Graphic Designer
Romayne Gadelrab
Freelance Graphic Designer
Janno Saft
Founder, frank wo
Roo Cassels
Designer, Big Fish
Vanessa Burgess
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Olivier Adam
Freelance Graphic Designer
Molly Sitter
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Cari Sekendur
Art Director, LMNOP Creative
Alexandra Menzies
Freelance Graphic Designer
Tim Jones
Brand Experience Director, venturethree
Carla Scotto
Freelance Graphic Designer
Meg Walker
Designer, Milkshake
Christina Capetola
Designer at Wayfair
Louise Hamer
Design Lead, We Are Empire
Ina Estrada
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Chrystal Christie
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Ulrika Johnson
Designer, Fantasia Accessories
Sam Jacobs
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Sean Raynor
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Irina Manning
UX Designer, Manning Labs
Margherita Baldi
Freelance Visual Designer
Henriette van Baren
Graphic Designer, ABC Carpet & Home