A NEW studio space has opened at Bradford College that will bring together students and creative staff at a locally based company.

Hallmark Cards has this week opened its Green House - a space where its artistic staff will be able to train and work, as well as interact with students from the college’s Bradford School of Art.

The studio is in a converted attic space in the college’s Lister Building, close to the Dye House Gallery.

It is hoped that by having staff working there on a regular basis, art and design students will be able to gain valuable careers experience.

They will also be involved with projects where they can get feedback from Hallmark staff.

To mark the new collaboration with the college, the company has also signed up as sponsor of the Dye House Gallery, which holds regular exhibitions by local and national artists, for at least two years.

The gallery’s current exhibition, which ends today, features artwork by dozens of staff at Hallmark, and it is hoped similar exhibitions will take place there in the future.

The Green House will see students working with designers, illustrators, photographers and editors, who will be there taking part in sessions to develop new card designs.

Jo Bennett, creative director at Hallmark, said: “We’ve been sponsoring creative colleges for the past 20 years. We have about 130 people in creative roles based in our Bradford office, and about 50 per cent are graduates from colleges we have worked with.

“This studio is somewhere our staff can get away from the office and re-charge, somewhere that will hopefully inspire them.

“We will have students coming in here too, and it is fantastic to be able to give something back.

“Designers will be coming here, working on separate projects, and we will be letting the college know about these projects so students can come along too. Sessions will be about things like how family dynamics are changing and how that will be reflected in greetings cards, and humour.

“The students will be able to get a feel for the type of things we do. Hopefully it will lead to more students coming on placements with us, and it is a great thing for them to put on their CV.”

Hannah Lamb, programme leader for textiles at the Bradford School of Art, said: “We’ll be able to offer live projects through the year. We’ve worked with Hallmark previously, and had students take placements there. We’ve also had quite a few students from the college who have gone on to work at Hallmark.

"Students have found these links invaluable, and this new link will really be of benefit to them. It is great to have all this creativity in Bradford.”

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