Students Who Stayed

Susi Henson

Suzi parlayed a Fashion Design course at Trent into Eternal Spirits, the award-winning luxe boudoir-wear enterprise patronised by the Sugababes, Dita Von Teese and the Scissor Sisters...

I was born and bred in Woodthorpe, between Sherwood and Arnold. I was always an average student, never very bright or academic, but I got two Bs and two Ds at A level. I wanted to do Fashion Design, but my college careers team and course tutors told me – incorrectly as it turned out - that Nottingham Trent wouldn’t take me with the results I had and because I was from Nottingham, so instead I applied to Huddersfield University. I was so miserable there, so I reapplied to NTU’s BA Fashion Design course the following year, and they said ‘why didn’t you apply here first?’

The course was fantastic, as you’d expect; it’s internationally renowned, and ensures you come out with practical as well as theoretical skills. I practically lived in Rock City at that time and was well into my leather and rock stuff, so I taught myself to make corsets using traditional methods. I thought ‘I’m gonna dress rock stars for a living!’

I graduated with first class honours in 2000 and then got a job at a corporate wear company in Derby, which really showed me I didn’t want to work for anyone else. Luckily my NTU tutors invited me to show some of my undergraduate work in Japan and then suggested I do the MA in Fashion and Textiles. Whilst doing that I was asked to teach on the undergraduate course, which I managed to fit in with my plan to start my own business. I knew I could move back to my parents if I needed to, and I thought ‘now or never’. I got a lot of support from a business incubation unit called the Designer Forum, near the Fashion Centre. Very helpful; to be honest, my business skills are rubbish. After seven years I can do it but its never going to be my thing. I just want to make people look pretty for a living! But I have the responsibility of employees now, and they’re all lovely so I never want to let them down.

Nottingham really inspires my work, particularly the history of the lace industry and the amazing architecture. Everything at Eternal Spirits is made in Nottingham, and as much of the materials as possible are sourced locally. I absolutely love it here: although I spend a fair amount of time in London and abroad, I wouldn’t live anywhere else. It’s an incredibly supportive city. People always say ‘you’ll never make it unless you move to London’. Well, the brand might have been more successful but Eternal Spirits is what it is because of the people who work with the business. I wouldn’t have got this far without all the support from family, friends and local people, and I can’t quantify how valuable that is. So many people give a massive amount of time, energy and love because they believe in us, which you might not get in a larger, more faceless city. The creative industries here have so much collaboration and are very close-knit, which makes for a really inspiring environment. People stay here for that.

I really can’t think of any downsides to studying in Nottingham. The bad reputation is so unfair! Students only need to be careful and sensible, like they would anywhere. One thing I’d say is to party hard but also work hard. With all the debt that comes with being a student, you don’t want to come out with nothing other than a three-year hangover. Thinking ‘I’ll work hard in my third year’ doesn’t cut it, particularly in my industry. 90,000 fashion students graduate in this country every year, and there ain’t 90,000 fashion jobs.

Michael Wetherburn

Michael is a freelance musician, composer and piano, guitar and music software teacher, as well as the frontman of the bleddy brilliant Hellset Orchestra…

I came in 2000 from a little town in County Durham to do BA Contemporary Arts at Nottingham Trent, because I wanted to move away from the North East; everything is so disparate and far-flung. I’d always been in covers bands when I was a kid, and I wanted to play and write in a city where bands didn’t just do Oasis covers.

I had a really bad first few weeks in Nottingham. I didn’t get into Halls so had to get a house, which turned out to be a real mission. The first place I viewed, the room on offer was a bathroom that was due to be converted. At the next place the landlord didn’t turn up. At the last place, where I ended up, the two male housemates moved out in the first few weeks because they missed their girlfriends, and I was left with one female housemate who disclosed that she thought Northern men were only good for the army!

However I soon made some friends, mostly through going to places other than the cheesy ones on the Freshers guide. Because most of the people on my course were ‘performancey’ types, I was able to start a band almost straight away, and we got playing on the local circuit. However, I still got my work done –when you’re paying all that money, you have to. You’ve got to be prepared to have some moments when you can’t party.

I never considered going home after my course ended. By then I knew loads of people and had band stuff going on. None of the Hellset are from Nottingham originally - we all just gravitated here. It’s a really good place for music, as the city centre is so compact that it’s big enough to be a city but small enough to be a town, and you always bump into the same people and end up working together or at least supporting each other’s projects.

After graduating, I got a music technician job at a local school, then I did the Graduate Teacher Programme to become a music teacher, accredited through Trent but based at the school. After completing that and another teaching qualification I actually ended up as Head of Music and Music Technology at the school, helping to improve the GCSE Music pass rate immensely, which I’m pretty smug about! I resigned this summer to go freelance, which I’m really enjoying.

My advice? Don’t worry if you don’t experience your ideal situation straight away. You’ll have an image of how it will be, which it might not live up to. When you’re 18 you like to think you’re worldly-wise and know everything but you have to keep an open mind. It might take a while but you will meet like-minded people eventually.

Eva Giraud

Eva came to Nottingham University to do an MA in 2007, and decided to stay here to write her PhD …

Whilst studying in Edinburgh I had become a vegan, and then during the G8 Summit there I met someone with similar interests who introduced me to the activism community. I planned to apply to University College London for post-grad studies but began to consider Nottingham after meeting someone there who was surprised at how few vegans I knew. He said he knew loads of vegans and really bigged up Nottingham, saying how fantastic it was. I discovered the right course, checked out the city on the internet and came down to visit.

I discovered a really creative feel to the city. I went to poetry nights at The Alley Café, which were completely different to what I'd experienced in Edinburgh - a more mixed group of people and cultures and it lacked the pretensions of some poetry evenings I’d been to before. I was excited when I came down for the open day because of this visit, but as I was sat on the bus on the way to the University, I was really tearful. It was raining and it felt really grey and industrial. But when I got there, everyone was really friendly. It made me feel a lot better; everyone was so cool and I realised that I could definitely live here.

Once I was here, I didn't go clubbing as much as I had as an undergraduate; the course was a lot more demanding. I went to a couple of demonstrations in the city and started going to the Sumac Centre in Forest Fields. It’s a community and campaigns resource centre with a vegan bar and kitchen. Lots of groups meet there, and it has a real community atmosphere. It got me involved in trying to dispel the negative image that activists have in the media and I’ve based my PhD around the causes I’m interested in.

There were various reasons why I decided to stay in Nottingham. It was hard to find funding for my PhD and it’s a big commitment, so I spent a lot of time clarifying what I wanted to do. The expertise at the University was really good; I felt really encouraged by the course tutors and the fact that the course available was more contemporary than any other University in the country. I'm also in a serious relationship here.

I do miss my friends in Edinburgh and Norwich but I've met a lot of really nice people. I was lucky: by the time I came here I felt a lot more comfortable in myself and with student life. Having definite interests really helps when you move to a new city - you look for things that you like, as opposed to trying to figure out who you are. Although Nottingham isn't that big, there’s a lot of variety compared to larger cities and it has a good atmosphere. The rent is a lot cheaper than in Edinburgh as well!

If I had to give new students one piece of advice, it would be to look beyond the stereotypical student lifestyle. There's a massive difference between going out to student nights or clubs and going out to gigs and non-student nights. It's important to become involved in the city rather than just the campus. There’s more to Nottingham than chain shops and pubs. Oh, and look out for the Vegan Cookzine which I'm writing with my friend Alex, it should be out at Christmas and is aimed at students and people interested in learning to cook vegan.