Rickard Whittingham

Assistant Professor

School: Design Arts and Creative Industries

I have a background as a practicing furniture designer for both production and limited edition. I have 20 years of experience of lecturing, teaching and mentoring in various contexts from Higher education through to community based projects. I am a director of the North East based Art and Design Community Project, Kids Kabin. I co-ordinate the graduate Designers in Residence scheme and the Tools for Everyday Life project at Northumbria University.

Email Rickard

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

My current research interests are:

The Tools for Everyday Life. This project explores how designers can treat people, not as passive users of artefacts but as skilled operators of rewarding products and furniture. www.toolsforeverydaylife.org

Freed form a workshop. Drawing upon the rich history of workholding in woodwork this project investigates how devices to immobilise a work piece that are not reliant on size and weight can broaden the venues for woodwork. Working with community groups engaged in outreach programmes for young people, this is a practice led initiative to develop mobile workholding methods enabling the engagement of those with no or limited access to traditional workshops spaces and equipment.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Tools for Everyday Life 2025, Whittingham, R., South, J., Smith, J. 17 Jun 2025
Dovetails: Personhood, Citizenship, and Craft between Children and Older Adults, Collingham, H., Wallace, J., Brewster, J., Whittingham, R., Prost, S., Marshall, J., Kindleysides, M., Benson, W. 2024, In: Design for Health
Spolia: Stools, Whittingham, R. 21 Nov 2024, Practice: Interior Educators International Conference 2024, Northumbria University
Tools for Everyday Life 2023, Whittingham, R. 24 May 2023
Co-Creating a Virtuous Cycle: Fostering Citizenship-Alliances through Making and Gifting, Collingham, H., Wallace, J., Brewster, J., Whittingham, R., Prost, S., Marshall, J., Benson, W., Kindleysides, M. 19 Aug 2022, PDC '22, New York, US, ACM
Spolia: Furniture: Re-imagining Aydon, Whittingham, R. Jul 2022
Tools for Everyday Life, Whittingham, R., Duncan, T., Wilson, C. Sep 2012
Tools for Everyday Life 2012, Whittingham, R., Duncan, T. 19 May 2012
Not All “Designers Are Wankers”: Connecting Design, Enterprise and Regional Cultural Development, Duncan, T., Whittingham, R. 4 May 2011, The 9th International European Academy of Design Conference
Designers in Residence Retrospective 2000-10, Whittingham, R., Duncan, T., Wilson, C. 24 Oct 2010