A group of third year Surface Design students are getting hands on experience in the world of opera and set design.
The 12 students are currently hard at work building three sets which will be used in the Cape Town Opera production of The Barber of Seville which starts later this month.
The collaboration is part of a Service Learning project and the five week long endeavour saw students conceptualise, design and ultimately build the sets.
Working under the guidance of resident designer for Cape Town Opera, Michael Mitchell, the sets are slowly taking shape in a workshop in Epping.
Mitchell, who is himself a former graduate of our institute, says the students brought vitality and a youthful slant to the build.
“They also are more adept at using technology, most of which we don’t even use in industry yet,” he says.
“Hopefully from us they have learnt how to work timeously towards a brief for a client and we have opened up the idea of set design as a career choice to them.”
Lecturer Penny George says the experience has broadened the student’s horizons in terms of their design style.
“We are used to working in very fine design but the sets forced us to think on a grander scale because we needed that visual impact,” she says.
The sets, which are all made from second hand parts, will go on display to a select group of audience members after opening night.
Written by Lauren Kansley
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Liaises with the media and writes press releases about interesting developments at CPUT.