Ilsa Parry 

ABOUT

BIOGRAPHY

Born in Liverpool, UK in 1980, Ilsa Parry has worked and lived in Liverpool, Manchester, Oslo and Paris. She began her career studying Three Dimensional Design at Manchester School of Art in 2000 and worked part time as clinical support worker at Manchester Royal Infirmary. Her degree was heavily craft based and allowed her to experiment with materials and processes related to furniture making, silversmithing, glass blowing, ceramics and plastics manipulation. She later spent three months Living in Norway and learning the art of woodturning. In exploring material properties and inherent abilities, she discovered that each "thing" she produced had the potential to subliminally communicate values about culture, identity and purpose and make connection with the user. Her interest in the relationship between objects and people encouraged her to further explore the impact of design in all its forms on the human experience.

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In 2004, Ilsa began teaching at Calday Grange Grammar School in Wirral, Merseyside UK. She taught product design at GCSE and A Level and encouraged students to question objects and materials and the purpose behind their designs. Within two years she reached middle management and, with the help of 65 staff, she was made responsible for broadening the knowledge base of sixth form students and enriching their experiences beyond their subject specialisms. In 2007, she moved away from school education to take up a full time position lecturing at The City of Liverpool FE College and set up her first studio in a shared community space. 

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In 2008, Liverpool was awarded "European Capital of Culture" and local opportunities to exhibit work and network with other creatives grew substantially. As a direct result of this Ilsa launched her first product collection of conceptual lighting entitled "rethinkthings" at the Liverpool Design Festival. Whilst exhibiting here, she was invited to apply to participate in her first TV appearance. Later that year, she set off for Paris for 3 months to film "Design for Life" with Philippe Starck. Here she was challenged to "design a product to help humanity to survive" and pitted against eleven other contenders. The show's format eliminated the designers week by week whose work did not meet with Starck's approval. It was here that Ilsa designed the patent protected "Flo Standing and Walking Aid" and went on to win the programme outright. Her prize was to work at Starck Paris Agency for a 6 month period as a paid intern.

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Whilst working in Paris, Ilsa was exposed to contacts and working methods of a much higher level. She learnt how to use CAD software and for the first time, her work moved away from handcrafted conceptual lighting sculptures and more towards industrial product design resulting in her design work now employing an even broader range of materials and mass production processes. Her understanding of how to create marketable products grew immensely from this experience. On her return to the UK in 2009 she formally registered her "rethinkthings" brand as a private limited company to create interesting products which challenged our perceptions of everyday existence and offer something of value as a result. Ilsa also began to work at a number of Universities as a visiting lecturer.​

Ilsa continued with similar work for a number of years whilst also setting up and running a partnership venture with Mike Cloke and Tom Sutton entitled  "5ml Design Collective". This enabled her to take graduate work to trade shows around the UK and Europe to exhibit alongside her own collections and sell to retailers. She embarked on a masters degree in Design and Art Direction, again at Manchester School of Art. This process helped her to formalise her service offer and refocus her product brand into something that was both more understandable to industry and sustainable to manage. 

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The focus on branding led in 2015 to her setting up another business in the form of a bricks and mortar shop In Liverpool's Bluecoat Chambers (MYNE Boutique), selling her own products alongside the work of local crafters and design led gift labels. Having direct contact with customers and end users on a daily basis assisted her to refine ranges into the Rethinkthings offer that exists today. this consisting of mainly print based giftware that aims to enhance the emotive transaction of gift giving by offering products which communicate aspects of cultural identity. The continued development of this branded giftware range sits alongside her ongoing work to commission and her part time responsibilities as a practice led academic at University of Lincoln.

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In 2016 Ilsa took up samba reggae drumming, furthering a lifelong love of music and performance with a realisation that the issues she cares about (consistently embedded in her design work) can be also applied across a variety of cross-disciplinary, cultural artforms. ​It was with this mindset that she applied to participate in BBC2's "Victorian House of Arts and Crafts" in 2018. This involved living and working collaboratively with 5 other craft specialists to discover, interpret and reproduce the work and lifestyles of William Morris and Co in the late 1800's. Using only traditional materials and processes, this experience is pushing her to develop her practice collaboratively, with a greater emphasis on community, social action and a resurgence of craft. All of these influences are now helping Ilsa to develop projects that bring about a strong multi-sensory immersive experience.

EXHIBITIONS

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2016 – GNCCF. MCR

2015 – Pop up shops. Manchester / Liverpool

2013 – Design Junction. London 2013 – Museum (Science and Industry). MCR

2013 – Dalslands Konst Museum. Sweden

2013 – Spring Fair International. Birmingham

2012 – Manchester Gift Fair. MCR

2012 – NCCD. Lincolnshire 2012 – Naidex. Birmingham NEC

2012 – Home. London 2011 – Design Mart. Newcastle

2011 – Design Festival. Liverpool

2011 – Tent. London

2011 – Pulse. London

2011 – Ideal Home Show.London

2010 – Design Festival. Liverpool

2010 – Maison et Objet. Paris

2009 – Eco Show. Liverpool

2009 – Bluecoat Display Centre. Liverpool

2009 – Open Eye Gallery. Manchester

2009 – 100% Design. London

2008 – Biennial Independents. Liverpool

2008 – Design Show. Liverpool

2008 – Australian Int. Furniture Fair. Melbourne

2007 – Lighten Up Tour - All UK

2007 – Redesign Contains - Newcastle

2005 – Inner City Living Exhibition - Preston

2004 – The Lighting Show – Birmingham NEC

2003 – Make Me - Manchester 2003 – Designers Block - London

2003 – New designers - London