Student profile – Professional Placement Year 

Graduating year: 2026
Course studied: BA (Hons) Interior Design with PPY

Natasha completed a placement at Clayton & Company.

Why did you choose a placement at Clayton & Company?

I was just looking in the area, and this company has a private section where they did some work on the Royal Crescent in Bath, so I kind of found it through that. [I found it through] researching, basically, and then I just called up and got the right email address to send my application to because I don't think they were looking at the time. Then it just went from there, and I got a response. 

How did you feel before doing your placement, and how has that evolved over time? 

I definitely think I have more of an understanding on the requirements to be an interior designer. Because, on the course, it does teach you the basics and the softwares, but you never really know until you're in it. I think it's definitely made me more prepared going into third year. 

What have you gained over the placement year?

I definitely think I’ve gained more confidence and understanding just on the career as a whole. I think that's going to help me at university, because I've learnt things here that they wouldn't have taught us there. It's also been interesting because we install all of our jobs. I'm in the show home sector and it's a really quick turnaround, which you don't usually see with interior design. For example, a project like the Royal Crescent that would have probably taken years.

But with this it's a couple of months, so I'll see the project from the beginning to end. So [I see more of] the start and you take [the initial designs] to the client, then they accept the job and then it goes from there. So yesterday I was in Cornwall, installing a show home there. I've gained confidence in driving and, you know, seeing new places like literally everything all-in-one which is really good because, as I said, usually, you wouldn't really get to see the final result. 

Tell us a bit more about what your what your role entails

I help with all sorts of aspects. For example, I've helped down in styling, and the stylists are basically people who dress up the home. The designers will design the actual concept; [the stylists] get all the furniture and they’ll put the vases and the finishing touches. We also have our own picture framer and upholsters in-house, so again, I'm going to help them. Usually I'm with the designers, and I'll just help them with the entire project, whatever they need help with.  

It’s usually doing boards, because that's quite time consuming for them. Those would be presentation boards you then take to the clients and they actually really like physical boards. Then, if it's accepted, obviously there's… I don't know, say there’s 12 designers so, each day, I'll be doing something different. When it's accepted, they have to run the whole thing. So they order all the furniture and make sure everything's ready to go and book things.

[Designers] book my help for the day and I'll order the furniture. I'll check it's all here because we have a warehouse downstairs where everything comes in. We have fitters as well that come with us to site. Everything is in-house, because it gets quite difficult when you try to outsource other people. 

Then, after everything's ordered and together, sometimes I help them load it. Usually I'm always on someone's site, because it’s better to have an extra pair of hands there. Usually it’ll be a project manager, an assistant and a stylist, and I think we have three or four assistants. So yeah, there's always someone to help them, and then we go and then install it. And then we come back and do it all again.  

I never usually carry on with the same person and the same project. I could do something for them one day and then do something different for another person another day. But it's been really good learning to work with different people and knowing how they work, because everyone works differently. 

How do you see your placement helping with your degree and your future career?

I did want to go into residential design and obviously this is very residential, but I'm also interested, now that I've had this experience, to maybe see the other side – commercial. I'm not sure what my plans are for the future, but for the time being, I think it's really nice that I get to stay on here. 

I think it will be good to have this on my CV as experience, because I think nowadays people want to see a degree plus experience. It's quite hard if you don't have any, so it's been really good that I could do this alongside my degree.