e:
crthomas@cardiffmet.ac.uk
t: 029 2041 6147
w:
www.csrthomas.com
Specialist Subject Areas
Design: Senior Designer specialising in the interpretation and translation of high-profile design briefs into innovative, imaginative and award-winning design solutions.
Art: Practicing artist specialising in the creation of body-focused, immersive environments. Through this cross-disciplinary approach Craig endeavours to merge and blur the boundaries between art, architecture, cinema and theatre.
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD): Cardiff Metropolitan University; Jun 2023.
- Postgraduate Certificate Professional & Research Skills: Art & Design, Cardiff Metropolitan University; Feb 2012.
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA); Jun 2010.
- Masters in Fine Art (Merit) at UWIC; Sept 2009.
- First class BA (Hons) in Interior Architecture at UWIC; 1993-1996.
Biography
Craig is currently employed as a full-time Senior Lecturer on the Interior Design and he won Lecture of the Year Award in the 2021 Student-Led Teaching Awards. The Interior Design students have won several recent awards, including; Women in Property - South Wales Region Award and Orangebox / W2W Design Competition Winner. An academic with particular interests in consciousness, perception and embodiment, Craig’s practice-based research involves creating body-focused immersive environments. PhD title is ‘Can measurement of audience response help evaluate whether an artwork conveys the artists intention?’.
A multi-award winning Interior Designer practitioner (including six D&AD Awards and a Design Week Award) with first-class BA(Hons) and eighteen years experience designing, running and administering the contracts of large-scale, prestigious design projects, such as the Millennium Dome. Specialising in the interpretation and translation of high-profile design briefs into innovative, imaginative and award winning design solutions. His last project, ‘Energy – Fuelling the Future’ in London’s Science Museum, received four D&AD awards and the Design Week award for ‘Best Exhibition Design’.
Craig completed a Masters in Fine Art, specialising in the creation of multi-sensory, immersive, site responsive artworks that explore the exchange and interrelationship between the participant and their environment. Constructing environments from carefully defined stimuli that explore the human subjects embodied, environmentally dependent lived experience. He has exhibited artworks at venues including; Chapter Arts Cardiff, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Tactile Bosch, Wales Millennium Centre and Nottingham’s Bonington Gallery.
Craig is the External Examiner for BA(Hons) Interior Design, Norwich University of the Arts and an External Assessor for University of the Arts London (UAL). Between 2011 and 2015 he was employed as a Senior Lecturer (0.7) on the Foundation Diploma in Art and Design where two of his 3D students were awarded the WJEC 2014 FADEx Winner and Highly Commended prizes. He also held the University of Wales post of Moderator to the validated Interior Design course at Limerick Senior College.
Current research
Craig is also involved in a number of exciting Cardiff Metropolitan University research projects:
Perceptual Experience Laboratory (PEL):
The Perception Experience Laboratory (PEL) – which uses Fovography™ enabled technology to simulate real world environments through the use of immersive sound, smell, temperature and vision – will enable Professors Robert Pepperell and Steve Gill, Dr. Gareth Loudon and Bethan Gordon to develop research and enterprise opportunities by simulating real world environments through the use of immersive sound, smell, temperature and vision.
Sustainable and Resilient Built Environment (SuRBe):
The overarching aims of the Sustainable and Resilient Built Environment (SuRBe) Research Group are to augment the sustainability and resilience of the built environment, improve occupant quality of life and adapt to, and mitigate, climate change through our work. We have a strong interest in environmentally-sustainable design, construction technology and operational performance, cultivated from different, but complementary, perspectives and at varying levels of resolution. Our projects span widely in scope (from the building envelope to interior space and air quality), in architectural scale (from detailing of individual building components to broader design strategies) and in methodology (from qualitative to quantitative, from pre- to post-occupancy evaluation of buildings).
‘Multi-Coloured Musical Magic’ and ‘Somantics’: Led by Wendy Keay-Bright, the project aims to develop experimental technology applications that enable autistic children to explore their environment as a medium for relaxation and to maximise on their physical and sensory interests as triggers for expressive communication.
Principal Publications, Exhibitions and Awards
Awards
- Lecture of the Year Award in the Student-Led Teaching Awards, 2021.
- Highly Commended in the Student-Led Teaching Fellowships, 2019.
- Nominated by the students for a Student-Led Teaching Fellowship Award, 2018.
- D&AD Annual award 2005 (‘Energy: Fuelling the Future’ gallery, Science Museum, London).
- D&AD Silver Nomination for Outstanding Achievement 2005 (‘Energy: Fuelling the Future’ gallery, Science Museum, London).
- Design Week winning award for Best Exhibition Design 2005 (‘Energy: Fuelling the Future’ gallery, Science Museum, London).
- International Visual Communications Awards IVCA Gold Award 2005 (‘Energy: Fuelling the Future’ gallery, Science Museum, London).
- D&AD Annual award 2005 (‘Energy Ring’ at the Science Museum, London).
- D&AD Silver Nomination for Outstanding Achievement 2005 (‘Energy Ring’ at the Science Museum, London).
- Nominated for a BAFTA Interactive Award 2005 (‘Energy Ring’ at the Science Museum, London).
- D&AD Highly commended award 1999 (‘Centenary Gallery’, Horniman Museum, London).
- D&AD Highly commended award 1999 (‘African Worlds’ gallery, Horniman Museum, London).
Interior Design:
- ‘Trading Areas’, Cabinet War Rooms, Imperial War Museum, London: Casson Mann Designers, Dec 2004
- ‘Energy: Fuelling the Future’ gallery, Science Museum: Casson Mann Designers, Aug 2004
- ‘Energy: Fuelling the Future Ring’, Science Museum: Casson Mann Designers, Aug 2004
- ‘Gallery of Craft and Design Gallery’, Manchester Art Gallery: Casson Mann Designers, July 2002
- ‘Manchester Gallery’, Manchester Art Gallery: Casson Mann Designers, May 2002
- ‘Matrix Chambers’, London (Reception and offices): Casson Mann Designers, April 2000
- ‘Shared Ground Zone’, Millennium Dome, London: Work Design, Dec 2000
- ‘Ruskin: Sheffield Millennium Galleries’, Sheffield Museum: Jasper Jacob Associates, Aug 1999
- ‘Sheffield Steel: Sheffield Millennium Galleries’, Sheffield Museum: Jasper Jacob Associates, Aug 1999
- ‘Gallery of Craft and Design Gallery’ at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool Museum: Jasper Jacob Associates, July 1999
- ‘Vinopolis – City of Wine’, London: Jasper Jacob Associates, July 1999
- ‘Steam: Museum of the Great Western Railway’, Swindon: Jasper Jacob Associates, June 1999
- National Maritime Museum Neptune Court Project, Greenwich, London: Jasper Jacob Associates, Mar 1999
- ‘Centenary Gallery’, Horniman Museum, London: Jasper Jacob Associates, Feb 1999
- ‘African Worlds’ gallery, Horniman Museum, London: Jasper Jacob Associates, Jan 1999
- 'Ideal Home Exhibition’, London: Jasper Jacob Associates, Sept 1997
- ‘Kaleidoscope of Life’ travelling exhibition for the British Council, Museum of Sydney and London: Jasper Jacob Associates, June 1997
- ‘Brighton Museum and Art Gallery’, Brighton: Jasper Jacob Associates, May 1997
Symposia and Conference Papers / Presentations
- 'Re-Activating Space', Cardiff School of Art and Design, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Sept 2016.
- 'WIRAD GRADE', Howard Gardens Gallery, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Jun 2012.
- 'WIRAD Symposium for Emerging Art & Design Researchers', Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff, Mar 2012.
- 'Academic Associate Poster Symposium', Cardiff Metropolitan University, Mar 2012.
Artworks:
-
‘Mind is the World Knowing Itself’, Bonington Gallery, Nottingham Trent University, Feb 2014
- ‘BLOWBACK’ group show at Tactile Bosch Art Space, Oct 2012
- 'WIRAD GRADE’, Howard Gardens Gallery, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Jun 2012.
- ‘MOIST [install-latio+]’ group show at Tactile Bosch Art Space, Oct 2011
- ‘Shadow Play: Alchemy, Redolence & Enchantment’, Illustration Symposium at Chapter Arts Cardiff, Nov 2010.
- ‘Tenure: 10 years of Tactile Bosch’ Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff, Oct 2010
- ‘Sonic Artists in Wales (SAW) Electroacoustic Symposium’ at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff, Mar 2010
- ‘Auxesis: Through the Lens Media’ group show at Tactile Bosch Art Space, Jan 2010
