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Photography student snaps up career with furniture giant

05/08/2016

A University of Wolverhampton photography student has been quick to snap up a career with local retailer, Cousins Furniture.

James Phillips, 21, from Sedgley, recently completed a Bachelor of Arts Photography course and is working full time as a studio/in-house photographer for the Birmingham and Black Country based furniture company which has its roots in Tyseley and has stores in Dudley and Manchester.

James, who is due to graduate in September with a First Class Honours Degree, developed a portfolio of work whilst studying which focused on food photography and still life.  He secured commissions with the Birmingham & Midland Institute in Birmingham as well as the Bamboo Wine Bar & Bistro in Bridgnorth and the Luscious Dessert Lounge in Wolverhampton.

He credits his experience at the University of Wolverhampton with helping him to secure employment so soon.  He said: "The course helped me massively, not only to help build my confidence but also for my career path; particularly within the final year where the input from lecturers in the Creative Industries module helped me to research and outline a path of what I needed to do in order to make my career a reality. 

"I would definitely recommend the course to potential students, not only for the input from photography staff, both lecturers and technicians, but also for the facilities which are great. There are different areas in the photography studio to work from and darkrooms for both colour and monochrome photography, as well as a Mac Suite with the latest software."

Sukhi Kainth, Head of Design & Marketing at Cousins Furniture, said: “Graduates offer home-grown talent with the skills we need to boost our local economy which is why Cousins Furniture is so pleased to have appointed James to work along side the Marketing department for all photography requirements. This is an exciting time as Cousins are investing in state of the art equipment for a dedicated photography studio at one of our stores.”

‌‌Students at the University of Wolverhampton are among the most employable in the UK after a new report revealed more than ever are going into jobs or further study.

Overall, 96 per cent of students who graduated from the University of Wolverhampton in 2015 were in work or further study six months after they had left – positioning the University as second in the UK*, outperforming the UK average for all universities and a record high for the University.

Wolverhampton students are also supporting the regional economy with 80 per cent working in the West Midlands after graduation.

 Anyone applying for a Faculty of Arts Photography course through clearing should visit our dedicated website to register interest and arrange a phone call with the University on results day, Thursday 18thAugust. For anyone who already has their results, applications can be started now, and this can either be done through our Clearing website or by calling the Clearing hotline on 01902 323505 or contact us through our Social Media channels Twitter@wlv_uni or Facebook/uniwolverhampton. Visit our next Open Day on Saturday 20th August for more information.

*Source: DLHE 2015/16. For universities with 2,000-3,000 graduating students (full-time undergraduate)

ENDS

For more information please contact the Media Relations Office on 01902 322736, 01902 322003 or 01902 518647.

Date Issued: 6th August 2016

For more information please contact the Corporate Communications Team.

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