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Designer offers services to heritage sector for free amid pandemic turmoil

Image: Sonosynthesiser, Gwennap Head © Em Sorrell/Matt Cannon

Cornwall-based designer Em Sorrell has teamed up with the South West Creative Technology Network to offer pro-bono creative aid to the heritage sector until the end of 2020.

Having received a Lessons From Now grant from the Network, Sorrell has embarked on the Dear Heritage Sector project, offering free interdisciplinary design assistance to struggling heritage organisations in need of support.

The designer, who was shortlisted for Design Week’s Rising Star 2020, was inspired to make the altruistic offer after reading A Small Needful Fact, a poem by Ross Gay, during lockdown. “It got me thinking about how I might be able to make a meaningful impact, however small, in my own corner of the design world,” Sorrell tells Advisor.

“I suppose working with one foot in the past means my other foot is often planted in the future, and I have been thinking about how future generations will think of this period.

“History is being made, and we continue to need spaces to preserve it. 2020 has been eventful enough without becoming the year that our heritage sector crumbled. That is why I am making this small, needful gesture in my own niche.”


The deadline for applications in 12pm on 31st October and all correspondence should be sent to [email protected]