We have a long tradition of and commitment to nurturing emerging and developing talents in designer craftsmanship. In 1973, we established our highly successful Licentiate Membership programme, which provides the newly graduated designer maker with a supportive bridge between being a student and becoming an established, confident and accomplished designer maker.
Licentiate Membership is not only open to newly graduated makers, but can also be awarded to people who are setting up in business after a career break or re-training. Licentiates must fulfill the Society's requirement to demonstrate exceptional skill and individuality, as well as showing future creative and commercial potential. This category of membership offers a range of valuable benefits and opportunities for personal and professional development through interaction with peers and established members, as well as the Society's contacts within the designer-craft buying sector.
Benefits of being a licentiate include :
- One-to-one mentoring with an established Society Member or Fellow
- Opportunity to exhibit at the Society's annual Designer Crafts exhibition
- Opportunity to exhibit in our Gallery in London
- A listing with a web link on the Society's website
- Regular e-bulletins and quarterly newsletters, full of Society updates and members' news
- Access to all the Society's activities
- Right to attend and vote at the Society's Annual General Meeting
- Right to use letters LSDC after your name as long as membership is retained
Licentiate Awards and Grades
We look for the following when interviewing for Licentiate membership :
- A personal appreciation of the part craftsmanship plays in the development of ideas.
- Evidence of a sustaining drive and commitment, and a realistic understanding of the problems of working as a designer-maker
- An awareness of contemporary design through craftsmanship
Awards are graded as pass or merit
Licentiates achieving a merit will be offered the opportunity to exhibit in the Society's prestigious Mall Galleries Exhibition the following year. At this exhibition selected merit award holders will be nominated for distinction awards and a number of prizes.
The awards of merit and distinction are publicised throughout the year in which the individual Licentiate receives the award(s).
Subscriptions
These are due annually on 1st February. If successful you will be asked to forward a reduced subscription for the year of your acceptance, with the full annual subscription of £ 40 (forty pounds) then due the following 1st February.
For those who apply as a new Licentiate at New Designers or at College successful applicants have no further payment in addition to their application fee for the rest of the year of their acceptance.
Subscriptions can be paid by Direct Debit, via our Credit Card Terminal or by cheque.
Download application here