These new studies, unique in Catalonia, provide continuity to the school's leather training pathway and respond to the demand for qualified professionals in the sector

A group of students began, this September, the new Higher Diploma course in plastic arts and design in Leather Techniques at the La Gaspar Municipal School of Art and Design. These vocational studies are the only ones in their field taught in Catalonia and the second in Spain, and they provide continuity to the Intermediate Diploma course of Technician in Plastic Arts and Design in Leather Accessories Craftsmanship, which has been offered at the Igualada school with official accreditation since 1999, studies that are likewise unique in the country.

The studies equip students to conceive, produce and carry out the various stages of a fashion, craft and neo-craft project in leather, enabling them to perform the monitoring and quality controls typical of industrial production, through to obtaining a final product suited to the project's objectives.

The new vocational Higher Diploma in Leather Techniques is taught in the Dual professional-environment training mode, and the school has designed the curricula around the professional profiles demanded by companies in the sector and adapted them to the new technologies those companies need.

A vocational school

In pedagogical terms, this new Higher Diploma means that students on the Intermediate Diploma of Technician in Plastic Arts and Design in Leather Accessories Craftsmanship do not see their training pathway cut short and can continue their leather design studies, from which they may subsequently go on, if appropriate, to university studies. It also opens the door to students coming from other training courses who wish to steer their professional career towards the leather sector.

Students acquire knowledge that enables them to design and produce artisan and neo-artisan leather goods, to develop comprehensive leather manufacturing projects and to enter the labour market in companies in the luxury leather goods production industry, in internationally prestigious tanneries and in fashion and clothing companies, leather restoration, leather accessories, fashion accessories, artisan and industrial furniture, and leather accessories and articles.

In this way, the La Gaspar Municipal School of Art and Design offers a highly relevant vocational training structure that is unique in Catalonia.

Indeed, over the past year the school's management has worked with prestigious companies in the sector, with Leather Cluster Barcelona and with companies both local and from the Cádiz town of Ubrique, in order to design curricula adapted to the needs of a sector that in recent years has required qualified and specialised professionals.

As a result of this public-private collaboration, the career opportunities available to students who began the new vocational Higher Diploma in plastic arts and design in Leather Techniques at the La Gaspar Municipal School of Art and Design this September cover a wide range: stitcher, assembler, leather goods designer, accessories designer, colour specialist, developer of leathers and other materials, project manager, pattern maker, prototype maker, 3D technician, raw material control technician, cutting technician, and so on.

This year, with successful enrolment figures, the first of the two years that make up the vocational Higher Diploma in plastic arts and design in Leather Techniques has begun, studies which, being taught in the Dual professional-environment training mode, also include a paid six-month placement for students in a company in the sector.

This new training offering forms part of the internationalisation process driven by the Igualada school's management. La Gaspar has obtained the ECHE Charter and forms part of the international mobility Consortium of art and design schools of Catalonia, and from this academic year it can take part in international mobility with the ERASMUS+ charter. Students have the possibility of applying for a grant to undertake exchanges and placements with European schools and companies. The school also supports international stays for teaching staff through this programme.

Much more than an educational project

The La Gaspar Municipal School of Art and Design in Igualada stresses that these vocational studies in leatherwork, unique in Catalonia, have a significance that goes well beyond the educational sphere, because they have an impact on the industrial fabric and on the territory, which will become an international benchmark in the field of design and neo-craftsmanship in leather.