Ruth Cochrane is a Designer and Head of Future Skills at the Glasgow School of Art with over 15 years of academic experience and a background in commercial product design. She was head of product design at Linn Products then led the creative team at Tannoy. As a design led entrepreneur Ruth founded LoveScotland Ltd, an events and tourism business. Ruth focuses on creativity in education and regenerative entrepreneurship, pioneering innovation methodologies across sectors. As a founding member and Director of Daydream Believers, she is helping to transform how creativity is taught in schools. She has received multiple awards, including the Times Higher Education Diversity and Inclusion Award, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Higher Education Academy.
First career aspiration as a child?
I remember wanting to be a sculptor, but as soon as I discovered that there was such a thing as Product Design I knew that was the path for me. The meeting of sculpture and engineering was exactly what I was looking for, it felt like art with purpose and I still love that balancing art. I had one of those old school inspirational Art teachers who was a GSA product design graduate, and had worked with Ettore Sottsass at Olivetti, It was so inspirational to hear about his adventures from our Secondary School in Ayrshire that it made me believe that anything is possible. Role models are everything.
What would you tell your teenage self?
Value yourself more. I think most teenager girls go along with the crowd because they don’t think their own point of view is as important as everyone else’s. I remember teachers gaslighting me for my feminism and my instinct to burying it as a result. It took me a long time to dust it off and wear it proudly as a badge again.
Biggest challenge?
Twins! I have three boys and parenting is the hardest thing I’ve ever tried to do. Baby twins and a toddler nearly finished me off, but I’m lucky that I have an amazing partner and we got through it together. I’m not sure that my family always love it, but I approach at parenting as a design challenge and I’m always looking for creative solutions to battles around screen time as well as the more fun stuff like birthday cake creations. I’m a Halloween costume super Mum!
Your super power?
Creativity is my superpower, whatever the challenge is, I will reach for my sketch book and try to work through it as a design challenge.
Favourite past time?
I’ve been trying to learn to surf on and off for about 25 years and I still suck at it, it’s like learning to snowboard in a washing machine! I’m pretty terrified most of the time I’m out there, I spend most of the time just bobbing about waiting and in Scotland it’s usually freezing cold. But…when you are out in the water, it’s impossible to think about anything else, it’s the ultimate mindfulness, and when you finally do get up onto a wave, it’s the best feeling.