London

Kingston art school was one of the big 5 art schools in London before the right Honourable Margret Thatcher dismantled the art school system in the UK.

My time there was from 1977 to 1981 completing the foundation course in the old garage that contained small studios of artistic passion and long hours of drawing and drawing and drawing. Seven of us from there went onto the Honours Degree course in Furniture and Related Product Design at Kingston, which at the time was the place to go and do furniture. After the intensity of the Foundation course we were disappointed with the volume of work and lack of pressure and asked the powers that be to give us more workload so that we could feel the same pressure of our year on the foundation.

I think it was the perfect beginning to a career in the Art Department of the film industry. Kingston was a unique experience. We had working designers of note come in and tutor us. We had project’s set by major manufacturers in industry. We had short deadlines to meet and brutal critiques to prepare for. We had workshops the size of a football field that provided us with tuition in welding and all forms of metal work, wood work, vacuum forming wood and plastic, a model making workshop and spray painting booth. Darkrooms and photographic studios and the cross pollination of a strong Graphics School, Interior Design and Fashion as well as fine art, painting and sculpture, architecture and art history. And we had a bar where all met and argued for hours about the importance of our art, passion, ideas and ambition’s, it was creative nirvana. During the 3 years of hard labour we also took to producing outrageous cabaret and multi media shows at Christmas and end of year.

On completion of Design school I worked for product designers Wrightson and Raymond in London. Helping to build and prototype the advanced passenger train for British Rail. This involved building full size mock ups of carriages and constructing prototypes of all the fixtures and fittings in an environment of design and build with Keith Wrightson heading the design team.

New Zealand
Arriving in 1981 in Wellington to start working as a model maker to the commercial film industry. It was the early days of commercials and we were all learning how to make ads together in a highly collaborative community. Silver Screen and Motion Pictures, Interfilm, the Partners Film Co, all at the beginning of their rise and establishing Wellington as the place to make commercials in New Zealand.

CV

Mick Coote Production Designer
phone +64 9 360 5212
mobile +64 21 500 593
to email use contact page

Notable International TV Commercials include:

 New Zealand & Australian Film Companies and Directors worked with:

Barcelona and Madrid Companies:

Other projects include:
Tutoring at the British Film Institute
Production Designer on Worzel Gummidge Down Under
A year and a half working in Barcelona for local film companies
The Bill, TV drama in the UK - 15 episodes.

Over 1000 TV commercials completed in 30 years