The old bones of its new home seem to fit Atlantic Canada’s first communication and industrial design institute, especially when you see where it’s going.
For Creative Art Multimedia Inc. (CAM) founders, Kamran Mohammed and Winston Mendez, a design institute wasn’t something either had any plans to do initially. But that changed quickly, in 2019, when th e pair began Ikar Digital.
The vision for Ikar was an agency catering to 3D design and information technology needs in Saint John. But according to Mohammed, when they attempted to recruit talent for their agency they realized there was a vast shortage of qualified designers in Atlantic Canada.
Recognizing the difficulty of trying to compete for established design talent in big-city hubs like Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal, Mohammed and Mendez decided to create their own solution.
More than two years later, CAM Institute of Design & Studio is the first advanced design institute in Atlantic Canada. It offers students a chance to work on real industry projects while completing their program.
CAM now has physical space worthy of its plans to become a proper institute of design in Saint john, marketing itself as a one-of-a-kind institute in the region offering a combination of communication and industrial design programs.
“When you hold a pencil, you can draw anything. Same thing when you know the concepts of design, when you understand the creativity in that segment, you can be like water – you can spread your wings,” says Mohammed, CAM’s Managing Director.
He believes a well-rounded student should have skills across more than one design discipline and points to employers who are increasingly seeking more than one skill set.
Emerging possibilities in electric vehicle design
Both Mohammed and Mendez (CAM’s CEO) now see the widening path for transition to electric vehicles and are looking to position CAM and Saint John as a destination point for design concepts that will become tomorrow’s EVs.
According to Canada’s climate plan, A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy, transportation accounts for about 25 percent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, of which almost half comes from passenger cars and light trucks. The federal government has set a mandatory target for all new light-duty cars and passenger trucks to be zero-emission by 2035.
“We’re aligned with the government’s goal and are steadfast in our support by training Canadian talent in EV design,” says Mohammed. “So, our students will have the knowledge and training for what is in demand in designing EVs for Ford, Tesla, and more. We are currently working on clay models, where we are going to pitch to Ford, and we have the conceptual designs for some big brands. The students get to learn while they study on a project, and they can add that under their portfolio.”
“You have to work on projects in order to get the experience and that’s what makes you stand out from ordinary graduates,” says Mohammed, who adds even faculty aren’t just teaching but often working alongside students on real industry projects at the same time.
Partnering with the community
When beginning CAM in 2020, both Mohammed and Mendez weren’t sure if Saint John would be that destination point for design learning, though Mohammed says it didn’t take long to know they had made the right decision choosing Saint John.
“The community and the people that we were supported by and the love that we got was incredible: they all believed in our vision,” he recalls. “Sometimes you need the people around you to support whatever your idea is.”
When New Brunswick implemented its state of emergency in March of 2020, ConnexionWorks was one of many co-working spaces across North America that took a hit.
The 17,000-square-foot office space, located in uptown Saint John’s Brunswick Square office tower, was able to use its layout to better accommodate physical distancing but still faced the challenge of having to close its doors for some members.
Businesses with full-time memberships were allowed to continue working safely in the space as their equipment and computers were already located on-site, an option only available to a handful of members at the time.
One of those companies was CAM. Mohammed credits ConnexionWorks co-founder Heather Acker for helping keep things moving forward for him and Mendez when everything else stopped, calling her “a big support for us, initially.”
Mohammed says when CAM became a registered college in New Brunswick, giving it authority to offer a diploma certificate, that’s when momentum with the community accelerated.
“That’s where a lot of people got trust, they decided to believe in the curriculum we were teaching,” he said.
A historical backdrop
What makes CAM’s endeavor into EV design more fitting was the 4,000-square-foot flex space it leased at 604 Rothesay Avenue, in Saint John. Built in 1912, “The Maritime Singer Building” began as a car manufacturing facility rolling out a handful of heavy luxury Singer Six models that were assembled at the location in 1913 and 1914.
Over a century later, the building was redeveloped by owner Steve Belyea as a modern commercial space, but it still has traces of its original character. High ceilings, exposed brick and beams now meet large windows and in-floor radiant heat. The building’s original two-ton overhead crane remains in place.
CAM moved into the location in July, with renovations continuing through the fall in preparation for winter classes, while an adjacent lab provides an area for Mohammed and the team to operate as a prime location.
CAM is now able to provide students not only a physical space to complete their program but also their first opportunity to work on real-world projects with clients. A new batch of students is set to begin at the institute in January.
“This place is for the one who has the passion to make a change and the drive to enjoy the work every day and make some beautiful designs and take the world by storm through design: this place is for them, we don’t have an age group that we’re limited to,” says Mohammed.
The prerequisites usually align for those who have that passion, with Mohammed and his team gravitating toward those who have begun to put that passion and curiosity into some sort of practice.
“Our priority is more about someone who has got the work done in the past,” admits Mohammed. “It could be just a small thing, but they need to have that passion. We want to make sure that you are into it completely and we’ll help you grow from there.”
Mohammed agrees with so many possibilities to start in the industry, it’s hard to find good qualified graphic designers.
“There is a need right now that has never been there, it could be a product or video game design, animation, 2D/3D cartoon characters, movies, series, you can make so many things out of just designs.”
Mohammed says those who are qualified are going to be paid well in an industry which he maintains is ready to explode in growth in the next three years. He feels CAM’s earliest batches of graduates can catch that wave of growth, noting the exposure to real-world design projects gives CAM students an advantage.
“On the EV side, we’re currently working on some car designs and have an industry list we’ve been looking at coming up with…” he said. “We are working on the ideation, and we got some approvals to go ahead with different things, but the students will get to learn on these projects.”
The good-paying design jobs you may not have heard of
Somewhat surprising in an increasingly digital world is the use of high-end modelling clay for CAM’s EV design work.
“There’s not many people who do clay modelling in Canada, so we’ll be the first ones in the Atlantic region to provide 1:1 clay modelling for cars,” says Mohammed, adding that CAM is working on its automotive concepts with industrial clay in a 360-degree, 1:1 (life-sized true to form) ratio model, that includes sculpting of the interior.
The right type of clay needed for the sculpting can be hard to find, which makes opportunities to buy it in bulk quality a priority. Thanks to the internet, CAM can get it shipped from different countries in bulk orders, though many lately have been delayed an extra 15-20 days from the ordering date.
“The clay we order is a high-end clay,” says Mohammed. So, in order for you to mold and get that shape — It’s highly reusable and requires heating for reuse. With the clay process, there are certain titles that go just for clay sculpting, it’s a highly paid job too.”
While not everyone aspires early in life to model life-sized cars and trucks out of clay, Mohammed says one of the largest challenges he sees is a lack of education around several design disciplines that have been around for decades.
Roto painting is the first specialty that comes to Mohammed’s mind, itself a classic visual effect and Hollywood mainstay involving the creation of mattes often over a series of frames. Roto painters paint to remove unwanted artifacts or reconstruct a background but can also work to digitally correct a render or composite.
“It’s like what you see in the movies. The backdrop is nothing but a matte painting,” says Mohammed. “It’s a highly paid industry and it requires really good detail.”
Whether roto painting or something else, Mohammed has watched new hands discover those unsung but highly specialized roles as they learn.
“What you know is only what you have seen — and then you’re exposed to something bigger — and you’re going to be a part of this now,” says Mohammed. As for CAM, those words may sum up the experience perfectly.
Tyler Mclean is a reporter with Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
