Ayse caters her designs for the future

By Clearing

With a family background in the restaurant business, artistically inclined Ayse Babur-Puplett chose to design her ideal restaurant as the final project for her BA (Hons) Interior Architecture & Design course.

Ayse, 29, from Stockton, decided to enrol on the course after spending the last ten years looking after her two children and working as a manageress in a hairdressing suppliers. Ayse said: “I always loved learning and had done various night classes when the kids were young, ranging from subjects like art to psychology.”

“I’ve been interested in the restaurant and catering business, because of my family background in the trade. Four years ago I had my kitchen renovated to commercial standard, which led me to become interested in interior design. I wanted to do some outside catering and found it really interesting to see what went into designing of the layout of the kitchen.

“I woke up one morning and decided I wanted to know more and return to learning, so I contacted the University about Interior Design and before I knew it, I was enrolled on the course. It took a little while to settle in, especially as I got married halfway through the first term, but I was soon feeling very confident and was really enjoying myself.”

For Ayse’s final project, she created new designs for a building in Church Road in Stockton, to see how it would look as a contemporary restaurant. Ayse said: “It was a really interesting project to tackle and I’ve even shown my designs to the owners of the building. You never know, they might want to use it.

“I had a lot of support from my family and friends, and I don’t think I could have done it with out my husband, children and mum. Everyone helped me to juggle my course work and home life and it has even made us closer as a family.

“Doing the course has really opened my eyes. I’ve learnt so many new skills. I just can’t believe what I can do now and it’s boosted my self-esteem. I’d completely recommend it to anyone – it’s been worth every minute of the hard work.”

Ayse is intending to study on the University’s New Entrepreneur Scholarship programme, in order to increase her understanding of running a business. Future plans include the possibility of combining her interior design skills and interest in catering to run her own coffee shop.

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