Jan Lee
Jan Lee was born in 1968 and grew up in North West England. She has two children. She started at Silai in 2001, completed the Soft Furnishings course and all three years of the Upholstery course. She went on to complete an Access to Art and Design City of Bristol College to enable her to go to UWE.
"Well, for me, when I first started to come here it was an escapism from life at home, and it quickly developed into a little oasis, because the relationships that I formed with the other students were very non-judgmental. I think that the attitude of a lot of the students here is very positive, I think that is because we've got so many different types of people, and we're all here for similar reasons. And so we're all just happy to be here and to be learning something at the same time.
A friend of mine told me about this place and said it might be up my street because she knew I was quite creative, and they were offering courses at Silai when it was on All Hallows Road. I decided that I'd try one day a week doing Soft Furnishings. I started off with very basic things like cushion covers, I made a bedding set, tablecloth, and place mats and a bolster. I started doing the upholstery course and I did that for three years. Starting from scratch and seeing what goes into furniture was a real eye opener for me, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I think that after coming to Silai it gave me a lot more self-confidence in my abilities and to creatively explore new ideas, and also dealing with higher education. It can be quite daunting to go into higher education when you've been out of the establishment for so long, so coming here was a gentle nudge in the right direction, if you like."
