Making the GSA Modul

When Paulin had physical shops, customers would often tell us they were buying our Glasgow-branded watches to commemorate their university graduation. We’ve always had a close relationship with the Glasgow School of Art, partly from our involvement in the Glasgow creative community, as well as many of our team and collaborators being alumni. In late 2024, we approached the design department to suggest a live brief to design a graduation watch.

The idea grew, and our Creative Director, Imogen, and designer, Katie, ran a workshop in late 2024 with fourth year Communication Design students. The workshop explored the limitations of designing typography for watch dials, with the students working through a series of exercises that played with scale and negative space, as well as the emotions linked to the concept of time. Working at a greatly enlarged scale, we used the dramatic architecture of the building to view the dial design at different distances and give new perspectives. 

After a period of refinement and feedback, the students submitted their designs. We were blown away by the submissions: each design rich in their own individual design language and conceptual reasonings.

Our chosen design, by Beth Law, felt fully resolved. The expressive ribbon typography and luxe metallic finish felt apt to the theme of graduation, as well as being true to her design style. We worked with Beth at our Glasgow studio to refine the design and decide on materials and colour. The result: a brushed rhodium plated dial with clear gloss numerals, that plays with depth, light, and contrast. 

We caught up with Beth to chat a little more about her practice and her experience designing the dial.

Tell us a little about your practice, what themes does your work explore?

During my 4th year of study at The Glasgow School of Art I learned a lot about my personal practice, I enjoyed the freedom to experiment and self direct my projects. I work across a range of media: digital, physical and print, with a focus on hands on making. Most recently I’ve been exploring themes of feminism, media and consumerism.

Tell us about the workshop Paulin did, did you take any of the ideas forward to the dial development phase?

The workshop Paulin hosted was great, working at scale with ink was so expressive and enjoyable. I focused on covering as much area on the dial as possible with large numbers, an idea I took forward with me through all of the development stages.

Tell us about the process behind the design, what ideas did you initially start with and how did that develop?

My process featured two dramatically different routes. I initially started with rather reserved minimal and Swiss inspired designs, with the numbers being made of clean geometric shapes that connected smoothly. I realised that this approach was not designing for myself, but for the imaginary preconception of what someone else might like. I switched things up and started experimenting with the flowing form of the ribbon, something I wear all of the time. 

How did designing a watch feel different to your other projects? Did you encounter any challenges during the design process?

Designing a watch dial is unlike anything I have ever done before, it’s such a unique experience and I am so honoured to have been able to work on this with Paulin. There are so many minute and subtle choices that go into making the final design just right. I think at first I found it hard to trust myself and instincts when it came to changing routes in the development phase, but I went for it and it paid off!

The idea behind the watch is that it was for graduation–how did this contribute to the final design?

I believe that in life, time is precious. My time at GSA will ultimately be fleeting, and to commemorate how treasured that time was and cement the delicate yet malleable form of the ribbon in a dial, I chose to focus on materiality. The contrasting metallic finishes mirror the precious nature of time, and the final design serves as a reminder of this and of my time at the GSA.

You can shop the GSA Modul here. We are offering this piece at a discounted price for GSA students, graduates and alumni for a discounted price. Please get in touch with contact@paulinwatches.com to access the discount code.