Graham Bullock was a very successful art student in the sixties. When he left art school he became an ecclesiastical sculptor working in both stone and clay. It was working as a sculptor that got him a job or at Ford Motor Company, Dunton, Essex, UK, where he became an apprentice clay modeller working on the Ford Fiesta project. He was chosen to take the model to Cologne, Germany with a team of team of six modellers. He presented the model to Henry Ford 11 and his entourage, in the lounge of the Hotel Intercontinental.
Graham also worked with Ford on other projects like the Transcontinental Truck , Ford Transit and also their flagship, executive a car for the European market. In 1975 the was a down turn in car sales. Graham wanted to move on ,so accepted, a voluntary redundancy package. He went into Marine design, developing high quality hulls for racine yachts up to 12 m.
His next move was to attend University studying Design and Tech. On completion of his degree, he went in to Petrochemical Engineering . "For a while I was particularly interested in piping design and and piping modelling" .
Missing automotive he returned to automotive clay modelling. About that time he was introduced to Alias Wavefront, (then a marine design tool), which was at that time in black-and-white . He started learning how to use it, whilst still working as a clay modeller. It was later bough buy Autodesk and gradually developed to make it an Automotive surfacing program. Graham was taken by this marvellous product and decided to make it his future. He carried on as a contract clay modelling , working all over Europe, but he always had in mind to learn Alias. Graham who has 3 motos, that have guided his life:
1) "Nothing is impossible". 2) "Just Do It!"
3) "What you give, us what you get".
Helped by pro modellers, he learnt Alias a bit-by-bit over a period of about 2 years and he got to the level where he was able to get a job in the studio as an Alias modeller. He became one of the top modellers in his design studio and specialised in resolving highlighting issues.
Towards the end of his career he started to think what he wanted to do in his retirement.
He decided that before he retired he would start a business which was really, a non profit business to help graduates from University to bridge that void between University Alias and the much higher level demanded at Industry Entry level. To his surprise he had a great response from people that were very eager to learn industrial level Alias AutoStudio.
Buoyed by this he expanded his mentoring operation. He got bigger premises and employed mentors to help with the revue and feedback of all of the students work. He converted the course to a Diploma course, which resulted in graduates gaining interviews more easily.
He told me that he has never had a graduate fail to get a job in Industry, because his grads have a much higher level of Alias than other entry level people, their careers gain momentum very quickly. His graduates have jobs in top OEM's worldwide: Ferrari. Lamborghini, Maserati, Pininfarina. Audi, BMW. Porsche, volvo. Ford UK/USA, Jaguar/Land rover, Bentley. PSA and many more.
