Visiting New Designers

The exhibition area 

Earlier on this week, I was lucky enough to visit the 'New Designers' exhibition held at the vast 'Business design centre', London. Due to never experiencing anything like this beforehand, I was completely overwhelmed by the exciting array of innovative Textiles design and the sheer scale of the event. It was impossible to not feel inspired by new techniques, use of technology, and the sophistication of how the work itself was displayed.

The event had a variation of sponsors which included Sainsbury's, Hallmark, Peroni, John Lewis and many more prestigious brands which helped to make this exciting event take shape.

Katie Jenner (Nottingham Trent)

Loved the industrial, raw quality of this graduates work. The large scale, textural samples stood out, drawing attention to the attributes of considered colour which seem to modernise the traditional approaches used.

Nicole Watson (Glasgow School Of Art)

These concise illustrations contrast interestingly with the chaotic, technical material swatches using an explosion of colour and surface design.

Intriguing layers of suspended materiality, capturing light through cut-outs, and showing the underlying textures.

(Leeds)

Loved the abstract nature of these prints, and the confident use of contrasting colour to depict tropical botanicals. 

(Leeds)

More intriguing botanical prints using slightly more neutral shades, concentrating on tonal qualities.

(Leeds)

Floral prints, with experimental textural overlay.

Amber Cousins (De Montfort)

A simplistic, and refined way of displaying work, yet ensures that the focus is truly on the print designs themselves.

Kieran Pathak-Mould (De Montfort)

Amber Rose Pullen

Paloma Alarcon (Bournemouth)

Cultural appropriation work using laser-cutting technologies and expressive colours combined with monochrome.

Sally Cheung (Central St Martins)

Chloesha Shepperd (Central St Martins)

It was interesting to see so many different universities all under one roof, expressing their own interpretation of textile design in their own personal 'hand'. Some universities, as a whole, kept to traditional approaches, concentrating specifically on needlework, knit and weave using muted or earthy colour palettes, whilst others thrived on the use of technology creating contemporary, contrasting results. This, in most cases, reflected the environment from where the students were studying. It seemed the more rural the region, the more nature inspired the outcome.

The University of Leeds really made a memorable impact on me. Their 'hand' as a whole seemed to be mostly botanical print based, resulting in their section being an explosion of colourful and intricate prints; right up my street! I found that every students work was contrasting to one anothers; a different skill used to enhance particular aspect of the prints in many examples. The minimalist approach to display was also something I took into consideration for my own personal work progression. It was adherent that by allowing the compositions room to breathe, it creates more of an impact to the viewer.

Being amidst the constant buzz of creative individuals, networking and sharing techniques was a refreshing place to be. With a new brief on the horizon, the vast amount of new ideas I brought home from the event definitely makes the venture feel worthwhile.