Leah Nelson
The introduction for this feature talks about pattern designers past and present, but today we’re looking ahead to the design stars of tomorrow as I bring you some of the work I saw on Saturday at New Designers (Part 1), the showcase for the UK’s most talented new design graduates. This was my first time at the exhibition, and it was definitely a case of “shock and awe”‘ – I was completely and utterly overwhelmed by the sheer wealth of talent on display. Sadly, I can bring you only a fraction of this extraordinary talent, but I hope you enjoy this small selection.
Leah Nelson is a surface designer and illustrator whose work (top image and below) is inspired by fusing tribal motifs and Art Deco on wood; the grain showing through gives each piece its unique characteristic. Leah’s display had photographs of a wooden staircase with one of her designs applied to the front of each tread – I’m sorry I can’t bring you that image, but the effect was truly stunning.
The declining bee populations were the inspiration for Victoria Umansky’s printed wool textiles, pictured above and below, for soft furnishings and blankets. She used data about the habits of the bees as a tool to generate geometric motifs and patterns.
Pictured above is the work of Emily Jane Fisher, a mixed media textile designer, who specialises in bespoke pleated and manipulated fabrics. Emily combines intricate crease patterns with digital print and vibrant dip-dyed gradients to create striking, three-dimensional, luxury pieces for the home.
Hannah Hope-Johnson is a print and textile designer, whose work (pictured above) is instantly recognisable for its dynamic art deco inspired geometrics, kaleidoscope patterns and vivid use of colour.
Intricate, intriguing and subtle hand stitched and smocked designs, above and below, from surface pattern designer David Ryan.
You can find out more about the New Designers exhibitions at newdesigners.com.
Part 2 is this week, 4-7 July at the Business Design Centre, London featuring, amongst other things, Furniture, Product and Industrial Design, Graphic Design and Illustration, Architecture and Interior Design. If Part 1 last weekend was anything to go by, I’m preparing to be absolutely stunned and amazed all over again, and can hardly wait.
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