Young creatives from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) have won top awards at the UK’s main showcase for fresh design talent, New Designers 2016.
The event at London’s Business Design Centre attracts thousands of visitors from the art and design community who come to see more than 3,000 of the most promising graduate talents from Britain’s leading design courses.
New Designers Part 1, held this week, features ceramics, glass, design crafts, textiles, costume design and jewellery exhibited by final year students from UK universities.
DMU Textile Design student
Danielle Wyatt’s printed Cymatics Collection – a collection of wallpaper and fabrics, based on the visual representation of sounds – won the New Designers Johnson Tiles Associate Prize.
Her cash prize was £500 and she also won a two-week work placement at Johnson Tiles. The company was looking for best use of colour as well as awareness of trends.
A spokesman for the judges said: “We chose Danielle for her innovative concept and inspiration, which always linked back to science, sound and cymatics, her attention to detail through application of colour and exploration of surfaces and for the overall concept and thought process behind the final collection.
A delighted Danielle said: “Massive thank you for De Montfort University to get me where I am today!”
And DMU graduate Hannah Tounsend’s ceramics and print collection was singled out for a One Year On prize – recognising those graduates in their first year of business.
Hannah, who did a degree in ceramics and glass at DMU before earning an
MA in Fine Art at DMU, won £500 from New Designers, a year’s free membership to Design Nation plus a Showcase Exhibition at the National Centre for Craft & Design.
She said: “It's wonderful to win an award at this prestigious event. I'm excited to be exhibiting alongside a group of creative people who I really admire.”
The judges praised Hannah’s “very high quality collection." They added: “There is a great sense of colour; overlapping and contrasting. Hannah has demonstrated very successful product development in new materials. Her execution is controlled but spontaneous, very focussed but open to feedback.”
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Student strikes gold with prestigious bursaryIsobel Dennis, Director of New Designers, said: “These winning designers represent the future of the creative industries, and we are proud to recognise their talents with today’s Prizes. We thank our Associates for their support in doing so, and know that today’s experience has been as rewarding for them discovering this new talent as it has been for their winners.”
New Designers Part 2 runs from July 6 to 9 and will feature showcases of students’ work in furniture, graphic design, illustration, animation and product design.
Posted on Friday 1 July 2016