New Designers 2016

Amongst the wedding preparations, I did find time to go to this show last Friday.  I've been meaning to see what it's all about for the past few years now and finally I had the chance.  It's held every year at the end of June in The Business Design Centre, Islington and has been going for 30 years now.

The main angle is for the various UK (and one from Sweden I noticed ...) Art Schools to bring their final textile shows to London.  There is a lot to see and take in.  However, it is possible to identify various strands and themes running through the work.  I noticed some designs reminding me very much of Memphis from the 80's.  Most of the work though seemed to take its influences from Natural History and Botanical Prints.  Insects, butterflies and moths were a recurring theme throughout the show.  I was also surprised at how much hand painted work there was, in that there is a noticeable shift at the moment to digital printing.  There was even a demonstration of digital fabric printing:

The students were very eager to chat and talk and I enjoyed finding out more behind the work I was seeing.  They all had their own business cards and some had printed flyers and booklets.  Now the show is over, it's possible to look at their websites and find out more.  I don't want to post close-up photographs of their work here for copyright reasons.

These are some of my favourite business cards to give you a flavour of what was there:

Make It In Design also had a stand at the show and I was able to meet and talk to the ladies who organise everything, as well as take away a goodie bag.  It gave me inspiration to finish the last two exercises I have to do from my course, Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design.

I've signed up for the Summer School which begins in August.  I have a week off work then so should be able to make a fair job of it.  Looking forward to then!