Sunday 8 July 2012

Some real gems...


As this year's degree shows come to an end, once again we have been bowled over by the variety of creative work and diverse and interesting collections that have caught our eye. We found some great talent, so here are a few of our show highlights from the class of 2012...

First up is a selection of stand-out sparkly bits from New Designer's Part One...

Natasha Thorogood has just graduated from Nottingham Trent University specialising in Decorative Arts. Her collection of organic rings drew us over to her stand like a couple of magpies! They have a painterly quality, almost Monet-esque, and the combination of aquamarine and ochre mixed with metallic accents of copper, silver and gold were perfection...


Beth Jones, a contemporary applied artist based in North Wales showed that jewellery can come from the simplest of forms. Under the name Mine is Thine, her combination of sculptural and wearable pieces explores domestic references, and experimenting with techniques like enamelling, maintains a minimal aesthetic...

Victoria Thay ticks all the boxes for our love of pretty much anything geometric and structured. Throw in a touch of gold and silver and quite frankly we'll want to buy it all! A graduate from Central St.Martins, her surroundings in the capital become the inspirational backdrop, but rather than take literal references, she has explored the architectural landscape and the skewed perspective of buildings you often see when moving around the city...


Amy Logan formed part of the showcase of designers in the 'One Year On' space and in complete contrast to the work by Victoria above, her current collection takes inspiration from the drawn line. The translation from paper and pen to crafted metalwork makes each piece unique with its hand-drawn to hand-made quality...

Nicola Crawford was also showcasing her latest collection as part of 'One Year On' which took inspiration from the nostalgic routes of letter-writing. She came across a letter in an antique shop penned during World War Two, and used this as her basis for her 'Lost Words' collection...


And finally, Mairi Burrow of Mustard & Peaches, produced a stand-out collection as part of the consistent high-quality that comes out of Duncan of Jordanstone at Dundee University. We were already familiar with Mustard & Peaches through our link with Vanilla Ink, and we were excited to not only see Mairi's collection, but to meet the lovely lady herself. Her thoughtful and considered approach to her work was stunning, and tapping into a subject matter such as Alzheimer's was inspiring and heart-felt...

Look out for our round-up of our top finds in textiles, print and ceramics in the next few days...

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