NEW DESIGNERS 2017

This summer will see New Designers return to the Business Design Centre for its 32nd year to gather both graduates and creatives in their first year of business from across a wider breadth of design disciplines, including fashion, illustration and furniture design. The show celebrates emerging designers, offering them a platform to share their work and establishing an entryway into the working world of design. It also allows visitors to discover the work of up and coming designers, forecasting re-interpretations of trends such as Brutalism and unique techniques combining traditional and contemporary crafts.

Several designers have taken inspiration from the most prominent issues of our time, using their work to comment on climate change, sustainability and the refugee crisis. Currently the artist in residency at The Lee Alexander McQueen Foundation, Esna Su, has developed a collection of pieces centred on the plight of the Syrian refugees. Using Syrian carpet ‘hasir’ techniques to create sculptural works such as The Refugee, Esna utilises design as an active response to encourage the observer to think about how political instability affects identity and memory. Meanwhile, The Burden is a powerful visualisation of the reality of abandoning a home and the long journeys facing many refugees. Esna’s work encapsulates the potential of design as a response to political and humanitarian issues, adding strong imagery to the existing discourse. New Designers runs across two weeks with each part presenting a different cluster of design disciplines, from the 28 June - 1 July and 5 - 8 July. For more information please visit http://www.newdesigners.com/