New Designers 2017: annual London showcase of emerging talent reveals the interior design stars of the future

The New Designers of 2017 are in town, setting up camp at Business Design Centre in Islington until Saturday 8 July.

In this important annual showcase for emerging design, more than 3,000 new graduates from 200 British colleges display their final work, from architecture, interiors, textiles, fashion and jewellery to illustration, furniture, ceramics and glass.

A special room on the first floor is for “One Year On” graduates who have made it to market. Their work is for sale, so it’s your chance to buy into fresh talent. Here, we focus on six of them.

London landmarks in prints

Laura Robinson, 28, left behind a successful media career to start her printed homeware business. Her trademark is a jaunty, personal style of illustration, applied to 55 London landmarks. Buildings are reduced to punchy outlines in neon shades on a black background, or in white on strong colours; more muted versions are also available.

The artwork comes as framed prints (£45-£50), and homewares including cushions (£55) and mugs (£13). Robinson is launching a new website at One Year On — myiconstory.com — for which she’s designed over 300 icons about family, work, love and travel that customers can “drag and drop” to create their own artwork life story.

The hot new oven that keeps its cool

Patrick Kendal studied product design in Brighton, where he has launched his Spring Oven, priced £84.

He started making sourdough about four years ago. Baking recipes, explains Kendal, 27, often suggest adding steam to the oven — but a bowl of water cuts the oven temperature, which isn’t good for the bread. Slipcast from high-quality terracotta and looking like a Moroccan tagine, his Spring Oven has a channel for water that fills the pot with steam while the oven stays fully hot. Kendal is also selling 50-page sourdough recipe books.

Artist's stunning new wave of chic and airy vessels

Ceramic artist Lauren Nauman has perfected a new way of casting porcelain. The result is airy sculptural vessels, a captivating mass of wavy lines that are light and strong.

American by birth, Nauman, 27, trained and worked in Boston, then did a residency in Denmark followed by a two-year Masters at the Royal Academy, where she refined her techniques. She now works full time as a ceramicist, sharing studio space with architecture and design collective Assemble, winner of the Turner Prize in 2015.

Decorative vessels, in sizes from 10cm to 30cm, are in porcelain with brass details, from £380 to £980.

Elegant pieces for shiny, happy homes

George Riding, 24, graduated in 3D design at Northumbria University where he is now a designer in residence, though he craves a studio in London. His pieces include this elegant indoor watering vessel, with a long spout for less mess.

The parts, CNC cut from brass, are silver-soldered together and the can is then nickel-plated and polished. Riding is also showing salt and pepper mills cast from silicone with ceramic grinding mechanisms, and candle holders cast from brass. Prices from £70.

Inspired by TV sitcom, a compact sofa perfect for small flats

Matthew Pope, 24, was a product and furniture design student at Nottingham Trent University when he saw an episode of Friends on TV in which Ross was trying to shift a bulky sofa up a flight of stairs.

Pope’s design for a sofa that could be split into parts was born. He took it to New Designers last summer, and won a prize to exhibit at 100% Design in the autumn. Since then, he’s found a UK manufacturer and designed another modular sofa, the Topi, which is more compact and has a choice of distinctive removable covers for each section.

Pope is perched on a Topi, which is on display at One Year On. “I’m aiming particularly at people who live in small flats,” he says. “My sofa can go with you when you move.” He loves to solve problems, and more designs are in the pipeline. The Topi sofa starts from about £1,000.

From mechanic to mum the ceramicist

For Cisca Collins, trading as Cisca Jane, glaze is the magic that makes her porcelain pieces special, whether slip cast or thrown. She uses a unique “crystalline” type.

The ceramic artist’s experiences include a mechanics apprenticeship aged 16. She has also worked with excluded schoolchildren, practised sports massage and has three children. A BA in design crafts from De Montfort University, Leicester, led her to create the lovely vessels and wall art on show at One Year On. Prices from £20 to £3,000.