New Designers 2019: London show at the Business Design Centre showcases top new talent from UK design schools

THE annual New Designers show opens today at the Business Design Centre in Islington.

This huge, glassy Victorian hall is buzzing with creativity as up to 3,000 students celebrate the end of their studies on more than 170 UK courses.

Half of them will show until Saturday, from courses in textiles, costume and fashion, jewellery and precious metals, ceramics and glass and contemporary design crafts.

Then it’s all change next week, from Wednesday July 3 to Saturday July 6, with the spotlight on furniture, product and industry, spatial design and interiors, graphics, illustration, animation, motion and digital arts.

Those in the know head straight for the gallery to sift through One Year In, which has work on sale from new design outfits that are already up and running.

It’s your chance to bag a piece from emerging design stars. Looms in spare bedrooms, sheds and shared studios, along with the recent Anni Albers show at Tate Modern, have nurtured a national upsurge in weaving, and New Designers reflects the trend.

Based in east London, woven textile designer maker Dalia James’s careful grids mix unexpected colours into joyous textural blocks. Llio James brings cushions and rugs from her loom in West Wales, while Jacob Monk uses ikat techniques to soften his subtle stripes.

Rachna Garodia graduated as a textile designer in 2000 from India’s National Institute of Design. She came to London 12 years ago, adding training at the Royal College of Needlework.

Her free, imaginative style puts “precious natural bits” into her work, such as flowers, leaves, bark, seedpods and grass — see her tapestries and hangings.

Central Saint Martins graduate Pamela Print is bringing handwoven cushions filled with wool fleece inspired by Art Deco on the streets of Brussels, where she now lives.

Susy Stirling pieces together bright woven Harris tweed for sumptuous blankets. Also making textiles is Olivia J Holland, using an industrial knitting machine for scarves and ties in a smooth wool and silk blend.

Commissioning furniture is easier than ever, thanks to a clutch of new studios making individual pieces to order.

You can see traces of boat building, such as the steam-bent curves and hand-applied rivets, in chairs by Ben Tcharny, thanks to his traditional training as a shipwright.

He is based in south London, as is Sandy Buchanan, who loves to talk homegrown timbers. He labels every piece telling where the wood was felled, down to the very copse.

In north London, Richard Evans combines wood with curvy coloured metal tubing. Mac Collins references his African roots with a throne-like chair stained midnight blue.

Curating your own collection of prints and small pieces of sculpture makes a home unique. Anne-Laure Cano fuses small clay pieces into strange alien forms, splashed with colour — “messy and lively,” she says.

Clay artist Mitch Pilkington scours North Devon beaches for shells that inspire the smooth shapes of her coiled and slab-built vessels.

Mixing watercolour with pen-and-ink, Katie Putt illustrates cards and prints. Fflur Owen combines leather with ceramics for her small sculptures, while Janine Partington hand-carves leather and paints it for wall panels.

Adventurous designers are making new materials out of waste. Atticus Durnell who graduated last year is at One Year In with That’s Caffeine — tableware and small pieces of furniture made from coffee grounds.

From Italy comes Italian duo High Society, making lamps out of discarded wine, tobacco and hemp.

Leading colourist, paint pundit and Dulux creative director Marianne Shillingford set up the Colour in Design Awards for new graduates, now in their third year at New Designers.

Head to the gallery to find out more about past winners Diane Bresson and Laurent Peacock plus new “ones to watch”.

Sponsors of New Designers include Sainsbury’s and sister brand Argos Home. Their stand celebrates their past award winners whose work is now in production.

The theme is design for Generation Rent, including the new Loft Living collection by 2017 graduate Joe Parker. In oak and textured metals, this has adjustable cubes and soft-closing, handleless doors, selling online from next month.