14th June 2018

Design’s future stars

Rapidly approaching this month, New Designers is an exhibition of more than 3,000 graduate designers all under one roof at the Design Business Centre in Islington. Taking in disciplines as broad as graphics, glassmaking, gaming, photography, film and fashion, it’s one of the best places in the country to spot the emerging creatives due to make it big in coming years.

Just one section of this abundant talent smorgasboard is One Year In, a collection of 100 new creative businesses expertly curated by jewellery designer and entrepreneur Rheanna Lingham. Although many are previous New Designers exhibitors, any emerging business is eligible as long as they possess a quality product, viable business idea and a ton of originality.

We caught up with three of this year’s One Year In cohort to find out a bit more about their hopes for the futures as they put the finishing touches on their stands ahead of the show.

Mulberry by Tom Abbiss Smith.

King and Webbon

Hailing from Bristol, furniture brand King and Webbon is the brainchild of Andy King and Rob Webbon. The pair comes from engineering and sustainability backgrounds, but have changed things up to focus on designing and making functional, durable and beautiful furniture and taking on bespoke commissions. Andy and Rob’s former lives still loom large in the company’s approach. You can’t move for exquisite joinery and all of their products are made from hardwoods from sustainable UK sources. The Jones table, for example, is made from 25-year air-dried Welsh Elm sustainably felled from an organic farm.

Ahead of the show Andy and Rob are most looking forward to meeting other designer-makers, pooling strategies and experiences to collectively make each other stronger. ‘Bringing an object you’ve designed into existence is exciting and rewarding,’ says Andy. ‘It’s also expensive, time-consuming, speculative and doesn’t always turn out as intended until you’ve gone through many iterations. Balancing this process with sales and fee-earning projects to cover our business and personal costs is a challenge.’

You only have to look at King and Webbon’s cartoonish K3 stools or the mouth-watering Hibou sideboard (a mixture of Scandi chic and Japanese minimalism) to see it got a host of quality products, but it’s eyeballs that the duo is after from New Designers. ‘You could make the most beautifully designed and crafted products in the world, but if no one knows about them you don’t have a business,’ says Andy. ‘Not everyone will love your style, but there are those who will and you have to reach them via exposure to as many people as possible.’ Pay King and Webbon a visit at New Designers Week 2, which runs between 4 and 7 July.

KW3 Stool by King and Webbon.

Alice Johnson

If you’ve got a lot on today, don’t – I repeat – don’t go on illustrator and ceramicist Alice Johnson’s website. You’ll lose hours fawning over her cute creations, from lady-shaped candle holders and lamps and sausage dog pots to hand-built vases, each decorated with a charmingly naive style. A graduate of the University of Brighton but now based in Stroud, Alice is entrepreneurial to the core – clients can have their pets rendered into a cute-but-weird ceramic replica for example, and for the less kitsch inclined, she’s developed ceramic earrings and covetable other accessories.

Working out pricing, as well as juggling her creative practice with a job in retail, has been the biggest challenge since launching her business, Alice tells us, but she’s excited about New Designers as a chance to meet other creatives as well as potential buyers. ‘You don’t know who you might meet and what it could lead onto in the future!’ she says. ‘Hopefully, it’ll lead on to a snowball effect where one person sees my work and passes my name on.’

As for her tips for new graduates about to make their first steps into the world of work, Alice is adamant that practice makes perfect. ‘Don’t stop doing things!’ Alice says. ‘Sometimes it can get quite overwhelming when you’re not sure what to do with life but if you keep working, it will hopefully lead to something. Also, try to network as much as possible, it’s not what you know it’s definitely who you know – that’s what I’ve found.’ Catch Alice at New Designers Week 1, from 27 to 30 June.

Dog by Alice Johnson.

Tom Abbiss Smith

This is not the first time pattern-loving graphic designer Tom Abbiss Smith has exhibited at New Designers – his course (Norwich University of The Arts, Illustration BA degree) even scooped up an award for the best stand when they exhibited here in 2016. ‘When I was part of New Designers a few years ago I was really inspired by the whole event, but especially the stands at One Year In. I wanted to be able to exhibit my work at a high standard like those past exhibitors.’ And this year Tom has the chance, capitalising on the opportunity to showcase some of his own products, rather than just his client work.

Since graduating Tom has notched up a bumper crop of clients, from Vodaphone to Pinterest and has applied his pastel-tinged designs to rugs, swimwear, yoga mats, Bandcamp gift cards and phone cases. He even created a mural for Miami’s Museum of Ice Cream, which almost broke Instagram when it was launched earlier this year. ‘I've been getting a lot of commissions recently that have pushed me out of my comfort zone,’ says Tom. ‘I think this has led to a better exploration of colour, texture and application of artwork. I realise now that there are loads of different paths I can go down with my designs, which is exciting as I can confidently explore a lot of different things now.’

As well as meeting successful peers working in different disciplines, Tom is looking forward to sharing his work with New Designers’ visitors in the flesh, rather than just on screen – a rare opportunity for graphic designers. ‘I think that is so important because it encourages a deeper examination of the art and allows artists and visitors to chat and get to know each,’ says Tom. ‘Sharing work online is great, but it seems far more ephemeral.’ Meet Tom IRL at New Designers Week 2, which runs between 4 and 7 July.

If you’re keen to discover products by Tom, Andy and Alice plus 97 other emerging creatives, you can scoop up tickets for New Designers here.

Hypnotic (left) and Lemon (right) by Tom Abbiss Smith.

Hibou Sideboard Too by King and Webbon.

Ceramics by Alice Johnson.

To find out more about how we help New Designers to launch the careers of young creatives like these, visit its client page here.