Success for graduates

After a really successful summer of shows and exhibitions for our graduates, we are now looking at what happens next. Over the years many of our grads have gone into a variety of creative roles since leaving Bucks, including these two great recent stories from the last two months.

Marcia La Madrid

Marcia has recently been offered a job with Collection 18, a leading design studio based in New York, where she will work alongside a large team of creatives to develop and design accessories. Collection 18 work for many design companies, from Lulu Guiness to Urban outfitters and Nordstrom.
Marcia said of her time at Bucks;
"Bucks New University allowed me to really explore my discipline thanks to its spacious studio, great facilities, and fantastic tutoring. I secured an internship at SIBLING LONDON through one of my tutors before graduation. From then on I worked as a freelancer for different clients such as Pitti Filati and Katie Jones. I have now gained a position as a cold weather accessories designer at Collection 18 New York. Bucks and my tutors have given me great support, both during and after my course.” 

Szilvia Burrows.

A talented Textiles and Surface Design graduate from Buckinghamshire New University is looking forward to a role with the well-respected Tom Dixon Research Studio after being honoured for two awards at her graduation ceremony.
Szilvia Burrows graduated with first-class honours from the University in High Wycombe and is now taking the next stage in her career, with a position as an Assistant Technologist at Tom Dixon Research Studio in London, the interior, product and branding design consultancy at the heart of the Tom Dixon organisation.

Final year students.

We've had a busy few months at Bucks Textiles, with students working hard towards their final projects. The beauty of the course is the diversity of work produced across the pathways. Everything from large scale interior prints, new material development to contemporary knitwear.
To keep fully up to date with everything at Bucks Textiles please follow us on Twitter and Instagram @BucksTextiles.

 Francine Horsfield - Geometric and vibrant knitwear

 Maria Stella - Textured and subtle knitwear.

 Rianna Wilson - Detailed hand drawn wallpaper.

 Emma Wednesday - Printed product for calming Yoga.

 Sophie Orde - Inlayed materials for interior surfaces.

Zeba Safdar - Tactile concept fabrics.

Inspiring Guest Speakers

Over the last two weeks at Bucks we have had a series of inspiring talks from industry, designers and recent alumni of the course. These have introduced students to new approaches to work, such as designer Aimee Betts http://www.aimeebetts.com/ who came and shared her approach to design, the way she works and some of the recent projects she has worked on.

We had visits from 3 recent alumni who shared their experiences so far. Their perspective of the real design world and advice for current students.
Emma Kendall and Sheroze Iqbal were both printed textile students at Bucks and graduated 2016. And Jenny Collicott graduated several years ago.

Another of our speakers was Katie Dominy founder of  Arts Thread. Sharing her knowledge and background. Many of our students use artsthread throughout their time at university as a great platform for online portfolios accessible by industry. Take a look at some of them here. https://www.artsthread.com/school/bucksnewuniversity/

Tengri live industry project presentations

Last week 2nd and 3rd year knit students presented the outcomes of the live project set by luxury fashion brand Tengri.

This image shows the supply chain which is transparent and benefits thousands of herder families in Mongolia.

Tengri has a strong ethical stance around sustainability and this formed a core part of the brief. Working with natural yak fibres and yarns as well as other natural fibres. Students experimented with re-using yarns and natural dyeing as part of the process. Due to the natural colour palette, textures and structures formed a key part of the design process. In this instance the outcome was for luxury interiors.

 images of students presenting to CEO Nancy Johnston and Designer Amy Greenland.

Menswear Show in Florence by Associate Lecturer

Carlo Volpi, associate lecturer at Bucks has this week been showing a menswear knitwear collections at the international menswear show Pitti Uomo in Florence. In 2016 Carlo won 'Who is on next?' at the show which has enabled him to develop his new collection, collaborate with manufacturers and have his first major catwalk show this week.
Carlo is a graduate from the Royal College of Art and began his knitwear label in 2014. His designs are bold and irreverent, with combinations of machine and traditional techniques to create an eclectic collection.
This new collection for AW17-18 takes inspiration from 'cool grannies' such as Iris Apfel and Disco Sally from studio 54.
http://carlovolpi.co.uk/
http://www.pittimmagine.com/en/corporate/fairs/uomo.html

Jim's interview on Design Insider

Design Insider is a great new online resource set up by BCFA (British Contract Furnishing Association) that aims to to seek out and share the latest news and trends in the commercial interiors world. Before the Christmas break they sat down with our Surface pathway tutor Jim Biddulph (who also works at Material Lab) to kick off their Designer Q&A's which will become a regular feature on the site. Follow the link to find out about Jim's journey into design, his inspirations and material trend tips for the year to come.

Live projects

It has been a very busy term in the Red Shed, amongst many things we have run 2 live projects. The first of these has been with Dulux. Our 2nd year print and surface design students have been working with the Dulux Colourfuture17 trends and developing wallpaper and other interior modules and materials inspired by the themes and colour palettes. A challenging first project for our 2nd years as they get to grips with more key technical processes associated with their disciplines.

Last week two members of the Dulux team, Marianne Shillingford and Emily Simpson came for a series of student presentations.

The work was then set up for an exhibition in our gallery space at Bucks New Uni.

First weeks for the first years

We've had the first 6 weeks with our first year students. Its been a lot of change and a lot of new things to learn. Drawing and developing methods of recording what we see are essential, so much of the first year is about exploring new techniques including drawing. With a visit to Wembley stadium, a digital printing company and lots of studio workshops it has been a busy term so far.

We have a Winner!

Congratulations to third year student Zeba Safdar on winning the Eastpak competition! A fantastic achievement.

Tent at the London Design Fair

Our graduates stand at Tent last week in London. A very professional looking stand amongst many established designers. 

Red Shed Graduates at the London Design Fair

A collective of some of our recent graduates will be showing under the banner of Red Shed Graduates at this years London Design Fair this week. Go and see their work at stand G25 in hall T1 of the Truman Brewery.

Take a look inside Cover

This months Cover magazine features one of our recent Surface pathway graduates Izzy Webb and her Colour Conversion project!



The editors of the carpet and textiles focused publication picked out Izzy's graduate collection for their round-up of the best new rugs and carpets. She's also be selected to exhibit at Talent 2016, a show at Crafts Central that brings together their choice of top graduate makers, as well as featuring on the Red Shed Graduates at the London Design Fair and on the Material Lab Hub at the Surface & Materials Show in October.

Molly Hutchinson on Confessions of a Design Geek

Recent Surface pathway graduate Molly Hutchinson has been featured on one of our favourite design blogs, Confessions of a Design Geek! Go to the site to read more about Molly's project DE:HABITUATION, her views on design and her favourite colour...

Textprint winners at Premiere Vision

Not only did a number of a our graduates show in Paris this week, but we were also lucky to have two of our recent graduates exhibiting as part of Texprint at Premiere Vision. 2016 graduate Emma Kendall and 2014 graduate Emmeline Kellet (graduated RCA 2016) both had their own stands at the show with the support of the Texprint organisers.

 Emma Kendall printed textiles setting up ready for the show.

Emmeline Kellet graduate from Bucks and the RCA. Knitwear.

Graduates exhibit at Premiere Vision Designs

This week saw a group of our recent graduates exhibit their work at one of the worlds leading trade fairs for fashion and textiles at Premiere Vision in Paris. The students showed alongside established textile design houses to an international audience.

 Set up day at Premiere Vision. Monisha Hussain and Roma Arora busy preparing.

The stand.

Indesign annual report

We're delighted to announce that we've been included in the Indesign annual report on the art school shows of 2016!




Illustrations by our recent graduates Emma Kendall, Monisha Hussain, Sheroze Iqbal and Phoebe Edwards were selected to help show the level of excellence and achievement being produced on our course.

Dulux Colour Futures 2017

It might only be a brief pop-up of a show but Dulux launched their Colour Futures trends this week and they look certain to be useful for the year to come. Myself and 2 of our recent Surface graduates worked on the Material Lab 'Think Space' room which bought the trends to life with fitting materials.



The trends come about as a result of lots of research by the Dulux colour team who get together earlier in the year to discuss human lifestyle trends and then figure how they relate to our built environments and with it, the colours that inhabit them.



There is always a Colour of the Year and in 2017 Dulux predict that we'll all be going blue, using Denim Drift and it's associated pallet in our homes and places of work. We'll see how our students take to this and the 4 other trends when we introduce our live project later in the year.

Get Voting!

Earlier in the summer Zeba Safdar was a finalist in the Eastpak Wildcard competition. The site is now live for the public vote. There is a fantastic film with Zeba talking about her inspirations and process and some great images. Please follow the link to support this fantastic entry. 

http://artiststudio.eastpak.com/wildcard/zeba-safdar

Graduation 2016!

We had a wonderful day yesterday with many of our graduates. They all looked great and lovely to see so many of their family and friends supporting them! Well done everyone!

Sheroze Iqbal and course leader Rosie Cate

Roma Arora and Rosie Cate

Phoebe Edwards