Dezeen School Shows: jewellery created to help with anxiety and Japanese-informed textiles are among the projects included as part of Dezeen's latest school show by New Designers.

Also featured is a haircare range designed to empower women with all hair types and a "Wiggle Chair" influenced by the early modernist movement.

New Designers

School: New Designers
Courses: Product and Furniture Design, Textile Design, Jewellery Materials and Design, Furniture and Product Design, Graphic Design and One Year In
Tutors: Matt Archer, Zoë Hillyard, Dr Nantia Koulidou, Simon Hasan and Hannah Halliday

School statement:

"New Designers is the UK's longest-running graduate design event, showcasing the very best talent from around the UK.

"Full of disruptive thinking, ambitious ideas and fresh approaches, over 3,000 hand-picked design graduates will be exhibiting their work across a range of disciplines, from textiles, fashion, jewellery, ceramics, glass, furniture, graphic design, illustration and digital arts.

"Exploring every corner of design, New Designers provides a focal point for the next wave of designers to meet industry employers, buyers, media, trend predictors and a design-hungry public.

"There is plenty of talent to discover at New Designers."

Wiggle Chair by Georgia Hatton

"Created to be visually exciting, the designs featured within this project centre their aesthetics around designing and producing fanciful furniture that playfully borrows references from historical decorative styles, with particular inspiration stemming from the early modernist movement.

"Understandably, the intentionally ostentatious nature of the wiggle pieces isn't beloved by everyone. But hopefully for some they may spark joy and provide a slight moment of reprieve from the monotony of commercial consumer furniture."

Student: Georgia Hatton
Course: Product and Furniture Design at Swansea College of Art
Tutor: Matt Archer
Email: info[at]hatton-design.com

The Anxiety Relief Set by Yijia He

"The 'Anxiety Relief Set' is a series of five jewellery pieces. Bringing traditional Chinese rituals into my jewellery practice, I reveal the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic had on our mental health.

"Combining my own design sensibilities and cultural background I propose ways to relieve from anxiety, loneliness and feelings of self-isolation.

"My work interacts with the viewer in a personal way. I believe a work of art is only as good as the audience's involvement and empathy.

"My work is performative and aims to break the boundaries of jewellery design and thus allow the work to interact with the audience and make the process part of the work."

Student: Yijia He
Course: Jewellery Materials and Design at Sheffield Hallam University
Tutor: Dr Nantia Koulidou
Email: b9022391[at]my.shu.ac.uk

Maraca by Davide Da Rold

"Davide Da Rold is a process-led designer, working experimentally with materials and form. Taking inspiration from the Maraca percussion instrument, this light is rooted in user intuition and personalisation.

"As for the Maraca instrument, it is the shape of the object that suggests the way to handle it. It is a portable task light designed for simple diffused illumination, a hybrid between a task lamp and a torch, it is simple user-friendly solution that proposes a new typology.

"The lamp is designed to live in an environment of circular economy. It's customisable and reparable allowing the user to create a personal relationship with the item during years of use.

"The principle embedded in this lamp is the simple replaceability of its components, therefore allowing the user to repair the item themselves. Broken components can be returned for refurbishment. Design for reparability, customisation and usability can coexist within the same object."

Student: Davide Da Rold
Course: Furniture and Product Design at London Metropolitan University
Tutor: Simon Hasan
Email: davide.darold88[at]gmail.com

Freedom by Hannah Davis

"Hair is tied to the patriarchy with expected ideals of femininity and beauty on women. To be free means being able to live your truth with agency, to openly express your individual hair identity – who you are and how you feel. There is a gap in the market for a shampoo and conditioner bar brand with a bold identity that challenges the expectations of what a sustainable brand should look like.

"Standing up for what you believe in, shouldn't mean compromising on design or quality. Freedom is a radical shampoo and conditioner bar brand for all hair types, that looks and thinks differently for hair and for the planet.

"Freedom is haircare that embraces the coils, kinks, fuzz, frizzy bits, bangs, braids, stubble and the rest of it. Freedom is a brand that is here to decolonise your haircare with hybrid hair basics for not-so-basic hair, all the essentials you need for a routine clean.

"Freedom is on a mission to disrupt beauty ideals in the hair world and celebrate the fluidity of your hair expression, one bar at a time. Haircare that empowers you and helps our planet. We don't want haircare to feel chore-like anymore, here to make your haircare routine that bit more fun, bold and atypical, helping you win on washdays."

Student: Hannah Davis
Course: Graphic Design at Nottingham School of Art and Design
Tutor: Hannah Halliday
Email: hannahdavisdesign[at]outlook.com

Chiaroscuro by Farago Studio

"Chiaroscuro is a furniture range made up of two sets. The set is made using ebonised ash with through tenon wedge jointed legs. Its supporting trusses are placed on angles so in 'shadow' it appears as a broken-up drawing with confusing angles and perspectives.

"One is made using ash and traditional woodworking techniques, the other is made using aluminium and traditional panel beating techniques. Both sets are joined by their forms but dramatically differ through their difference in material and process.

"Chiaroscuro's purpose is to give the user extended stimulation beyond practical, using the movement of light throughout their home to cast unusual shadows. One will stand out in the day as ebonised ash, the other will stand out at night as sanded aluminium."

Student team: Farago Studio
Course: One Year In
Email: leonfarago[at]outlook.com

Jurassic Coast by Lily Jacobs

"This is a two-piece interlocking tufted rug featuring screen printed aspects, inspired by the Jurassic coast. I originally used the lockdown restrictions in 2020/2021 to take advantage of my local outdoor surroundings and to stay psychically and mentally fit.

"Since then, I have continued to enjoy local landscapes and use these trips as my inspiration for a lot of my design work. I like to use bold, vibrant colours alongside an abstract and playful design style. I aspire for my work to incite positivity and uplift the aesthetic of anyone's living space. The idea behind my work is to bring the outdoors in.

"Visually celebrate local coastal landscapes in the form of tufting, which effectively brightens the aesthetic of a home, office or studio space.

"I aspire for my work to develop into a signature style that everyone can appreciate in their living space. I also love to combine my two textile specialisations – tufting and screen-printing – into one product. The mixture of textures and depths between the two mediums offers an innovative interior product anyone can appreciate.

"Where possible, I ensure the products and materials I use – such as yarn – are responsibly sourced. Most of the yarn used is sourced from a UK supplier. This yarn is made up of 80 per cent wool and is organically produced from local British free–range and fairtrade sheep. I also like to buy pre-loved products where possible, including materials such as mirrors and fabric for screen-printing."

Student: Lily Jacobs
Course: One Year In
Email: lily_jacobs[at]outlook.com

ALMA table light by Meseme Studio

"The warmth of the ALMA Table Light resembles a traditional lantern, with its soft accents and cylindrical shape. Available in two different optic finishes, ALMA in Semi-Matted Optics is alluring and almost gives the illusion of a floating light source. The ALMA in Fully Matted Optics is equally captivating, owing to the striking illuminating rod.

"This is a result of the light source being housed in the brass base of the light that then turns the two varying sandblasted perspex rods into illuminating rods.

"Handcrafted using brass, Perspex TIR lens, ribbed borosilicate glass and integrated LED source, ALMA Table Light is created using both traditional and modern manufacturing techniques. The brass components including the base are manually turned on a lathe machine to achieve the desired finish.

"At Meseme Studio, we believe in being mindful of the whole lifecycle, making responsible design and engineering choices at every stage from conceptualisation to the end product. Our products are designed to have a long design life.

"The product design avoids the use of unsustainable materials where ever possible and any waste material is recycled for further use. As lighting products, we tend to use light sources that are efficient. Our products are designed to facilitate reuse, recycling and responsible disposal at the end of their life. "

Student team: Meseme Studio
Course: One Year In
Email: info[at]mesemestudio.com

Recollection by Momoka Gomi

"Gomi uses denim fabric in her woven textile to tell the story of memory and time.

"She uses bleach and sandpaper to replicate the time passage on its surface. She draws lines on denim with bleach and HTV, then processes its hand-cut to be used as weft.

"During the weaving process, the line she drew organically changes its shape; it loses the original patterns and becomes an abstract picture. The gold colour is the symbol of appreciation for the time, repairing and mending, inspired by Kintsugi, the technique used in Japan to repair broken ceramics and glasses.

"The jacket's shape is inspired by the Kimono outerwear called Haori and it's kept simple to celebrate the textile itself. As same as Denim garments, it is made to fit any gender. It has a relaxed shape. All of her works are made at her studio in Nottingham."

Student: Momoka Gomi
Course: One Year In
Email: momoka53.design[at]gmail.com

By Ourselves by Not Another Chair

"With an emphasis on flexibility and wellbeing, our adaptable structures provide privacy for work which requires increased concentration. We recognise an effective workplace must be adaptable to provide a variety of spaces to suit different types of work and personal preferences.

"By Ourselves anticipates change in the workplace, allowing businesses to manage and adapt their spaces more effectively in response to users’ needs. Created from a concise kit of modular components, the adaptable design can be moved and reconfigured to create a diverse range of spaces from individual to collaborative, open to enclosed, one size no longer fits all.

"From the start By Ourselves was designed and engineered to reduce its impact on the environment by using as little material and few components as possible in the pursuit of uncompromising flexibility. The reductive design features three panels and a single upright, from which infinite combinations can be achieved.

"Embracing biophilic design principles, aluminium, wood and felt provide the core materials helping create workplaces that inspire a calming and creative atmosphere. We work closely with a team of skilled suppliers to develop, prototype and manufacture products, the majority of which are produced here in the UK with several components being manufactured in Europe.

"The knock-down construction of our furniture means it lasts longer and is easier to fix if something goes wrong. We use screws rather than glue to ensure all parts can easily be replaced, repaired or recycled. We remove the unnecessary and frivolous to create well-considered products which are economic to manufacture and efficient to transport. We believe in making fewer products that last longer. We achieve this by combining quality materials, timeless looks and robust construction techniques to create products that are well-made, useful and repairable."

Student team: Not Another Chair
Course: One Year In
Email: sam[at]notanotherchair.co.uk

Saisei Regenerative by Anya Bennett

"An interior collection of textiles that balances traditional craft with contemporary characteristics through the exploration of Japanese archives and design principles, Saisei showcases craftsmanship, using resist techniques to achieve intricate yet impactful designs.

"The handcrafted collection provides for luxury hotel and hospitality spaces and creates relaxing environments that promote wellness. Multifunctional design increases longevity, suitable for the modern consumers' sustainability demands."

Student: Anya Bennett
Course: Textile Design at Birmingham City University
Tutor: Zoë Hillyard
Email: anya.bennett[at]mail.bcu.ac.uk

Partnership content

This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and New Designers. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.