brink :: rca graduate show

Two weeks ago I announced my collaboration with Tent London to launch a new graduate design show as part of London Design Festival. BRINK will showcase the best graduate design talent of 2013. There will be stands from universities and graduate collectives; and a curated area of designs that have particularly caught my eye this year. So I’m scouring graduate shows up and down the country for those special designs, and I’ll be reporting back every week on findings. Last week, it was Falmouth University, this week, it’s the RCA. From top to bottom, left to right:

• The bird by Wonseok Jung was absolutely captivating – the wings gently flapped with an incredibly well considered, slow, mechanical movement.
• James Shaw’s Spray Papier Mache furniture.
• Bobby Petersen’s Paper Pulp Helmet is made from recycled Metro newspapers and distributed with London’s now infamous ‘Boris Bikes’ to improve cyclist safety. Each one costs less than £1 to produce.
• The next picture is just the RCA sign behind some bikes, but I kind of liked it!
• Entfaltung by Jule Waibel was a riot of angles, shapes and colour – really quite eye catching.
• To the right of that, more tableware for the visually impaired. The Leaven Range by Simon Kinnear provides feedback through senses other than sight to improve confidence in the kitchen and therefore independence.
• Underneath Form Follows Form by Santiago Guerrero Font is both a finished product and a jig for its own manufacture, turning the traditional design and making process inside-out.
• Joe Pipal’s “Sweatshop” is a batch-production workshop that can pop up anywhere. It produces little waste and requires little tooling and no machinery.
• Luffa net by Mauricio Affonso is made from luffas or loofahs. Part of the cucumber family, they can be eaten if harvested young enough, but become very fibrous, and handy for making things out of, when fully mature!
• Blob table is from James Shaw again – he describes it as “closed loop recycling”.
• And finally, Bilge Nur Saltik’s Share Food makes food and drink easier to share – and comes with irresistible flashes of neon orange. I’m a fan!

BRINK will be at East London’s Truman Brewery 19th – 22nd September 2013 in the fabulous Loading Bay Gallery. If you or your university is interested in taking part, please email brink@tentlondon.co.uk. And I’ll be posting weekly updates as the show develops, so watch this space!