Graduates chosen as ones to watch

TWO Manchester School of Art graduates have been chosen as ‘ones to watch’ by one of the country’s leading design magazines.

Wallpaper picked Three Dimensional Design graduates Rory Thompson and Imogen Clarkstone to feature in their 2012 Graduate Directory which showcases “the young guns who are hitting the creative bullseye”.

Just 95 graduates from across the world were chosen, from institutions including Cornell University, in America, and the China Academy of Art.

Imogen impressed the selectors with her cubist silver-plated milk jug which combined an exploration of alternative construction techniques with traditional silversmithing.

Imogen said she is “inspired by the inventive and the human, by people improvising with what they have, to create and mend in times of need.”

Rory Thomson’s modular shelving unit also caught the eye of the selectors.

Rory said: “I love to test, question and find new possibilities and I want people to interact instinctively with my products. I try to achieve this by stripping things back to their basic components. There is real elegance in this form of simplicity, but it is deceptive, as a huge amount of time actually goes into the design.”

Kirsteen Aubrey, Joint Programme Leader for Three Dimensional Design, said: “We are delighted that two of our highest acheiving graduates of 2012 have been internationally recognised for their outstanding work, and by such a prestigious magazine. This further reinforces the credentials of the BA(Hons) Three Dimensional Design programme in producing graduates of the highest calibre.”