Graduates among top design talent

THREE new designers from the Manchester School of Art are among just a handful of the UK’s best up and coming creative graduates who have been selected to exhibit in the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair’s Great Northern Graduates showcase. The event takes place from October 8 to 11 at Old Granada Studios in Manchester.

The designer-makers, who all studied Three Dimensional Design, were selected during their final year degree show by curator and artist Michelle Keeling.

They will join six other new graduates selected at New Designers in London - where Manchester School of Art won best stand - to showcase cutting-edge craft and design. This collection of new talent will exhibit alongside over 175 of the UK’s leading designer-makers at this award-winning event, which is supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, and is the largest contemporary craft fair in the North.

The selected graduates are ceramicist Verity Howard, jewellery designer and maker Mollie Paling and product designer Houda Kaddouh.

Everyday lives

Verity Howard is fascinated by people’s everyday lives and snapshots that convey a sense of stillness, absence of presence and being the outsider looking in.

She aims to translate this interest into ceramics which convey the volume and depth of darkness. Verity works in black clay and porcelain and use techniques such as mono-printing with underglazes and coloured slips to create the surfaces on the pieces.

Jewellery designer and maker Mollie Paling is inspired by the relationship between an item of jewellery and the wearer. Her work features simplistic design and geometric forms to create one-off works that are personal to the wearer. Through precious metals and semi-precious stones she creates jewellery that explores the ideas of hidden meaning.

Lighting and product designer Houda Kaddouh is driven by innovation, elegance and individuality. She will showcase her Helico lighting range as part of the Great Northern Graduates showcase. Helico aims to transcend the limitations of traditional lighting solutions presenting light in a slick and minimal form. Created from a distinctive selection of materials combined with the latest LED technology, this exclusive product is revolutionary in the world of lighting design.

Strength of talent

Curator Michelle Keeling said: “I was excited, as this year’s curator, to select a body of work that showcases the strength of talent coming out of Northern Universities and by Northern makers studying throughout the country. I think there is still a strong misconception that the most innovative and cutting edge work is coming out of London, and to see it you have to travel there. I hope this body of work, and indeed the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair as a whole, proves that this could not be further from the truth.

“The three designer-makers from Manchester School of Art shone not only at their degree show, but when pitched for selection alongside the hundreds of other makers at New Designers. Verity, Mollie and Houda have strong concepts within their work, backed up by excellent craftsmanship and I am confident that Manchester Met has once again produced ‘ones to watch’ for the future.”

There will be plenty to inspire the Great Northern Graduates as this year’s GNCCF sees more opportunities for visitors to engage with makers and see their craftsmanship in action. Leading makers will host craft demonstrations using a variety of techniques and materials.

The GNCCF will commence with a special preview evening on Thursday 8 October from 6pm-9.30pm. It will then be open from 10am on Friday 9 October to Sunday 11 October.

For further information on the show, visit www.greatnorthernevents.co.uk, Facebook www.facebook.com/GNCCF and Twitter @GNCCF. To find out more about studying Three Dimensional Design at Manchester School of Art, click here: www.3dd.mmu.ac.uk