MA Design 2017 catalogue, Central Saint Martins

MA DESIGN

Ceramics Furniture Jewellery

2017

MA Design is a two-year project based masters during which student focus on a visionary project of their devising. It is always exciting and interesting for the staff team to work alongside such researchers and we are naturally proud of the work our graduates do and their future careers. Many have made a world-class impact already even though the course is only 13 years old.

We believe what makes a graduate from MA Design; Ceramics, Furniture or Jewellery particularly important is that they not only conceive, research, design but also deliver fully realised objects. What you see are not sketches, not models but the real deal, beautifully realised. Globally aware design allied to the skills our graduates deliver is increasingly rare in the present climate.

As a research masters program MA Design; Ceramics Furniture or Jewellery requires its students to spend their two years with us researching, defining and developing the work that you see implemented and on display in our graduate show. We are seeking individuals who have a personal vision and the determination, talent and curiosity to ensure that it is delivered. This happens through hard work.

So, as Course Director and on behalf of my colleagues, I am delighted that you have chosen to join us in celebrating this year’s thoroughly international cohort of visionaries. As a course that has at its root, a passionate combination of design and craft in all its manifestations, I think you can clearly see how many differing and wide-ranging ways this cohort believes that production comes in many forms.

From the hand made to digital frontiers. This awareness is important for all our futures and future aspirations. Aspirational, because many of the objects in this year’s show are both desirable and extraordinary, and because, if you are tracking the careers of our past alumni, you will already know that these indeed will become some of the objects of the future.

Simon Fraser, Course Leader MA Design; Ceramics MA Design; Furniture MA Design; Jewellery

ceramics furniture jewellery

June 2017

MA DESIGN

Samuel Gull

Bump Before Bang

Gull’s project draws on an intense interest and passion for surfaces, exploring texture, decoration and the codes of meaning resonating from design and popular culture.

Using a model of speculative design illustration and mining 20th century sci-fi and counter-culture theories of parallel worlds, Gull expands his fantasies of interiors, street scenes and half souvenir, half human monsters and sirens. These illustrations inform the making and the making rolls back

samuel.gull953@gmail.com

to inform the next set of drawings, revealing narratives, which manifest as physical artifacts. These artifacts seem familiar, part charity shop, part ‘art’ gallery, part souvenir, yet remain unstable in their location and purpose. Collectively, these artifacts offer universes of design, one might be explored through the gallery system, another through animation or gaming, creating transferable physical narratives here revealed in this iteration through ceramics.

@samuel.gull

Tony Howard

Biomorphic Ornamentalism

Biomorphic Ornamentalism is a range of articulated structural ceramic pieces inspired by biomimicry in contemporary architecture, that function as free standing sculptural dishes or wall mounted artifacts for interiors. Each individual composition reflects complexity and elegant solutions to structural problems found in nature. Flowing organic forms and curving shapes are harmoniously bought together in a tracery of symmetrical and asymmetrical patterns.

tonyhoward73@gmail.com

The enclosed volumes create structural lightness that offer a play of light and shadow to accentuate and enhance the fundamental threedimensionality of the artifacts.

Detailed handmade elements contrast desiccated textures of raw ceramic with viscerally glazed interior spaces.

Assembled with pure white resin and accented with coloured silicon, the resulting structures reflect both the cartilaginous articulation of biological skeletal forms and the modular construction of contemporary architecture to dramatic visual effect.

Jiahui Liang

Laughing Magpie Chair

For Liang the driving force of this project is returning high craft Chinoiserie wood carving rich with symbolism, back to the centre of Chinese society to create a distinctive bridge that reconnects East and Western cultures.

disappearing. This dynamic cultural has created a different perception of traditional wood carved furniture and consequently communities of craftsmanship and their historical knowledge are becoming lost to China.

Recognising the influence of a booming economy and exposed to ideas of Western culture, the ‘new’ Chinese generations have created a strong, economic focused society, whilst retaining traditional family orientations. Homes are becoming smaller and many traditional interior features, shrines, formal rooms, carved thrones are

Inspired by the Chinoiserie, a wholly European style whose inspiration is entirely Oriental, Liang has created a new modular approach to Chinoiserie decoration, remaking the possibilities of elaborate chairs, whilst developing a systematic approach offering a bespoke, personalised process for new generations of high end furniture buyers in China and beyond

janeeleung55555@gmail.com

www.janeeleung.com

Tomos Owen Ruinscapes

The industrial ‘ruinscapes’ that define the proposed Peckham Coal Line linear park, form the venue for this exploration. Inspired by the rich industrial heritage of the coal siding, Owen utilises and up-cycles the fine grained Australian hard wood Jarrah, hidden for nearly a century inside discarded railway sleepers.

Owen incorporates play theory in his design practice, enriching the experiences of places and challenging the rules of ‘the design game’. This offers a more engaging and insightful info@tomos.design

process when collaborating with people and locations to inform designs, supporting a more social, flexible and resilient response.

Creating furniture that incorporates elements to climb, sit, lounge and collect, offering playful interactive choices within the landscape. As mass urbanization and mobile populations are reshaping our cities and the fluid, complex world around us becomes the norm, it is increasingly vital to create urban environments such as these that engage communities with the surroundings in which they live. www.tomos.design

Denny R Priyatna

Appalstered

Horror movies, fair ground rides, things that go bump in the night! Inspired by the very human enthusiasm of being frightened or uncomfortable, this project interrogates a subject that elicits negative emotions in the Instagram age; imperfections in the human body and in inanimate objects.

As cultures get richer, consumers demand perfection in everything from our bodies to the objects we create.

Natural imperfections connect us dennypriyatna@gmail.com

all, skin conditions trace individual vulnerabilities to remind us of our intimate relationship to global environmental and climate concerns.

Priyatna presents a collection of conceptual upholstered furniture appearing to be contaminated or damaged, breaking with modernist design purity and aesthetics.

Mysterious and ambiguous features create an uncanny effect and raises the question, is it safe to sit on?

www.dennypriyatna.com

Yining Shan Harmony

For many young designers population movement from rural to urban environments is a subject high on the agenda. As a Chinese designer coming from a country that has already 15 megacities, (cities with more than 10 million people), rapid urbanization and disassociation from nature has formed the focus of this furniture project.

Shan’s work aims to offer a point of reflection to release urban dwellers from stressful environments by creating abstracted mountainous environments as seating spaces.

Inspired by the China’s mountains, yiningshan23@gmail.com

rivers and lakes, Shan’s work represents the elements of mountain, water and the sun, through geometric symbols. Shan adopts the format of the earliest forms of Chinese script, Oracle bone script, which uses symbolic form to show different objects, presenting mirror images of mountains on the water. Black and white, the two classic colours of Chinese landscape paintings, are referenced as the backrests evolve from light to dark, as if mountains are emerging through mist.

Thanks to the team at Windsor Workshops for support. www.yiningshan-design.com

Tianyi Shi Inside Out

This project de-constructs everyday upholstered furniture. Breaking the formal conventions of upholstered furniture and exploiting what happens when the internal structures drive the aesthetic, practical and physical form for extravagant new artefacts.

Usually, foam is hidden within the upholstery structure and covered by textile of one sort or another. In this project, the raw foam is used

tianyishi.design@foxmail.com

in an innovative way. Informally revealed and regrouped.

Here lightness and volume provoke practical experiments and exciting explorations. These chairs highlight foams often unacknowledged, yet unique features, its marvellous texture, subtle colours, surfaces and the softness and flexibility of bubbles caught in permanent form.

www.tianyishi-design.com

Emma Elizabeth Cahill Ferocious Monsters

Cahill is drawn to the dark tense aesthetics of agricultural, gardening and manual work tools, exploiting the ‘visual danger’ of sharp edges, blades and torture devices to create a visceral aesthetic for jewellery. Using multiple blade templates allows the creation of dramatic collars, crowns, bracelets and rings tense with contrast and rhythm.

In a time where many different styles are appropriated and visual information is so readily available, we Info@emmaelizabethcahill.com

can freely explore different personas, taking influence from current trends, subcultures or explore historical personas. Many millennials like Cahill, choose to exhibit these personas through social media, in particular, Instagram. Granting each other access to online worlds and exploring these multiple micro-cultures. Cahill’s work offers gateways to new ideas and dynamic worlds.

www.emmaelizabethcahill.com

Ellis Mhairi Cameron Ancestry

‘Ancestry’ stems from an interest in how our identities are influenced by our specific locations, environments and topography and how this forms social heritage. Cameron explores the theory of topophilia, the definition for a sense of place, with fragmented rock textures used to convey a sense of landscapes from the Scottish Highlands. The work also takes inspiration from the architecture of medieval Scottish buildings, of castles and ruined houses. Collaging subtle textures and forms Cameron hello@ellismhairicameron.com

sets out to remake lost or imagined jewels from history for contemporary lives. Seeking clients amongst the Scot diasporas in the Americas, Australasia and across the globe the jewels offer new treasures.

At the foundation of the collection is a belief in the ‘beauty of imperfection’ with hand carving as a dominant manufacturing technique supporting signature surfaces and unexpected settings.

www.ellismhairicameron.com

Sangni Chai

The Glaciers Voice

We live in an era where the issue of climate change is deeply contested.

A political, scientific and religious dispute is taking place just as, through the activities of past and present generations, global environmental patterns are rapidly changing. Many communities in our biggest global cities live in polluted and dangerous environments.

The research for this project explored the use of cymatics technologies, a method to visualise the impact of sounds on cut stones and crystals, chaisangni@hotmail.com

making visible as inspirational material, the unseen patterns of sounds that fill our city lives.

The experience of visiting the dramatic glaciers of Iceland to record a unique sound track of movement and disintegration is captured by this extraordinary visualization model.

The resulting collection is driven by the melting ice and as Chai says the ‘glaciers voice’ forming elegiac cages, shaped and distorted by sound, set with cubic zirconiums as if dusted by ice or snow. www.sangnichai.com

Kay Konečná

Almost Completely.

This collection takes visual inspiration from landscapes - close up and from outer space, the motherboard of a computer and the earth in a field. It seeks to be somehow familiar and something foreign at the same time, to meet criteria of the expectations of fine jewellery yet with a different personality.

In order to create pieces that would be traditional and new at the same time, Konečná uses traditional techniques whilst ‘briefly forgetting’ their craft application, creating her

kay@kaykonecna.com

own ways of settings stones, creating sparkling surfaces, making colourful pieces without covering entire surfaces with coloured gemstones.

Gemstone colours range from blue through purple to brown, they are the colours of the soil, of ice, of summer flowers; irises and lavender and of the sky. These appeal to women who do not identify with traditional fine jewellery. Eastern European women, for example, who don’t fit any norm, who grew up in a communist/postcommunist and egalitarian society.

What jewels do they need?

www.kaykonecna.com

Jiayin Li Jiayin

Over the past 15 years the engagement with and passion for contemporary art and design in China has exploded.

More and more younger generations are bringing contemporary conceptual approaches and ideas into their daily lives, re-defining dress, style and interiors. Never-the-less, traditional ideas of material value and preciousness are still strong and need to be re-framed and re-imagined for the jewellery industry. ‘Jiayin’ translates as beautiful sounds and good news in Mandarin. The Jiayin Project explores the rhythms inherent in music and musical instruments through delicate, crisp and graphic wire frames with unexpected and Jiayinjewellery@outlook.com

technically surprising stone setting.

The work focuses on the relationship between the players and music instruments, considering how strings form new structures and elements when played. Design exploration has divided these elements into separate parts, reuniting them into balanced, delicate, unexpected jewellery forms.

Li explores jewellery as a metaphor for musical instruments, forming a ‘musical composition’ of rhythm and juxtaposition in earrings and bracelets.

Silver, Gold, Tourmaline. www.jiayinjewellery.com

Xiaoqing Liu

Contrast & Fusion

The value and appeal of precious metals to consumers ebbs and flows over time, the materials endure but tastes change. Due to China’s generation shift over the last two decades, people’s recognition and perceptions of precious materials have changed. This collection explores the application of the Chinese traditional material white Jade in jewellery. Substituting white agate for such a precious jade allowed the exploration of textures, transparency

xiaoqingdesign@gmail.com

and the qualities of solid and liquid within jewellery language.

The inspiration comes from the observation of different materiality of solid and liquid. White agates are cut round in form, creating a translucent and soft atmosphere, coopting the manufacturing language of a traditional Jade cutting factory.

Blackened silver imitates the fluidity of liquid through waves of different directional filaments demonstrating a contrasting heavy and tough mood.

www.xiaoqingjewellery.com

Hannah Lauren Newell Parjour

The inherent qualities of constructed textiles, bridging traditional technology with high craft are used to create pieces of jewellery that are unique to the genre and to the process. Jewellery and accessories that are dramatic and wearable, relaxed and effortless. Fluidity and drape as formal elements of structured visual elegance drive the main structures and technically complex knit. Into the knit, yellow and white gold vermeil chains are incorporated to enhance the structures, forming textures, fringes and tassels, supporting an elegiac Art Deco mood of independence and freedom. hannah@hannahlaurennewell.com

Differing approaches to form and technology have been explored to present four collections allowing individuals to find elements that reflect their own sensibilities.

As our world becomes increasingly globalised and connected these collections acknowledge the intense demand for designers to be flexible in their roles across disciplines and celebrates the joy and opportunities of interdisciplinary design enhancing innovation by practice specialists.

www.hannahlaurennewell.com

Sundus Talpur

Dorr, the tale of Sindhu

‘Dorr’, a collection of 22k gold jewellery draws inspiration from the textiles of South Asia and the stories of the past they carry. The works explore how the richness of gold jewellery grounds such embodied narratives in contemporary design and current lifestyles, supporting new horizons and sustainable futures for heritage skills and techniques.

Reflecting centuries of migration, trade, political, of courtly and agrarian influence, ‘Dorr’ encapsulates fragments of the historic richness of textiles found in Pakistan and of Talpur’s native heritage. Hand embroidered and hand woven textiles, some including a direct sundus@sundustalpur.com

legacy of the sixteenth century Mughal Courts, were crafted for the project by artisans in the province of Sindh. Talpur’s designs explore the graphical vocabulary and physicality of the textile. Each jewellery element contains the ‘fired out’ details of hand-weave and embroidery.

‘Dorr’ re-connects diaspora communities, echoing a sense of belonging whilst offering an opportunity to give back to their home community. At the heart of this collection is a socially engaged economic model, where each piece credits the makers and designers, with a percentage of the selling price returning to the artisans. www.sundustalpur.com

Qi Wu

Uniki

Wu’s collection, sparked by the discovery that China produced around 17 billion tonnes of mismanaged plastic in 2010, estimated to reach about 37 billion tonnes in 2025 focused on collecting abandoned objects.

She combined them into one visual language, developing new worlds for the irrelevant objects as elements for fashion jewellery.

Bold colours and patterns adopted from nineteen seventies furniture

kikiwu1992@gmail.com

and interior design helps target urban consumers with strong visual fashion appetites.

The material culture is enriched through the concept of Kinstugi, of using lacquer and gold powder to repair ceramics and enhance the beauty of the mend. Here polished brass and plastic lacquers offer an aesthetic that fits everyday urban lifestyles and keeps price points low.

www.uniki2017.com

Qiuyu Yang Flaneur

The revolution of ‘big data’ is reshaping many aspects of daily lives at a global level. Much of the excitement around data streams focuses on what we can do with the data. In parallel, and at the same time, the advent of rapid digital production has changed the jewellery landscape.

‘Flaneur’ is a project that explores how we live our daily lives, what this offers in terms of personal data and how we might start to think about what data to store or incorporate into our lives and in what way. Yang’s work offers people enthusiastic for life, an opportunity to see their everyday urban experience reflected directly from data visualization.

Crafting treasure from the experiential qiuyu.yang@outlook.com

millennial lifestyle.

Using basic information from clients storage (and sharing) of healthy lifestyles, through record apps from walking or jogging routes in cities, Yang has developed a deeply personalised jewellery collection.

3D jewellery forms are designed to present 2D data visualisation manufactured through a 3D print technology. Now, everyone has an opportunity to wear unique jewellery.

With London as the pilot city, ‘Flaneur’ can be rolled out across global cities and allows mobile stories to build collections of jewellery that create innovative records of individual life and travels. www.qiuyuyang.com

Meng Zhang Edge of Self

Whilst digital globalization takes over the world and countless ‘conveniences’ come into our lives, more and more online followers imitate celebrities and their aesthetic styles. Is this positive, or does it narrow down opportunities for individual personalities, creating ubiquitous stereotypes?

Zhang’s collection explores how jewellery transfers intangible self-identity of the wearer, into tangible forms for this increasingly standardized world.

Redrawing mmmm_mlm@yeah.net

contemporary identities glimpsed in photographic images, of young women much like the designer herself, using the lexicon of curves and lines within Chinese calligraphy an essence is captured and translated into vibrant jewellery. These extravagant jewellery forms enhance the body, creating subtle personal identities in artifacts worn over clothing. Sensual lines interrupt the professional tailored uniform. Traditional craftsmanship and modern technologies in tandem, enable the collection to define extreme yet wearable jewellery.

www.meng-zhang-work.squarespace.com

With thanks: Simon Fraser, Dr. Elizabeth Wright, Dr. Ulrike Oberlack, Kathryn Hearn, Tony Quinn, Ralph Ball, Maxine Naylor, Melanie Eddy Sponsors:

Hilliary & Stephen Conway

&

Catalogue Design: Samuel Gull & Tomos Owen Edited: Simon Fraser, Dr. Elizabeth Wright & Dr. Ulrike Oberlack