Amelia’s Magazine | New for 2013: Amelia’s Award will launch the career of a talented Graduate Designer Maker

amelias award with secret emporium
Calling all soon to be design graduates: read on to find out about my new collaboration with the brilliant Secret Emporium, a curatorial umbrella which supports and promotes independent creators of wonderful goods. We’ve long championed the work of Secret Emporium and the designers they work with on this website so I’m really happy that we have now teamed up to bring you Amelia’s Award.

Secret Emporium at SGP christmas fair
Diane Turner at the Secret Emporium Christmas Market. Photography by Elizabeth Khan–Greig.

Secret Emporium at SGP EA Burns
EA Burns stall at Secret Garden Party.

This summer Amelia’s Magazine and Secret Emporium will celebrate the best in graduate design by helping a gifted young designer to launch a career as a designer maker. We are searching for a super talented graduate with bags of ideas about what they would like to make. This could be: jewellery, sunglasses, visors, clothing, accessories, illustrated goods, screen printed wares or art based food. Products with ethical or environmental considerations will be favoured.

Secret Emporium yellow cheetahs spangled sunglasses
Yellow cheetah sunglasses by Spangled at Secret Emporium.

And now for the best bit of all: the Prize! The winner of Amelia’s Award will be gifted a scholarship place worth £495 to showcase and sell their work with Secret Emporium at Wilderness Festival (held in Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire on 8th – 11th August 2013). They will be profiled and promoted on Amelia’s Magazine, as well as through the Secret Emporium and Wilderness Festival promotional channels. A couple of runners up will also receive special recommendations and promotion in Amelia’s Magazine, and for the winner there will be the potential to become part of Secret Emporium in the future.

Secret Emporium tent at festival
This is a great opportunity for a talented young design graduate to kickstart a glittering career so we can’t wait to hear from you! All we are looking for right now is some brilliant design ideas, the ambition to create wonderful things, and the desire to win Amelia’s Award and be a part of Secret Emporium this summer. Advice will be on hand to ensure those ideas become a reality, so don’t delay: fill in the form at this link now, or pass the information on to any talented design graduate friends who might be interested! The closing date for submissions is Tuesday 2nd July. *NOW EXTENDED*

Secret Emporium Rosita Bonita
Secret Emporium Rosita Bonita siren collection
Rosita Bonita. Photography by Emma Saunders.

Here’s a bit more information about Secret Emporium and Wilderness Festival to whet your palette:

Secret Emporium seeks out grass roots designers and curates events, collaborations and mentorship schemes to support designers and launch their careers. Every summer Secret Emporium embarks on a tour of the best British festivals with a tent full of independent designers hand sourced and curated from a mix of graduates and more established labels. Each designer takes a 8ft x 6ft pitch and sells their fashion, jewellery, art or illustration to the crowds for 4 full days. It allows designers who are starting out and who perhaps don’t have their label with stockists yet, who are doing things independently for themselves, the opportunity to access up to 60,000 people for sales. Designers get to interact with customers and benefit greatly from being juxtaposed with other designers who are able to share the same trials and successes of growing their own business. Collaborations are born and ideas are shared, but ultimately the most important part of being with Secret Emporium is the access to so many people thirsty for independent design, which results in sales and revenue that allows designers to financially support themselves.

Secret Emporium at SGP Daisy Thomas
Daisy Thomas at Secret Emporium.

Wilderness Festival is a 15,000 person music and culture festival at Cornbury Park in Oxfordshire on 8th – 11th August 2013. Secret Emporium has a tent at Wilderness festival each year showcasing the best of independent British designers. The winner of Amelia’s Award will win a scholarship place in this tent worth £495. Wilderness Festival is a particular favorite for Secret Emporium as the Wilderness crowd love the tent and, financially, it is the most successful festival of the season.

Secret Emporium sign
Secret-Emporium-at-Secret-Garden-Party-Grace-Du-Prez-photo-by-Maria-Papadimitriou
Grace Du Prez at SGP. Photo by Maria Papadimitriou.

Further reading:
My reviews of Wilderness Festival in 2011 here and here (including photos of the Secret Emporium tent), an extensive review of the Secret Emporium tent at Secret Garden Party in 2012 by Maria Papadimitriou, a piece about Secret Emporium artist Lauren Baker and a recent interview with jeweller Rosita Bonita by Jessica Cook.

ENTER AMELIA’S AWARD BY CLICKING HERE.

Categories ,Amelia’s Award, ,Cornbury Park, ,Diane Turner, ,Grace Du Prez, ,Lauren Baker, ,Oxfordshire, ,Rosita Bonita, ,Scholarship, ,Secret Emporium, ,Secret Emporium Christmas Market, ,Secret Garden Party, ,Spangled, ,Wilderness Festival

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Amelia’s Magazine | Raw Talent University of the Arts Graduate Design Show: Review

raw talent performance art
Last week I went along to the opening night of Raw Talent at the Hoxton Gallery in Shoreditch, hosted by We.Create International. Alongside strange goings on such as the sight above (mostly naked silver painted man with a strawberry on his head, anyone?) I discovered a host of interesting new talent from across the University of the Arts.

Viola Yoo raw talent jewellery
Viola Yoo ring
My favourite finds, rightly given pride of place near the entrance to the show, were a set of stunning and unusual jewellery designs titled Multiplicity by Viola Yoo. In close up the exotic coral formations reveal miniature metal traps filled with jewels. Viola has had an illustrious career prior to completing an MA in jewellery design at Central Saint Martins, winning a host of competitions. I’ll be intrigued to see how she translates these beautiful designs into saleable items.

Silent Propaganda by Sam Woolf
This man with a monkey head was part of a collaged papercut series named Silent Propaganda by Sam Woolf.

Fascinating World by Lucinda Chang
Fascinating World by Lucinda Chang (Chelsea College of Art & Design) featured a ceramic tableaux inspired by the plight of the coral reefs.

Joe Mallender
I wasn’t sure if this pretty lady was created as a fashion illustration, but she sure works as one. By Joe Mallender.

Ceramics by Kevin Iat Sien Yeung
These architectural ceramics are by ‘Kevin’ Iat Sien Yeung.

Dennis Song brass jewellery CSM
Dennis Song brass jewellery CSM
Dennis Song brass jewellery is extreme and possibly unwearable, but looks great in photos: apparently this mouthpiece is inspired by surrealism & the beauty of death. He is another graduate of CSM.

raw talent nibbles
Finally, special mention must go to the home made nibbles laid out in foil trays at Raw Talent – I highly recommend pretzels stuffed with peanut butter & dipped in chocolate!

Next up, my review of the in-house fashion show. If you are a creative graduate and wondering what to do next, don’t forget to check out Amelia’s Award, there are a few days left to enter! Follow me on instagram to see my graduate finds first.

Categories ,2013, ,Amelia’s Award, ,Central Saint Martins, ,Chelsea College of Art & Design, ,Dennis Song, ,design, ,Fascinating World, ,graduate, ,Hoxton Gallery, ,jewellery, ,Joe Mallender, ,Kevin Iat Sien Yeung, ,Lucinda Chang, ,Multiplicity, ,Raw Talent, ,review, ,Sam Woolf, ,Silent Propaganda, ,University of the Arts, ,Viola Yoo, ,We.Create, ,We.Create International

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Amelia’s Magazine | Free Range Art & Design Show 2013: Middlesex University Illustration & Graphic Design Review

Yellow duster art by Katie Glover
I was only drawn to a handful of artists from the Middlesex University illustration degree course this year, and one stand out graphic designer. Unfortunately, despite their name, the Communication Arts do not seem to have a website displaying their wares as they did last year (click here for a link in last year’s review), only this meagre showcase on the main university website. Hence it’s been impossible to track down any web presence for a few of the illustrators that I liked. I did try, honest!

Step one- How to Make a Bonsai Kitten by Katie Glover-Price
Step two- How to Make a Bonsai Kitten by Katie Glover-Price
Step three- How to Make a Bonsai Kitten by Katie Glover-Price
Combining unusual materials (embroidery on a traditional yellow duster) and a unique outlook on the world (A Step-to-Step Guide on How to Make a Bonsai Kitten), Katie Glover-Price had put together a very strong display of beautiful illustrations.

Super clever Papercut artwork with backlit animation by Amber Cooper-Davies
An installation featuring super clever papercut artwork with backlit animation had been put together by Amber Cooper-Davies, but sadly the website given on her business cards doesn’t work (frequent readers of these graduate show reports will know that this is a major bug bear) – instead hunt her down on her blog.

Greta Mikalauskaite- neon building interior
Greta Mikalauskaite‘s neon building interior gives a taste of her (often cheeky) brightly coloured style, showcased on her simple but effective tumblr here.

Alex Foster
Large scale book of buildings & figures by Alex Foster
These intricate landscapes from Alex Foster remind one of my instagram followers of Lowry, which is no bad thing. I love intricate artworks such as these, full of buildings and figures to discover, and I imagine he could make some brilliant children’s books. Alex also runs an illustrated t-shirt brand called Get Better Clothing.

Eye catching black line illustration by Fernanda Alonso
Fernanda Alonso‘s narrative wall mural was an eye-catching feature piece to showcase her textured print work in simple black on white.

Genevieve Melaugh
I’m always a sucker for good wall displays, and I love these evocative mono prints for a book titled The Quincunx by Genevieve Melaugh.

Curious character middlesex
I also really liked this curious illustrated creature – if he’s your responsibility let me know!

Plank #snowboarding magazine by graphic designer Jennifer Schauerte
Leitnhax by graphic designer Jennifer Schauerte
Jennifer Schauerte shred magazine
Finally, work by graphic designer Jennifer Schauerte stood out by miles. I got the impression that she’s been working professionally for some time, and the theme of her degree work is obviously close to her heart: snowboarding. On display were copies of multiple magazines, including Plank: a mountain guide for skibums, and Shred Magazine for snowboarders. I love her simple but effective use of collage, geometry, photography, still lives and typography, merging different techniques seamlessly across pages to create a pleasing flow to the design. This is what a really good graphic designer does well.

If you are a recent creative graduate don’t forget to check out Amelia’s Award here, with a prize worth £495 to set you up in business selling your products this summer.

Categories ,Alex Foster, ,Amber Cooper-Davies, ,Amelia’s Award, ,Communication Arts, ,Fernanda Alonso, ,Genevieve Melaugh, ,Get Better Clothing, ,Greta Mikalauskaite, ,How to Make a Bonsai Kitten, ,Jennifer Schauerte, ,Katie Glover-Price, ,Lowry, ,middlesex university, ,Plank: a mountain guide for skibums, ,Shred Magazine, ,The Clever Girl or The Trials and Tribulations of Pope, ,The Quincunx, ,Truman Brewery

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Amelia’s Magazine | Free Range Art & Design Show 2013: Week One Review

Free Range show 2013
The graduate shows are upon us and that can only mean one thing… I’ll be heading down to the Truman Brewery on a weekly basis to discover the most inspiring new designers graduating in 2013. Due to the fact that I was off camping in rural Sussex last week (bliss) I only just made it along in time to view the first week’s showing at Free Range Graduate Shows. Sadly Somerset College was already packing up, but here’s the best of what I found elsewhere.

Suzanne Kugler at Coventry Uni
Fashion students from Coventry University had created an innovative display out of cardboard boxes, with exciting over-sized ceramic jewellery by Suzanne Kugler taking pole position in the window.

Perverted Penguins at Greenwich Uni
Next door University of Greenwich was showcasing the best of it’s new designers in multiple disciplines – I liked huge creative typography by Ben of Perverted Penguins.

African beads by King's Edogiawerie
In a dark corner an intriguing laser cut description of African beads had been made by the brilliantly named King’s Edogiawerie.

Stunning beaded accessories by Sophia Denny
Goldsmiths had taken over the largest area in the basement to display a plethora of different design ideas under the This is War moniker. I was attracted to stunning beaded accessories inspired by history by Sophia Denny Design.

Tools to build emotional intelligence by Fanny Bissa
With children and friends aplenty frolicking around her stand Fanny Bissa‘s clever and colourful tools to build emotional intelligence warranted a closer look: I can imagine small people in particular would love to play around with her chalkboard shapes, but their usage could also be adapted to adult situations – find out more on her elegantly designed blog, Learn to Solve, here.

Emily Sutcliffe at Southampton Solent
Finally, I was drawn to Emily Sutcliffe‘s 80s tastic fashion alphabet at Southampton Solent University, which runs a course specialising in Fashion Graphics.

amelias-award-with-secret-emporium
If you have just graduated and are wondering what to do with the rest of your life, why not check out our inaugural Amelia’s Award, the winner of which will receive a sponsored place to sell creative goods with the Secret Emporium at the Wilderness Festival this summer.

I look forward to discovering much more talent in the weeks to come – don’t forget to follow me on instagram (where all the above images appeared first) if you want to discover it in real time with me. My listing for Free Range can be found here.

Categories ,2013, ,Amelia’s Award, ,Emily Sutcliffe, ,Fanny Bissa, ,Fashion Graphics, ,Free Range, ,goldsmiths, ,Graduate Shows, ,instagram, ,King’s Edogiawerie, ,Learn to Solve, ,Perverted Penguins, ,review, ,Secret Emporium, ,Somerset College, ,Sophia Denny Design, ,Southampton Solent University, ,Suzanne Kugler, ,The Secret Emporium, ,This is War, ,Truman Brewery, ,University of Greenwich, ,Wilderness Festival

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