London’s Up and Coming Designers

In the world of fashion, up and coming designers don’t just hang out at the catwalks and the boutiques. Nowadays they can be found in the strangest of places, as I was to find out when I journeyed down to London to visit a friend’s product design exhibition at the New Designers exhibition. Alongside seeing Jasmine’s fantastic Displacement Engine, a satnav/compass style product intended to encourage people of the beaten path and into the realm of unfamiliarity (read a better description here), I also hoped to explore some of the fantastic Islington area, jam-packed as it is with little boutiques and luxury shoe shops.

It was within the exhibition that I really found the gems though – alongside some strange concepts and great furniture that I couldn’t resist showing you! First, a concept for a laser vegetable engraver, for transforming ordinary kitchen veg into stunning masterpieces. A little bit bonkers, but just look at this carrot! Second is a fascinating collection of furniture – which although lovely was, of course, very pricey!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now onto the fashion. Sports themed wear was a definite trend amongst the designers, with plenty of tartan/hounds tooth jackets, and stretchy Nylon tops. The emphasis was on protection combined with fashion, padding the elbows and keeping the wearer safe. It was interesting to see an area of fashion I don’t particularly understand being elaborated on, and I did enjoy seeing the graphic prints that are haunting our catwalks being twisted into a sport theme – surprisingly beautiful!

The real star of the exhibition was the beautiful clothing by Nicola Morgan, an award winning fashion designer who produced some fantastic pieces. Working with luxury and industrial fabrics, this girl produces some spectacular dresses and jackets (amongst many more items!) featuring cut out interlocking jigsaw like pieces, that work their way along the contours and lines of the clothing. Structured and stylised, with a nod towards the origami and industrial catwalk trends that have been dominating the past few seasons.  Definitely someone to look out for in the future – oh, and she is enviously pretty and talented – grrr! hehe.

Check out the website for some more photos, including some lovely fashion photography!

My final discovery was a range by Rebecca Jane Howe, a much edgier fashion designer/artist/model who’s novice blog features a great photo shoot with plenty of edgy themes! The product on display, however, was a much girlier and more delicate range of jewellery. The first thought that crossed my mind when exposed to the lace-style necklaces was that this could be a more practical yet just as stunning alternative to the recent trend towards paper jewellery. Reminiscent of butterfly wings and elegant yet uneasy collars, I could help but fall in love with this piece – and wish I could own an article of my own! I may drop her a line to see a) if this is on sale and b) if I could dream of affording it! One to watch, I would recommend this work to anyone!

Finally, I have a quick Harrods fashion pic just to keep all you non-uk-ites in on the luxury (and totally impractical) action! Enjoy!