PHOTOS: The Best Green Designs at London’s New Designers Graduate Show

As a critical comment on the amount of chairs and other furniture we see coming and going every year through various designs shows, the renowned Goldsmith's created an all-white space to suggest the re-design design education and to think how it could look in 2020.

The <a title="PHOTOS: The Best Green Designs at London’s New Designers Graduate Show" href="http://www.newdesigners.com/" target="_blank">New Designers </a>graduate show is the only design event in <a title="PHOTOS: The Best Green Designs at London’s New Designers Graduate Show" href="http://inhabitat.com/index.php?s=London" target="_blank">London</a> that brings a nation of design students under one roof to show off their best work. Featuring over 3,500 graduates from across the UK, this ideas hub gives us a glimpse of the next generation of design leaders within a gigantic warehouse space in Islington. From felt pods to hide, to slow cooking devices and recyclable appliances, go through our exclusive gallery to discover what this sustainably-minded collegiate crew is brewing up!

In their Manifesto, the <a title="PHOTOS: The Best Green Designs at London’s New Designers Graduate Show" href="http://www.gold.ac.uk/design/" target="_blank">Goldsmiths University</a> states that "a production economy based on finite resources does not work" and that "we have enough chairs (but is nice to sit down)." 

Lento, by <a title="PHOTOS: The Best Green Designs at London’s New Designers Graduate Show" href="http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/joanne-cone/35/48a/458" target="_blank">Joanne Cone</a> is a low-temperature electric cooker designed to teach kids how to slow-cook their own food. It comes with a recipe book full of cute and friendly characters, and a spice box for making all kinds of exotic, yummy dishes.

Another project that focuses on better educating kids is Peat by <a title="PHOTOS: The Best Green Designs at London’s New Designers Graduate Show" href="http://edward-barber.co.uk/" target="_blank">Edward Barber</a>. Peat is a planting kit that includes a seeds incubator, gardening tools and a seasonal postal program that sends seeds, gardening activities and fun booklets for parents to cultivate an interest in growing with their kids.

Bicycle Ambulance by <a title="PHOTOS: The Best Green Designs at London’s New Designers Graduate Show" href="http://www.danhearndesign.co.uk/#!__page-0/portfolio" target="_blank">Dan Hearn</a> is another DIY kit and focuses on people that live in the countryside, far from medical help. The kit is for building an eco-friendly pedal-power transport that uses local materials and provides a quick transport option for transferring the ill to hospitals.

<a title="PHOTOS: The Best Green Designs at London’s New Designers Graduate Show" href="http://stusshed.wordpress.com/2007/07/17/kerfing-bending-wood-on-the-tablesaw/" target="_blank">Kerfing</a> is a technique consisting on making controlled and precise triangular cuts into wood for easy bending. Designer Russell Knight used the technique for his elegant KRF Series, which is made from sustainable American Ash and Walnut filling.

In order to find out how products could be made (more) locally, designer <a title="PHOTOS: The Best Green Designs at London’s New Designers Graduate Show" href="http://www.harrytrimble.co.uk/" target="_blank">Harry Trimble </a>re-designed a cheese grater made from a local rivers’ clay and driftwood. He also commissioned a local plumber to design a potato masher from his own copper pipes.

Friendly and enthusiastic <a title="PHOTOS: The Best Green Designs at London’s New Designers Graduate Show" href="http://www.quau-eco-design.co.uk/" target="_blank">Raquel Sereno </a>worked around the problems seen in the Mexican forests and gave them a more positive light with a series of FSC crafted objects like a burnt ashtray for fires and a candle holder representing illegal logging.

Designed as a way to hide and escape to a quiet place within public spaces, designer <a title="PHOTOS: The Best Green Designs at London’s New Designers Graduate Show" href="http://www.freyjasewell.co.uk/" target="_blank">Freija Sewell</a> created Hush, a snuggly, soft and very warm felt pod designed around the question "Can public be private?"

Norwegian-blooded <a title="PHOTOS: The Best Green Designs at London’s New Designers Graduate Show" href="http://www.designrelated.com/profile/hannastinaaugust" target="_blank">Hannastina Crick</a>, a graduate from Brighton University, believes that we should live closer to nature. Here she made a fantastic floaty lamp from paper and rattan and a nest-like seat from rye on steel frame.

The number of bees is decreasing fast, with little remedy. So we were very happy to spot lots of bee-focused projects at this year’s London’s degree shows! Seen above, Thrive Hive by Kingston University’s graduate <a title="PHOTOS: The Best Green Designs at London’s New Designers Graduate Show" href="http://www.thumbdesigns.co.uk/" target="_blank">Tom Back</a> is a modern approach to urban beehives that uses local wood, straw and string while exploring traditional building techniques from Kenya.

Made from hand blown glass and renewable, heat tolerant cork, these three multicolored lamps by <a title="PHOTOS: The Best Green Designs at London’s New Designers Graduate Show" href="http://solve-ntu.com/harry_allnatt.html" target="_blank">Harry Allnatt</a> are simply stunning.

We are big fans of <a title="PHOTOS: The Best Green Designs at London’s New Designers Graduate Show" href="http://inhabitat.com/edward-chew-creates-stunning-geometric-lamps-from-recycled-tetra-paks/" target="_blank">‘no glue no screw’</a> furniture as it can easily be disassembled for recycling or up-cycling. The process also takes a bit more thought and creativity than just quickly fixing parts by screwing them together, making it much more engaging. <p> Designer-maker <a title="PHOTOS: The Best Green Designs at London’s New Designers Graduate Show" href="http://www.wix.com/lukediaz/design#!portfolio" target="_blank">Luke Diaz </a>created a stitch-wood collection of petite furniture made from local ash and hand-sewn non-bleached string.

Tamara Cote Lovelo steered clear of designing just another chair. Cote focused her work on the growing numbers of food-related disorders and obesity in Scotland. Here she creates a sweet and healthy treat made from <a title="PHOTOS: The Best Green Designs at London’s New Designers Graduate Show" href="http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/health/seaweed-could-be-the-key-to-beating-obesity-1.1015041" target="_blank">local seaweed.</a>

Working together with <a title="PHOTOS: The Best Green Designs at London’s New Designers Graduate Show" href="http://www.ercol.com/" target="_blank">Ercol</a> furniture, designer<a title="PHOTOS: The Best Green Designs at London’s New Designers Graduate Show" href="http://cargocollective.com/clintonsheldon" target="_blank"> Clinton Sheldon </a>made a low-energy luminaire and rocking chair by re-arranging and binding together the company’s various furniture parts.

As a number of us here are vegetarian or vegan, we were immediately drawn to Naomi Bines’ project that stores fruits and <a title="PHOTOS: The Best Green Designs at London’s New Designers Graduate Show" href="http://inhabitat.com/zero-waste-vegetable-packaging-you-can-also-plant/" target="_blank">vegetables</a> outside the fridge. She came up with a solution for keeping them fresh for longer using three ‘containers’, where fruits are kept separated and ventilated, root vegetables cool and dry and green leaves cool and humid. Amazingly simple!

Want to see some more exciting ideas coming out from this year’s New Designers? We have lots more to share in a second post, so stay tuned!