Buckinghamshire New University students showcase their talent and creativity in art and design.
Buckinghamshire New University is a forward-thinking, dynamic university with some of the most employer-focused and innovative courses in the country. The University was ranked in the top 30 UK universities for art and design in The Guardian’s 2012 University Guide, and it is renowned for its art, design and craft programmes, many of which are developed in close collaboration with industry contacts.
In 2012 Bucks New University and its students were incredibly busy coming up with creative concepts and showcasing their innovative designs.
Creative graduate designs furniture to help counselling
A master’s degree student from Batcombe, near Shepton Mallett, Somerset, came up with a range of furniture he hopes could help people when undergoing counselling. Emile Jones, 22, (pictured below) worked with counselling service Relate to come up with the nature-themed furniture, including chairs and lamps. It was displayed as part of the annual MA end-of-year art and design show at Bucks New University, in High Wycombe, where the ambitious graduate studied. Now, Emile, who attended King Arthur’s Community School, Wincanton, said he hoped Relate may look to use some of his designs in its work.
He said: “My parents work in mental health and my mum is a psychiatrist so the opportunity to work with Relate appealed to me. It highlighted problems it has experienced with ill-prepared rooms, which may not be suitable for providing comfort and reassurance in times of need. I am well aware of these issues for people undergoing counselling and thought I could develop furniture to help.
“Through my research I established that being in a natural environment has proven benefits to your health and wellbeing.”
Emile’s work included a ‘Let’s Talk’ Chair, designed to make people comfortable having a conversation, and which has a lowered arm on one side and a higher arm on the other, designed to make people feel more comfortable and break down barriers. Other work included a ‘tree lamp’, giving feelings of warmth and comfort; ‘leaf screen’, inspired by foliage and trees, which is aimed at providing privacy and comfort; and a sewn felt teddy bear, called Norman.
Eye-catching pieces displayed at end-of-year show
A range of eye-catching pieces were displayed at Bucks New University’s annual MA end-of-year show, celebrating students’ talent and creativity in the fields of art and design.
The week-long show featured work by students on the MA Art and Design Practice: Printmaking; MA Art and Design Practice: Furniture Design; MA Advertising; and MA Conservation of Furniture and Decorative Arts courses.
MA Printmaking student, Remi Allen, depicted images of her three children onto two metre-high steel sheets, and also created an interactive visual presentation looking into her Indian heritage and how it related to her ‘Britishness’.
Fellow MA Printmaking student, Yasin Watson, displayed a selection of etchings and monoprints, based on his perception of the riots in London in 2011. He said: “I looked to capture the rioters as frustrated consumers, who, when they were free to do as they wished, took the opportunity to go shopping.”
Marcin Gladzik, (pictured above) from Jelenia Góra, in Poland, who studied MA Furniture Design, made a 146cm-high flood and drain hydroponic system that could be used in the home to grow plants and food without the use of soil. He also designed and made a machine to make polycarbonate discs that made up the outside of the illuminous blue system, as well as a drip irrigation system to sit horizontally on the wall and in which people could grow plants. He said: “The system allows people to grow plants quickly and efficiently without having to use soil. It has special lighting designed for photosynthesis. This type of system is used in the food industry and on large-scale food production and my concept is about bringing it into the home.”
The MA Art and Design Practice: Furniture Design students will be exhibiting their work at Vitra’s showroom at 30 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1M 5PG, between 12-14 February.
For more information telephone 0800 0565 660, email advice@bucks.ac.uk or visit www.bucks.ac.uk
