Design + Community
Colour Hive X Central Saint Martins
In our previous journal post we introduced the thoughts behind our collaborative live webinar with Central Saint Martins; Design + Community and showcased our first 3 speakers and their projects. Here we continue with the remaining 3 graduates, delving a little deeper into their collections.
Meet the Graduates
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Samantha Mensah, BA (Hons) Textile Design - Print
'IDENTT' celebrates identity and culture but also highlights the beauty in unity through difference. In the diverse world we live in today, it is, unfortunately, apparent that there is a lack of understanding and acceptance for different communities and cultures. Needless to say, we are all human, regardless of our place of habitation and skin colour. With this in mind, Sam believes it is our duty to educate ourselves about other communities and cultures to become a better world. This project delves into Sam's own personal perspective of identity and celebrates the different cultures she grew up around and is surrounded by today.
Community is caring, caring about one another, caring about someone else’s well-being and being consistent with that. Community looks so different; I have friends and family that are from many different cultures and it’s such a wide spectrum, yet the common thread between that is care.
Samantha Mensah
samanthamensah25@gmail.com
Millie Marks, BA (Hons) Jewellery Design
In her collection ‘Jocale’, meaning 'plaything', Millie challenges the wearer to rethink themselves as a creative person through jewellery. Inspired by children’s building blocks and the art of joinery, Millie has created a collection constituted of toggles, wooden blocks and ropes. They link together and can be customised to be worn as diverse designs of rings and necklaces; through exploration and problem-solving, the wearer is invited to participate in the process behind the piece.
Community for me is something that is shared. In making these pieces we all collectively took part in the experience of making something different from the same body of work.
Millie Marks
milliemarksjewellery@gmail.com
Emily Boxall, MA Material Futures
Emily is interested in some of the biggest issues society faces, in particular the complex and often contradictory topic; food and hunger. By confronting these challenges that a growing population faces in the present climate crisis through a positive perspective, Emily aims to create a more inclusive and empowered society. This strong belief in the power of people to make monumental change is key in the way she approaches her research-based project 'Hungry for Change', which is largely community-centric and collaborative.
Food provides this really unique opportunity because it is so universal. Everyone eats so everyone can help motivate change and make decisions to improve and reshape.
Emily Boxall
emilyboxall@hotmail.com
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It has been great to be a part of this showcase and to see such inspiring projects all together over such different design disciplines. Amidst the pandemic, it feels more important than ever to revive, appreciate and nurture our communities for the future both from a social aspect, and as a launch pad for design responses and influences.
We want to say a huge thanks to the team at Central Saint Martins and of course, the participating graduates. We wish you all the best in your future design journeys.
You can catch the full webinar here.
For more information on the graduate class of 2020 click here.
Image credits from top:
Emily Boxall | Samantha Mensah | Samantha Mensah | Samantha Mensah X Meriem Mecili | Millie Marks | Millie Marks | MIllie Marks | Emily Boxall | Emily Boxall | Emily Boxall