Sheffield’s Institute of Arts at New Designers Part 2

New Designers Part 2 is at the Business Design Centre and Design Insider are delighted to share some of the work being exhibited by students from the University of Sheffield (on Stand FP61). 

Beatrix Bray:  Fluctuare is a speculative piece exploring an object’s ability to evolve with the individual. Through the provision of indistinct yet highly engaging forms and textures, this table seeks to instigate a meaningful, sustainable dialogue between object and user. The investigation and outcome confronts the time sick, easiest-path-possible, throw away mentality that we and the objects and services that surround us are intent on fulfilling. As a consequence of personal observations, the design utilises indistinct, intriguing and engaging forms as a means of creating enriching properties within the material objects we as a species are so emotionally invested.

Grace Charlotte Mills:  Playing shouldn’t be just for children. With employment and financial stresses creating an anxious environment for Millennials, BRUCE allows users to escape and become child-like again. The motion that rocking offers forms the popular body play and movement. Combining this with the use of bright and bold colours and the oversized and vibrant weave, creates the perfect escapism from real life for Millennials.

Oliver Sunderland:  KRAFFT, Spinning Wheel.  Spinning as a craft has devolved since the industrial revolution and it is estimated that currently, there are only 51-100 skilled crafts people in the UK able to spin to a professional standard (Heritage Crafts Association, 2018).  KRAFFT aims to introduce spinning to a new audience through a new product format and an updated material palette. As much as KRAFFT is a functional product, it is intended to be a ‘conversation piece’ within it’s own environment.  KRAFFT is as much a piece of furniture as it is a tool for spinning yarn.

Elle Stocks:  In a world of fast food, ready meals and the demand for convenience, we sometimes we forget to appreciate the beauty of food. Which means our children are less aware of what they’re eating, forcing healthy food take a back seat.

Playing with our food is often frowned upon but it is actually a great way to allow children to use their imagination to explore unfamiliar foods, such as fruit and vegetables. Engaging more intimately with food can create positive experiences to help maintain a balanced diet. The FOOD SENSE series supports this by each tool isolating and heightening a specific sense;
touch (somatosensation), taste (gustation) sight (vision), smell (olfaction) and hearing (audition).  READY? SQUASH. SQUISH. LOOK. SNIFF!

Callum Grant:  This seating concept revolves around the configuration of components to produce different seating styles and applications. Using a central connecting plate the separate leg, arm and backrest components can be easily configured to fit the specific needs of the client within the contract furniture market. With several options for the leg, arm and backrest components there are 256 total standard combinations of the chair. With the additional option of fabric finish the total number of combinations would be close to infinite.

Dominic Wigg: In the UK 260 people are killed in relation to fires each year (House for National Statistics, 2017), 71 died in Grenfell tower in June 2017 (Metropolitan Police, 2017.) 90% of fire related fatalities, show signs of smoke inhalation (Gormsen, Jeppesen, Lund, 1984.) Life jackets are on boats, why isn’t there an equivalent for buildings?

LIFE CAS, the Life Compressed Air Saver, is a wearable system providing air for victims of highrise building fires. This essential lifesaving equipment will be the first thing you look for when you see smoke and allow you the time you need to escape alive.

Harry Levell: GIRO is a chair designed to enhance VR experiences as well as encourage more people to want to try out the medium. The rounded base of the chair allows freedom of movement giving the user the ability to swivel 360° to control what they see in the virtual world. The simple low-tech approach has given this product a versatility that makes it suitable for use in the home with or without VR, and in contract environments such as VR arcades. When compared to other VR furniture GIRO is a cost-effective option that has unique retro inspired styling that makes it stand out from the rest.

Weronika Stepien: You don’t need a First Aid Kit, you just need the knowledge to know how to use the items around you. Help is the ultimate 21st century First Aid kit. It gives its users the knowledge to know what to do when accidents occur. It covers four areas of first aid: burns, choking, cuts and CPR. Help is available in three different versions, cardboard, polymer and timber. This allows it to be in nearly every household, teaching the majority of the public what to do when an accident happens.

Becky Platt: Created with a natural aesthetic, Petite Cerise is a portable light designed to bring people back to nature, to improve upon the growing stress provided by cities/busy lifestyles.

Charged via Solar Power and Kinetic Energy, Petite Cerise aims to benefit the well-being of others by providing a bright, ambient light for the luxury camping market. Achieved by utilising natural materials and sustainable energy to encourage people to stay outside. Finished in American Cherry and Frosted Glass, Petite Cerise provides a premium light with a 12V LED bulb.

New Designers is on at the Business Design Centre from Wednesday 4th July – Saturday 7th July. All the work featured in this article can be found on Stand FP61.