GREEN GRADS To Show At The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair From October 13th In Manchester’s Iconic Victora Baths Venue

PRESS ROOM

12 Oct

Written By Debbie Mckeegan

GREEN GRADS are recent graduates of UK Universities with ideas to heal the planet

Fresh from the London Design Festival, and exclusively for the first time out of London, the GREEN GRADS are at the GREAT NORTHERN CONTEMPORARY CRAFT FAIR (GNCCF), the award-winning craft, art and design fair in Manchester’s listed Victoria Baths at Victoria Baths, Hathersage Road, Manchester M13 0FE : 13-16 October 2022

Twenty-two GREEN GRADS are setting up shop in the charming blue-painted changing cubicles of Pool C of the listed Victoria Baths, with a willow weaver and wool spinner in constant demonstration.

Plus a showreel of the ambitious films GREEN GRADS have made to tell the stories of their projects.

There’s also Shout Out, a wall with posters and manifestos by eco-activist GREEN GRADS.

For sale from the GREEN GRADS will be exquisite printed textiles, all kinds of art baskets, willow lampshades, mycelium vessels, ceramic rock sculptures made from “wild “ clay, 3D-printed ceramics, plant pots made from recycled river waste and much more.

Also showcased are innovations such bio-materials made of gelatine and washing up liquid, a solar-powered heating mat for refugees, and a kiln made of mycelium, and cloud-like lampshades made for a “save the fleece” campaign to re-evaluate British wool.

Star turn is the contents of 250 University discarded bedrooms hand-crafted into striking contemporary stools and storage units.

Most work is for sale, though some sustainability innovations are still in development.

Eco Stories Is The Culmination Of The GREEN GRADS Textile Challenge, Sponsored By Epson, Which Invited Graduates To Express Their Feelings For The Environment, From Love Of Nature To The Climate Crisis, In Pattern On Cloth.

With Prizes Going To :

Eco Stories GOLD AWARD For The Bateman Collection.

Sarah Thorley

University of Bolton

Inspired by the National Trust Victorian treasure Biddulph Grange Gardens (1840), Sarah’s richly-detailed designs exude her passion for nature, conservation, restoration, and history.

Sarah is at the show with GREEN GRADS in the blue cubicles in Pool C. @colours_by_sarah

Eco Stories SILVER AWARD For Silken Bloom.

Rhiannon Weaver

De Montfort University

Rhiannon looked to the 1970’s hippie movement, and found early eco-fashion in hemp and bamboo. Fast forward and she is using hemp linen and bamboo silk. These alternative fibres enable luxury and couture, with sustainability and zero waste at the core of her embellishments. @rhiannoneleanortextiles

Eco Stories BRONZE AWARD For Home Grown.

Rebekah Longland

Birmingham City University

Starting as collaged motifs, these vibrant vegetable designs were digitally-printed using eco-friendly colours and inks. They ask you to consider where your food comes from and how it is grown. Produce from gardens and allotments contrasts with industrialised production and food miles.

Rebekah is at the show with GREEN GRADS in the blue changing cubicles in Pool C.

@rebekah.longland

The GREEN GRADS Story

GREEN GRADS is founded and curated by multi-award-winning design journalist Barbara Chandler @sunnygran who has covered design for over 30 years at the London Evening Standard.

And over that time, every summer she has visited New Designers (the UK’s major platform for new graduates in Islington, north London) to report and take photographs.

Because of the pandemic, this show was cancelled first in 2020, then in 2021.

Despite excellent on-line coverage, for two years in a row, graduates had no central platform to show their work in person to the design industry, including manufacturers, shops, galleries, curators, and the media, and the public at large.

So, as lockdown lifted in the summer of 2021, briefed by Sally Bent event director of New Designers, Barbara journeyed into England to find the graduates in their places of study, attending design/craft/art degree shows where running, or getting personal briefings.

On her itinerary were Plymouth, Loughborough, Leicester, Manchester, Kingston, Brighton and Stoke. London visits included Central Saint Martins, the RCA, Brunel, and Morley College. Barbara also explored portfolios on the internet (including the New designers website) and social media posts. She says: “I was seeking out in effect the lost classes of 20/21. I felt they should have some attention. And I found that the quality and scope of work was outstanding.”

Demonstrably, the graduates deserved a national platform. This was generously offered by Deborah Spencer, co-founder and director of the pioneering Planted design show, launched in September 2021 in King’s Cross, London N1C, with a focus on biophilia and sustainability.

And so GREEN GRADS was born as a stand-alone show within Planted over a single weekend in the King’s Cross Samsung Experience Space, London N1C.

Many months later, GREEN GRADS is gaining speed. A second edition will be at Planted Community, 24/25 September 2022.

But before that, GREEN GRADS are at GRAND DESIGNS LIVE, ExCel, 1 Western Gateway, Royal Victoria Dock, London E16 1XL, 30 April – 8 May 2022.

Then in the autumn, GREEN GRADS visit the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, 13-16 October 2022 in Victoria Baths, Hathersage Road, Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester M13 0FE.

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