New Designers 40th Anniversary Ambassadors : Meet The ND Alumni Powering Four Decades Of Design
New Designers marks a major milestone in 2025, celebrating 40 years of emerging creative talent with a star-studded line-up of alumni featuring established artists, designers and makers from across all four decades.
We are proud to introduce some of the UK’s most exciting names in the creative industries as our 40th anniversary ambassadors, all of whom began their industry journeys by exhibiting projects at New Designers as part of their university graduating cohort.
Many of the designers not only will be participating in this year’s show in a variety of ways but have revisited and participated in the show since originally exhibiting.
Introducing the ND Ambassadors
Benjamin Hubert – Multidisciplinary designer and Founder of LAYER (ND 2006, Loughborough University, Industrial Design and Technology)
Darren Appiagyei – Wood Artist (ND 2016, Camberwell College of Arts, 3D Design)
Elliot Brook – Co-founder of Deadgood (ND 2003, Northumbria University, Furniture Design)
Hannah Martin – Jewellery Designer (ND 2005, Central St Martins, Jewellery)
Ikuko Iwamoto – Artist and Ceramicist (ND 2004, Camberwell Arts College, ND 2006 Royal College of Art)
Jo Barnard – Industrial Designer and Founder of Morrama (ND 2014, Brunel University, Product Design)
Margo Selby – Textile Artist and Designer (ND 1999, Royal College of Art, Woven Textiles)
Peter Ting – Former Ceramicist (ND 1988, Cardiff University, Ceramics)
Hear from the ND Ambassadors
Read the testimonials below to find out what New Designers meant to the ND Ambassadors at the start of their careers and hear why they keep on coming back to visit every year.
“New Designers helped me with my career by giving me confidence, and even now it inspires me with my work in clay. I first exhibited through Camberwell College of Art, then again through the Royal College of Art, and then was delighted to be asked to come back again, a year into my career for the commercial area ‘One Year On’ [now known as ND Selects].” Ikuko Iwamoto Ceramicist
“I had the great privilege of winning a New Designers award when I exhibited almost 20 years ago and the even greater privilege of opening the show more recently. Showing as a grad at New Designers really kickstarted my career. These days my team at LAYER visit New Designers to look out for potential new talent to join our studio.” Benjamin Hubert LAYER
“When we come and visit the show now, it’s amazing to see the focus on sustainability and projects designed to meet the needs of underserved markets and audiences. We also come to find the next generation of talent.” Jo Barnard Morrama
“We actually launched our company Deadgood at New Designers and it really acted as a springboard into the industry and gave us contacts and momentum to build the business and motivate us to keep going. Creativity, collaboration and purpose was instilled in us as a company at New Designers and we have taken that through into the business to this day, helping other young creatives in their careers along the way. For me, New Designers stands for nurturing the next generation of creative thinkers.” Elliot Brook Deadgood
“New Designers was so exciting when you’re a graduate, because all of a sudden you’re meeting all these industry professionals, and you’ve got people interested in your work. I actually sold a design to Missoni, which was really wonderful. I think my fondest memory of New Designers, when I was exhibiting, was just the excitement and the buzz when the show opened.” Margo Selby Margo Selby Studios
About New Designers
New Designers gathers more than 3,000 of the brightest and most radical new creative minds to launch the next generation of thinkers, makers and disruptors onto the UK design scene.
The exhibition is a two-week celebration of visionary design that sees students of 200+ creative courses unveiling never-before-seen work to thousands of industry professionals and design lovers.
SAVE THE DATE - ND25: 2 - 12 JULY 2025
