Voting is almost over for the first ever online Global Design Graduate Show, where ARTSTHREAD partnered with i-D to give art and design graduates in the class of 2020 the opportunity to showcase their work. From the fashion category of the competition — supported for the first time by Gucci — meet Carolin in Cologne, Marina in Moscow and Noah in California.
Check out their work below and then vote for your favourites before 14 September 2020, here!
Carolin Dieler, 26, BA Design at Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts.
Graduate Project Theme: It’s called ‘Sublime Devastation’ and explains how severely humans influence nature and how urgently change is needed. The collection is made up of 28 jewellery pieces.
Have you had to produce less work?
I produced fewer pieces than originally planned as it was just not possible to make them without the school’s workspace, but this meant the concept and theory is way more in-depth.
What do you wish someone had told you at the start of your graduate project?
Working with companies rather than school facilities is quite an investment and had I known things would change I would have considered different materials and production methods.
What are the challenges of showing your work online?
Because I’m just starting out, my lack of reach. Also, authentically showing the tactile quality of my work through a screen was a challenge.
Marina Aleksashina, 22, BA Fashion Design at HSE Art and Design School.
Graduate Project Theme: My project is called “The case project”. The main image is a suitcase and is inspired by the anxiety and ready-to-go-state of liberal-minded people in Russia today.
Describe your workspace.
The whole city is my workplace. I can work anywhere whether it is a tent or an airplane — Although in lockdown I had to change this habit!
How has online learning changed your work?
Ironically, despite isolation, the level of communication increased. I talked on Zoom with my tutor three times as much as usual and she helped me find manufacturers and production facilities. Eventually, it became normal to pick fabrics and accessories via FaceTime with store employees.
What has helped you get through the past few months?
Express delivery.
Noah Dubin, 22, BFA Fashion Design at California College of the Arts.
Graduate Project Theme: Called ‘Un Viaje Para Ninas y Ninos’, it highlights my Latinism and Americanness in an attempt to reclaim my identity and brings awareness to traumatic displacement, xenophobia and pride within an unfamiliar environment.
Have you had to produce less work?
I had a line-up of eight looks, but this changed to the six strongest looks. I probably would have done this regardless of a pandemic – now I can work on the others in my free time.
What do you wish someone had told you at the start of your graduate project?
To not hoard so much.
What are your hopes for the future?
That consumers will ask hard hitting questions that force the industry to change and that designers will become aware of the power they possess to make a better world.
You can vote here for your favourites in all art and design categories of the Global Design Graduate Show before 14 September 2020.