Last updated on May 14th, 2024
London is buzzing with all things London Design Festival this week, and part of the offering includes NOVA X, an exhibition at Central Saint Martins which celebrates the past winners of the coveted MullenLowe NOVA Awards – from 2011 to the present.
NOVA X showcases some 29 Central Saint Martins alumni from across the product design, art, jewellery and textiles, performance, fashion and graphic design departments. The projects are wide-ranging, many of them focusing on sustainability and the environment, with the creative gazes very much on the future. Technology is omnipresent too whilst the boundaries are pushed to the extreme.
The Touch in and Out Oyster card Acrylic Nails project by Lucie Davis.
The aim of the NOVA X exhibition is to highlight how these seriously accomplished alumni have launched themselves into the big wide world, with many of the students now using their skills to effect real design and creative change. The workstations show early concepts, research, sketchbooks, tools and processes, together with the finished product, and show how some of these are now being used practically.
Isak Åkerlund is a designer and a firefighter. He won the first NOVA Award back in 2011. See his fire engine design from which a new model will be taken into service in the Södertörn Fire Protection Association.
Jose Miguel Sokoloff, global president, MullenLowe Group Creative Council says: “At the heart of the MullenLowe NOVA Awards is our desire to give students a platform for recognition as they extend their thinking beyond the educational environment. We’re delighted to partner with Central Saint Martins to present ‘NOVA X’, to celebrate exactly that, and once again focus the attention of the creative community onto some of the most outstanding emerging talent. I’m excited to see what past winners have been up to since graduating and view these newly commissioned pieces of work, to once again shine a light on the artistry, ingenuity and excellence of these brilliant minds.”
Ceros by Tina Gorjanc, a keratin and gelatine amalgamate alternative to rhino horn
Professor Jeremy Till, Head of Central Saint Martins, UAL says: “Over the last 10 years the MullenLowe NOVA Awards have been a marker of the prevailing preoccupations, priorities and values of our community. The exhibition is a great opportunity to see how the practices, ideas, and careers of these artists, designers and performers have evolved as they make their way in the Central Saint Martins global creative network.”
The President Dress by the NOVA Awards’ 2020 overall winner, Sandra Poulson.
James Beatham’s Untitled Pot.
You can catch the NOVA X exhibition until 23 October in person at the Lethaby Gallery or online. Check the website for opening times.
Lethaby Gallery, Granary Building, 1 Granary Square, London N1C 4AA (entrance is directly opposite the Granary Square fountains)
About the MullenLowe NOVA Awards
2021 marks the 10-year anniversary of the NOVA Awards, a creative relationship between MullenLowe and Central Saint Martins College, one of the world’s leading art and design schools. The student roster includes the likes of Antony Gormley, Terence Conran, Tom Hardy, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, Laure Prouvost, Mathew Williamson and John Galliano, to name a few. The NOVA awards support emerging talent, creative excellence and innovation, giving students a platform for recognition and the opportunity to extend their thinking beyond the educational environment. 1400 students are shortlisted to 14 from which a group of 10 judges selects the final 6 winners.
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