Design by Olivia Berry

NEXT, DOROTHY PERKINS and NEW LOOK have commissioned designs exhibited at LCC’s Accelerators Summer Show (June 14-21) by student Olivia Berry, and several other LCC finalists are enjoying recognition and industry success before they have even graduated.

Olivia completes her studies this summer in BA (Hons) Surface Design, a subject that explores the possibilities of media old and new, from traditional screen printing to digital light shows and 3D construction. 

 Surface Design Course Director Tony Braithwaite says that, while students are skilled in the latest production techniques, they love the craft involved in screen printing and “analogue” production.  “Hand-crafted is the new revolution,” he says.

Olivia attributes her knack for commercially viable ideas to instinct, but praises the technical expertise that LCC provides in its studios.  She has found this support invaluable, and is now hoping to attract attention to her latest collections, inspired by London’s Soho.

“If I can license my work, then I can work on my own label.  At the moment, I am focussing on fashion, but the Surface Design course is so wide-ranging that I can work on any pattern for any surface,” Olivia says.

Louis Vincent, who runs his own studio, Primitive Press, is a talented craftsman.  The insatiable demand for his wallpaper designs makes them viable for large-scale production, and he his now negotiating with commercial printers.

Hogan Johnson travelled all the way from Texas for LCC’s world-class tuition. She has made such rapid progress in a career change from business consulting to graphic design that she is moving straight from Diploma to Masters-level qualification next year.

“I came to study at LCC because I wanted an international perspective on design.  London is the best place in the world for designers: everything is here, and any opportunity you could want is available,” she says.

Her final project is a book of photographs called Quotidian.  She has explored everyday objects and scenes, and explored the beauty that emerges when you look more carefully at the world around you.  One photograph reveals the colourful facades of a row of houses reflected in a puddle; another matches the curve of a bridge with the curve of a circus of Georgian houses.

Rhiannon Flemming’s balletic illustrations of footballers for a series of fictitious match-day posters and programmes have secured her a place on a Royal College of Art MA programme.  As Graphic Design course director Chris May says, “to leap from a college-level qualification to postgraduate study at the RCA is a massive achievement.”

The Accelerators show features work from FdA & BA (Hons) Surface Design, FdA and BA (Hons) Interior Design, BA (Hons) Production for Live Events and Television, ABC Diploma in Photography, ABC Diploma in Graphic Design, and ABC Diploma in Spatial Design.