Meet the shortlist for the MullenLowe NOVA Awards

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Date: 27 June 2018
Tags: Features
Creative Industry

It’s that time of the year again. Students up and down the country are eagerly curating their work in order to present it at their degree shows for the public to see. This year, for the eighth year running, global marketing communications agency network, MullenLowe Group, returns to sponsor the Central Saint Martins annual show. In addition to being the official sponsors of the degree shows, MullenLowe Group also runs the MullenLowe NOVA Awards to shine a light on the brightest young talent emerging from the world-renowned art, design and performance college.

Central Saint Martins course tutors have spent the past few weeks selecting work from 1,300 graduating students in order to put together a shortlist of candidates to be judged by a panel of expert judges. The final decision-makers include creatives across a range of disciplines, including a member of the It’s Nice That team. In search of the bravest, most innovative and boundary-pushing talent, just five awards will be presented to recognise the best of the best and support their creative endeavours beyond graduation. One of the awards, the MullenLowe YourNOVA ’People’s Choice’ Award, will have its winner determined by an online public vote that’s now open online until 3 July.

From Fine Art to Fashion Knitwear, this year’s shortlist includes an eclectic mix of talent. Here’s a behind-the-scenes sneak peek of the students setting up for Degree Show Two. For full details and to cast your vote click here.

A diptych of two photographs. On the left, a person with pink-tipped hair and blue eyeshadow wears a colourful, geometric patterned cardigan. On the right, a garment made from disassembled sneakers is displayed on a mannequin in a studio.

A person in a dark patterned blazer looks at the camera against a backdrop of abstract pink and blue shapes. Beside them, three small framed collages hang on a white wall, featuring geometric patterns and cut-out imagery.

A triptych of images showing a person and their work with 3D knitting. One photo shows a person sitting on a wooden platform next to a white robotic arm. Other images show close-ups of spools of white thread and a finished white knitted sneaker.

A diptych of two photographs. On the left, a person in a leopard-print dress and gold scarf holds a memorial portrait of a child. On the right, a collection of garments and prints are displayed in a bright, industrial space.

A person with a beard and a grey sweatshirt stands in a bright studio. On the wooden table beside them are several small, peach-coloured ceramic objects. A close-up of the peach-coloured ceramics, including a rounded vessel holding a dark, organic-shaped object.

A person stands in a gallery space, smiling at the camera. Behind them, a white shelf displays a collection of Maneki-neko beckoning cat figurines. A close-up of a white ceramic Maneki-neko cat with one paw raised. It wears a red collar and holds a gold coin with Japanese characters.

A diptych of two photographs. On the left, a person in a black blazer stands with hands clasped in a studio filled with wooden furniture. On the right, a close-up shows a white ceramic object decorated with blue patterns and two circular holes.

A person wearing a blue jumpsuit and a colourful crochet hat sits on a plywood bench with a black leather top. A second image shows the bench from a different angle, revealing a circular hole in the seat. A third image shows a view through the hole, where a screen displays the text “FOLLOW ME INSIDE MY HEAD”.

A diptych featuring a person and a piece of jewellery. On the left, a person wears a navy blue bomber jacket with palm tree embroidery. On the right, a close-up of a chunky gold chain with a large pendant in the shape of a franc symbol.

A diptych featuring a person and a piece of art. On the left, a person wearing an oversized blue striped shirt and a black choker looks at the camera. On the right, a blue abstract painting shows a fluid, swirling shape within a hexagonal frame.

Two images side by side. On the left, a person stands beside a white sculpture and a wooden beam fixed to a wall. On the right, a close-up shows two tall, jagged white sculptures with a rough, stone-like texture.

A person with a beard and a green T-shirt looks at the camera. Beside them is a black and white graphic print featuring a map and a data table titled “DATA: BOUNDS GREEN”.

Two images side by side. The first is a portrait of a person in a black top standing before two large, sculptural necklaces hanging on a white wall. The second image shows a wider view of the gallery wall with four different necklaces of varying sizes and styles.

A person in black clothing sits cross-legged on a grey floor, smiling at the camera. Beside them is a tall, metallic sculpture consisting of a cube and a circular disc.

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Paolina Russo. Photography by Vic Phillips

1 of 14

Paolina Russo. Photography by Vic Phillips

Paolina Russo
BA Fashion: Fashion Design and Knitwear
A Love Letter to my Hometown

Paolina Russo draws on her Canadian hometown Markham, embodying techniques and materials that remind her of the sports and craft culture she grew up with like crochet, draping shoes and soccer balls

Cybi Williams
BA Fine Art 2D
Untitled

Cybi Williams hopes to prompt the art world to reconsider what fine art is and urge the artworld to adapt beyond the gallery space.

Jen Keane
MA Material Futures
This is Grown

Through her work, Jen Keane imagines a future where “microorganisms could help us not just replace petrochemical-based materials but change our entire approach to making”

Harry Henley-Freegard
BA Fashion: Fashion Print
THE ART OF DYING

Harry Henley-Freegard’s collection can be perceived as a three-dimensional collage that recontextualises core items — like socks worked into a gown — of clothing, and reimagines how they can be worn.

Matt Canham
BA Product Design
hplus

Matt Canham’s graduate collection, hplus, is made up of six personal health monitoring devices — including a spirometer, urinalyser and finger-prick blood tester — that “aim to relieve the pressure on the patient, clinician and health service”.

Katie-May Boyd
MA Material Futures
Foreign Garbage  

Hoping to spark a discussion around waste, Katie-May Boyd has created beckoning cats or Maneki-neko out of a prominent waste pollutant: expanded polystyrene (EPS).

Matthew Wang
BA Fine Art XD
Becoming Ted Green 

Matthew Wang’s artwork was inspired by an enigmatic envelope he received titled A Brief History of Ted Green, containing the 2016 graduation show of former Central Saint Martins student Ted Green.

Montague Von Richthofen
BA Performance: Design and Practice
Who Am I Without You / Another You and Follow Me Inside My Head

Montague Von Richthofen’s five minute video portrays the artist’s past year spent on the road through short, poetic statements.

Shengyi Chen
BA Jewellery Design
Contemporary Comedy

Shengyi Chen was inspired by the most recognisable anti-Trump trope, the pink Pussyhat, turning political events into comedic, wearable pieces.

Shuna Luo
MA Character Animation
-6.831 miles 

Shuna Luo’s animation tries "to visualise the invisible emotions of depression, while at the same time, making it audible”.

Simon Kidd
BA Ceramic Design
Sliabh Dónairt and Dregis

Simon Kidd’s ceramics graduate project is representative of his home country, Northern Ireland, its “beauty, as well as its ugly past”.

Stephen Bennett
MA Art and Science
Who Saw the Deep?

Stephen Bennett’s Who Saw the Deep? investigates whether art can bridge the gap between science and public decision-making.

Veronika Fabian
BA Jewellery Design
Chains For an Average Woman  

Through her chain-inspired jewellery collection, Veronika points to the possibility that women might be confined to the pre-existing identities of the “female personas of our time”.