DJCAD graduates celebrating exhibition successes

Published On Thu 10 Jul 2014 by Roddy Isles

The exhibition season for young designers is proving a happy hunting ground for graduates from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, who have picked up seven major awards at the New Designers and D&AD New Blood events in London.

Exhibitions such as these are visited by tens of thousands of people each year, including some of the important and influential figures in the design industry. This gives graduates the opportunity to develop contacts with trade professionals, potential employers and the media as well as having the chance to win awards, work placements and recognition.

Graduates from DJCAD, part of the University of Dundee, have a fantastic track record of success at the events and this year’s crop has added to that roll of honour.

Among the award winners from Dundee are:

  • Rebecca McGill, Textile Design graduate and winner of the John Lewis Retail Award for Design Excellence and Innovation at New Designers
  • Calum Potter, Digital Interaction Design Graduate and winner of the New Designers Cyber-Duck Associate Prize
  • Graphic Design graduates Alex Nicholson and Mandi Halonen and Illustration graduate Iida Lanki all won Best In Show Award at New Blood
  • Andrew Golden, Graphic Design graduate and winner of the New Blood Yellow Pencil award

Graduates from the Digital Interaction Design and Product Design also won the New Designers Best Stand Award.

Prizes for the awards include internships and cash awards. After winning the John Lewis Retail Award Rebecca McGill said, “‘I’m overwhelmed but so excited that a big company like John Lewis likes my work. I was looking forward to New Designers for ages and this is the icing on the cake!”

Professor Mike Press, Programme Director for Jewellery, Interior Environmental Design and Textile Design at DJCAD, said,“It is fantastic to see our class of 2014 already achieving great success at some of the major exhibitions for the UK’s brightest new talent. These showcases are hugely important in the design industry and it is great to see Dundee doing so well yet again.”

Roddy Isles
Head of Press
TEL: 01382 384910
MOBILE: 07800 581902
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk