Coming to Grand Designs Live London (for the third time) is an enthusiastic cohort of 20+ Green Grads. Founded in 2021 by design editor Barbara Chandler (known for her long-running pages in London’s the Evening Standard), Green Grads is a platform for recent graduates of UK Universities whose final projects have in some way addressed one or more of a wide range of eco-issues.
New for 2024 is a trail-blazing installation by Green Grads of revolutionary ideas for biodesign, the new over-arching trend. Here designers learn from nature, to work with its living organisms, embrace its systems, and or/to use natural resources for new biomaterials.
Stars here are carbon-guzzling algae, featured in a new paint that grows, “living furniture” and a stunning green building facade. Mycelium too play their part – grow a house albeit slowly. Biomaterials utilise potato peelings and more, and also featured are age-old resources such as plant dyes and native timbers. There is even a stool/table “designed by mealworms.” Yes, really. Creative use of waste is another fascinating feature, with a table made of 10,000 discarded chopsticks, and ceramics made of new waste materials. Also on show, a fully-functioning heating mat for refugees, which should be shortly available worldwide. Enthusiastically interactive are the girls at the Mending Hub, who will darn, stitch and make throughout the show. Just bring along your torn or holey garments, or remake an item from their stash of old clothes.
GREEN GRADS
Biodesign, the Mending Hub and Waste Materials in Green Living Live at Grand Designs Live
GREEN GRADS: because today's graduates are tomorrow's planet
Green Grads, now in its third year, was founded in 2021 by design editor Barbara Chandler, @sunnygran, known for her long-running pages in the London Evening Standard. Co-director and show orchestrator is Michael Czerwinski of Studio Tucktite, @tucktite, who is long experienced in events/fairs/media. They say: “Our vision is to fuel UK environmental action with new talent from UK Universities.” There are now 150 Green Grads listed on their website.
They come from a wide range of disciplines, from art to engineering, additionally including product and furniture design, materials innovation, animation, graphics, ceramics, glass, textiles, fashion, interior design and architecture.
Green Grads operate in many different ways. They might choose to tackle one or more of the following issues:
nurturing nature, inventing materials, designing to last, eliminating waste, restoring and repairing, recycling and “closing loops” for a more circular economy, capturing carbon, saving energy, fighting pollution, conserving resources, and/or rescuing species. www.greengrads.co.uk; @greengradsuk
Meet the GREEN GRADS
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Elizabeth Lee, along with fellow graduates Eden Harrison, Ori Blich, and Juan Ignacio Rion, has invented Carbon Cell, a fully compostable, non-toxic and carbon-negative replacement for expanded polyst ...
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Sam has cut and seasoned local coppice hazel, finding ways to use this irregular timber, and preserve its bark. “I wanted not only to use a very sustainable, affordable British wood, but to bring more ...
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Sean has developed an attractive, durable, mouldable material from UK-sourced organic waste streams which can be made into truly biodegradable objects. Now he is optimising his material to increase pr ...
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Dhruv’s project Decentralised Mycelium Housing has at its core mycelium blocks and enables low-skilled people in poorer countries to build themselves a house. Instructions are published “open source” ...
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Here is living furniture, a photo bioreactor harnessing photosynthesis and algae to purify air and grow food. “It’s essentially regenerative,” explains the designer, “exploiting the incredible propert ...
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“Sustainability and circularity are a constant in my work as I evolve my practice to support our planet’s growth rather than hinder it,” says Green Grad Jess, who calls her project Growing Home. She i ...
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Green Grad Sri Hollema’s timely invention is Mat Zero, a clever heating mat that’s placed directly on the ground. Here, working off a rechargeable battery (or hub) powered by solar panels, it gives sa ...
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Cyanoskin is a new kind of “green wall” - an innovative “living” exterior paint for mid- and high-rise buildings, available in a range of natural shades. Once applied, the photosynthetic paint grows a ...
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“Mealworms ate my table,” says Will Eliot, somewhat obliquely. But it’s true, though a bit involved. Mealworms host a unique bacteria that is able to digest polystyrene. Accordingly, Will injected sug ...
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Future Fossils are the ceramics Jean makes to raise awareness of threatened “red-list” British bird species. “As a keen birdwatcher, I have seen the decline in bird numbers first-hand, since I was a c ...
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Simon is a well-established and very popular Green Grads from 2021 who will be visiting to demonstrate his wonderful willow-weaving skills and sell his baskets, lampshades, furniture and woven animals ...
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Artist/sculptor Caroline has created an installation especially for Grand Design Live. It is called Grains and Chains: An Act of Measured Material. It asserts that sand is the second-most used resourc ...
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Trixi has created the alluring “living signage” of our central Biodesign feature, using clay and local plants such as moss. Indeed, it is biophilic design which underpins all of Trixi’s work. This is ...
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Preethi and her co-director Dhruv Shah are a designer-engineer duo with backgrounds in architecture, instrument and controls engineering who recently graduated together with an MA in Industrial Design ...
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“Photosynthesis is the biological alchemy that supports almost all life on earth, and it is the most promising ‘net-negative’ technology we know,” explains Lucia, a London-based multidisciplinary desi ...
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Hannah is a very new GREEN GRAD – in fact she is still at Chelsea College of Art finishing her degree in Product and Furniture Design. Her project is a reaction to the huge amount of materials importe ...
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Green Grads’ popular Mending Hub is coming to Grand Designs! Here Lucy and Lucienne will demo how darning and patching can make your clothes not only last longer but look more beautiful and personal. ...
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What or who is a food activist? Well, Green Grad ceramicist and illustrator Martha for one. She's promoting better food for us and the environment - and she's also out to cut waste. Martha’s pots have ...
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William Harris is an accomplished glass artist, having graduated from the California College of the Arts with a five year BFA in Glassmaking. He combs London for empty bottles, finding them on the str ...
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Simon is a practising Product Design teacher who completed his MA in his spare time. He devised StickBrick as a classroom exercise for design and technology students to raise awareness of waste and su ...
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Ceramics can be durable and last generations, but are typically made from finite natural resources, the extraction of which may damage the environment and communities. Circular Ceramics was Sara’s gra ...
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Rosy has invented ReCinder, a new material which is 100% recycled from discarded broken ceramics and waste ash diverted from landfill. This is a greener, waste-based alternative to industrially-proces ...
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Becky’s childhood garden imbued in her a lifelong passion for nature – particularly seasonal UK flowers. Now, endless drawings and paintings have become dramatic large-scale textiles, up to four metre ...
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Jacob, a young designer-maker with a studio in Peckham, laments the poor state of British woodlands – “only 7% are in ‘good ecological condition’ and we are importing timber because we grow so little. ...