WINNER
Elissa Brunato
Brunato is a multidisciplinary designer whose work often considers how technology and scientific developments can influence the future of human existence.
Graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2019 with a masters in material futures, Brunato has since forged forward with her own practice. Much of her focus has been exploring sustainable alternatives within the fashion industry.
Her 'Bio Iridescent Sequin' harnesses bio technologies to create a cellulose structure with shimmering qualities. As this was the starting point she is able to consider manufacturing processes and has made them in tiny moulds to reduce waste.
Meanwhile her 'Circular Economy Sock' concept considers how elastane and cotton fibres can be broken down at the end of a sock’s life before being upcycled and refabricated.
Then there’s her collaboration with the E5 Bakehouse, an investigation into leftover husks from baking, known as bran waste, which she is trying to repurpose as sustainable packaging.
The judges said: “Elissa’s work is innovative, relevant and beautifully executed to show design excellence in both study and thought process, and work that demonstrates rigour. The work is exciting, fresh and future-focused, and the convergence of new technologies and science in the area of materials and how these impact on human experiences is inspiring. This is a wonderful mixture of conceptual and explorative thinking, blending design, science and collaboration, and pushing the fashion industry to think differently and clean up its act. Elissa is definitely one to watch.”
Emily Sorrell
Sorrell is a graphic designer who graduated from Falmouth University in 2019 where she specialised in designing spaces and experiences in the heritage sector.
Living and working in Cornwall, Sorrell has also co-founded Doorstep, a community platform which connects creatives in Cornwall. The aims are boosting the local economy and creativity, and increasing graduate retention within Cornwall.
Since graduating, her 'Sonosynthesiser' project has been commissioned by the New Creatives scheme, supported by BBC Arts and other partners. It looks at new ways of immersing ourselves in, and identifying with archived audio, and demo’d with sounds taken from the BBC’s own open-source sound effects library.
The handheld 'Sonosynthesiser device', powered by a custom built app, taps into this archive and creates a virtual space where users can hunt for sounds around, them discovering echoes of worlds which may no longer even exist."
RISING
STAR
Rachael Presky
Freelance illustrator Rachael Presky initially graduated in biomedical sciences in 2012 before enrolling on a masters in graphic design in 2017 and finding her calling as an illustrator in 2018.
Now signed to the Bright Agency she has scored big commissions in the editorial industry with magazines including The Radio Times and The Big Issue alongside regular commissions for Breathe and Teen Breathe magazines.
She has also worked with Fizz Creations to produce 100 card illustrations for yoga and workout routines, which are now on sale.
Alice Kumagami
Kumagami was nominated by the design consultancy she now works for, Mr President, which wanted to employ her before she graduated, having wowed them during her work experience.
After graduating in graphic design from Southampton in 2018, she is now junior graphic designer with Mr President.
Kumagami’s achievements include post-production on a short documentary Kofi and Lartey, which she worked on before joining the consultancy and now placemarking work for The Crown Estates client on their work in the St James’s area in London.
For the 2019 London Fashion Week Men’s catwalk shows she designed a map which could be folded down into a pocket square by attendees.
Most recently she has, almost single-handedly, produced the Metro Bank’s first advertising campaign – 'People-People Banking'. The ads feature real staff and the messages were tailored to location and (where possible) time of day. The impact of the campaign has been immediate – with the Metro Bankʼs share price rising over 10% in the first seven days of the campaign.
Alice is the ultimate team player and unafraid to speak her mind amongst a team many years her senior – which is “brave and admirable”, according to the colleague who nominated her.
