I was kindly asked to attend the private KLC graduation show last week. It was hosted at Design Centre Chelsea Harbour in celebration of a years’ worth of hard work. It brings back a lot of memories attending this kind of event, with it being 6 years since I myself graduated from Kingston University. I was really intrigued to see how studying Interior Design has developed and I was really curious and excited to see the student’s final projects.
KLC is a school of design and was founded on the three core values; innovation, creativity and integrity. They’ve been running for over thirty years now, helping people achieve their design goals, whether that’s Interior or Garden Design. With the studios being fantastically located in the Design Centre Chelsea Harbour the students are surrounded by well-established FF+E suppliers with their showrooms at the door step.
Over the last few years we have developed a good relationship with KLC School of Design, through working with their students on summer internships and freelance work. Rethink Interiors believe it’s vital that students gain some work experience in their time to help ease them into the professional working world of design. It gives them a great insight into how a project is run from the start to finish and the real life challenges they may encounter in a day to day role. Having interns in our office is also a great benefit to our team as we love to learn from the fresh open minded designers – it’s a win win situation!
Despite working with KLC School of Design for the past couple of years this was my first visit to their graduation show. It was a great opportunity to meet the final year students and get a good understanding of what they’ve learnt and enjoyed over their year of study. This show also gives the students the opportunity to engage with people on a personal level by talking through their final project which is an added extra. We enjoy this aspect and also the opportunity to meet people that could potentially fit into the ever expanding Rethink team.
The exhibition was spread over a couple of rooms, with some rooms hosting the first year students, garden design students and the final year interior students. I worked my way around ending with the final year students who were eagerly waiting beside their work. It was great to see the various ways they displayed their work whether it was through the innovative presentations or tactile mood boards. These aspects really do show how the final touches can make a lasting impression and help you stand out of the crowd. You may have an amazing concept but if it isn’t displayed in an inventive way then you quickly lose the viewers interest.
I really enjoyed seeing all the unique techniques of displaying mood boards, through using oversized paper clips holding work up to a moving 3D hand displaying the student’s business cards. I also got very drawn in by the way the fabric boards were displayed and the small details of the labelling.
Overall it was a very inspirational evening full of new and up and coming designers to keep an eye out for!
To find out more about studying at KLC visit their website www.klc.co.uk
