We were delighted to be back in London recently at the highly anticipated New Designers show. After two long years, it was great to see everyone and their work at the Business Design Centre.
Over the years, AVA has worked closely with educational establishments worldwide to build close relationships. We continue to work hard at this, one of our core aims is to ‘bridge the gap’ between education and industry. We believe that students are the future of our industry and helping them get their foot through the door couldn’t be more vital.
This year, we sponsored an associate prize during week one of New Designers: AVA’s Print and Pattern designer of the year. We were looking for a designer who demonstrated a fresh and creative approach to design and whose collection combined a distinctive style with an understanding of commercial repeat, and creative use of color, texture, and scale.
We are thrilled to introduce our winner Lydia Zavos, Textiles Innovation and Design graduate from Loughborough University!
We managed to chat with her during the show…
How does it feel to be at New Designers?
Pretty exciting! There’s a lot going on and it’s a little bit overwhelming but really good overall!
I’ve had a great time so far.
Can you tell us a bit more about your collection?
It’s a printed design collection, based around brutalist architecture and the idea of permanence and longevity. I’ve been looking at concrete surfaces and the different surfaces which are on brutalist buildings, as well as the uncommon shapes and forms from those buildings. I then created a tactile collection from the primary images that I took. I’ve used quite a lot of different materials and different processes throughout.
What are some of the processes that you used?
I start off with original drawings just using pen and paper and I do lots of collage before I scan it all in. I then use Photoshop and InDesign to edit the scanned work, to make it a bit more fluid, before putting it into repeat. Some of the work is either digitally printed onto fabrics, or hand screen printed from the studios.
How do you feel having won the AVA CAD/CAM Print and pattern award?
It feels very special. I’m very, very excited to use the software and see what comes out of it!
We also asked a member of our judging panel to explain why we had chosen Lydia to be our award winner…
This year’s exhibition provided a wealth of brilliant and inspired artwork and left us in awe of all those young designers, that not only coped through the difficult times of covid but succeeded in finding their own creative expression. Of all the outstanding artworks there, Lydia Zavos’ innovative design approach to exploring brutalist architecture and shape in tactile and playful patterns fit for community spaces really stood out. Using various materials, weave textures, analogue, and digital print, Lydia managed to combine a wide range of mark-making with different textures and repeats. The unusual, bold patterns tie in different social spaces through the adoption of geometric shapes and surfaces from the architecture itself.
What a fantastically refreshing and relevant approach in the light of recent reminders as to how much we need social interaction in real life and how much our needs differ. It was brilliant to see such an unconventional design aesthetic still bearing commercial requirements in mind and creating interior design made to last. – Theresa Lingg, AVA CAD/CAM
Head over to Lydia’s Instagram to see more of her work!
We’re really looking forward to welcoming Lydia onto the AVA CAD/CAM online CST training course, and will be interviewing her again nearer the time, to further explore her design inspirations and career aspirations.