‘A hell of a lot of talent’: meet the art and design graduates tipped as rising stars

Growing up in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, Ella Nartey didn’t know any artists or designers to look up to. Instead she was persuaded to go down the academic route, and gained a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Nottingham. She moved to London in 2020, working for an award-winning architectural practice, but knew she wanted to get into more conceptual design in interiors or set design. “I loved that the Royal College of Art would give me the freedom to explore and develop my own personal identity and style,” she says.

She began a one-year master’s in interior design in September 2022, while continuing to work part-time as an architectural assistant, receiving financial support as a recipient of a Burberry Design Scholarship, which made it possible for her to study. Last year she designed a zero-waste restaurant, developing a number of biomaterials using food waste and by-products, which won the Hyundai Inspiration prize for Sustainability and Creative Practice.

Prof Graeme Brooker, head of the interior design master’s programme, nominated Nartey as a rising star. “She’s a thinker who can process massive ideas and somehow assimilate them into her work,” he says. “Her work really symbolises the notion of reuse, taking existing buildings and existing materials and turning them into something new.

“My generation has effectively given Ella’s generation this problem to solve. It’s heartening to see how we think about our resources in the world starting to change.”

Nartey recently graduated from the RCA and is now working for an interior design studio that specialises in hospitality. She is hugely grateful for her time at the university: “I loved being surrounded by so many creative minds, and being encouraged to go outside my comfort zone as a designer to work out what my passion was.”

Ben Koppelman has a BA in natural sciences from Cambridge University, an MA in philosophy from King’s College London, and spent 10 years at the Royal Society advising the UK government and international organisations on science and engineering policies, regulation and diplomacy.

But “that creative itch” has always been there, he says. “When an opportunity came up to study information experience design (IED) at the RCA, I thought it was time to explore and give expression to that.”

Dr Danielle Barrios-O’Neill, head of the IED programme, says: “Ben was really unconventional as an art student. I was really interested in how he would approach the programme and he didn’t disappoint. What impresses me most about his work is how he balances and integrates elements that would normally be kept separate, like neuroscience and mysticism, for example. He draws knowledge from a lot of different places that people don’t normally imagine sitting easily together.”

That was particularly evident in Koppelman’s final year show where he built a sound shrine that promised visitors a psychedelic journey. “It was a piece about immanence and mystical experiences and storytelling,” he says. “I am fascinated by sound and find it really enchanting.” He enjoyed being able to collaborate with neuroscientists and psychiatrists studying consciousness to further explore his interest in auditory hallucinations.

Since leaving the RCA, Koppelman is writing a story he hopes to turn into a screenplay. He is part of London’s deep techno scene and has recently released his first album. And he’s the lead researcher for Kimatica Studio on transcendence research and performance design, exploring how performative art experiences can be designed to induce states of transcendence. “I feel flattered and grateful to be nominated by Danielle,” he says. “There’s a hell of a lot of talent at the RCA.”

Sinéad Travers, who studied for an MA in textiles at the RCA and graduated in 2021, always thought she’d go into a career in fashion. “From a young age I was always really interested in textiles. My mum knits, she does a lot of Aran knitting, so growing up we’ve always been quite creative.”

But when the English National Opera (ENO) contacted the RCA about an opportunity for one of its students, her plans changed. “It was for an Orpheus season. They needed someone who could dye and screenprint for a show they were doing.” She ended up freelancing for a year with ENO. “It was only through that that I realised there was this whole textile career in film, that I didn’t know about before.”

She now works as a textile artist helping create costumes for TV and film productions by dyeing fabrics and screen printing. She has worked on productions for HBO, Amazon Studios, Netflix and Warner Brothers, and on genres spanning sci fi to period drama.

Anne Toomey, head of the textiles MA, says the academic team was impressed with Travers’ work from the very start. “Where it stood out was in its unique fusion of colour, pattern, and texture, using natural fibres while pursuing an inventive and experimental approach.

“Sinéad’s passion for physical engagement with materials and ‘thinking through making’ was evidenced in her graduate exhibition work, which reflected upon her dual nationality and reconnection to her Irish heritage. The team is deeply proud of her success since graduating.”

Travers describes her job as being to “fulfil the vision of the designer, and make everything the right colour and right texture”. It might involve recreating period costume, researching prints from a particular era. “Some days I’ll be dyeing lengths of fabric for garments to be made, some days I’ll be dyeing the actual garment, sometimes I’ll be painting on to fabrics, sometimes it’ll be fabric manipulation, so it’s really quite varied.”

She adds: “There’s not many careers where you get to do what you love every day. Every day there’s something new and creative to work on.”

And she credits the RCA for helping her get into this career. “I wouldn’t be doing this if I hadn’t gone to the RCA and the opportunity hadn’t come up. I never knew this was even a career option.”

This article was originally published on theguardian.com as part of the Royal College of Art x Guardian Labs campaign.