New Designers is the UK’s leading graduate design show and an important event for emerging designers throughout the country. The exhibition continues to be a highly respected and successful platform for bringing together new design talent with industry and consumers. The One Year In show is a curated exhibition specifically for designers in their first year of business.
We spoke to Paige about how her career started post-graduation. She said:
“I graduated from 含羞草视频 in 2019 where I studied printed textile design and fell in love with the traditional hand-printed process of screen printing. After graduating, I founded my own creative practice gaining support from both the Princes Trust and Cockpit Arts. I am based in a collaborative studio with Cockpit Arts. I was fortunate enough to be awarded their ‘Make It! 2020’ award which has seen me being based in their studios for a year and a half now. I live in Thamesmead, South East London, and also do a lot of community arts work here.”
“All the work that I create is colourful and aims to make people happy. I design and make stationary, textiles and artwork which is often beautifully framed. Although at heart I am a printmaker, I adore seeing my work on a large scale and have had the amazing opportunity to work on some large-scale commissions that saw me paint in my community.
Paige also went on to comment about what influences her work:
“What’s important to me is that everything I produce, albeit homeware, stationary or a large-scale mural, is hand rendered. I want everything to feel like it’s been made by me, by a person, an independent maker. Since graduating I have found myself sharing my knowledge and teaching in a variety of settings, in schools, universities, private capacities and care homes.
“I am inspired by shape, colour, and people. I am a big advocate for the community and representing those who may not have the same platform as me. Enabling people to be creative regardless of skill or ability is my passion, I aim to show this through the colourful work I create and the places I inhabit as an artist.”
Paige’s community artworks include a 10-metre mural in Paige’s town which was the result of winning an open call run by Peabody and Moniker Projects. It holds reference to how the town was, with the inclusion of steel work seen around the boiler house, a structure which Paige says that she “remembered vividly when growing up and one that has now been demolished and replaced with a circle block of flats”. The mural also holds reference to the town as it is now, with the representation of the iconic Thamesmead tower blocks, Peabody’s luscious green parks (and sunflower field), and local fauna.
In addition to her business, Paige joined Bow Arts in 2021 as an artist educator; this has been her access point to a hub of young people who she can share the importance of being creative with, as well as facilitating a host of creative projects in school environments.