West Elm taps Students

This being the kick off week of the London Design Festival/100% Design, we’re again kicking ourselves for not being there this year(next year for sure). One of the current highlights of any of the big european design shows is the feature of new work from young talent and students. It’s a tradition much more rooted in the european design profession than here in the states. Slowly though, we’re seeing signs of a shift. Companies are now looking to young designers and students as both a way to market new ideas as well as associate their brands with young talent. We’ve seen two good examples so far this year. The first was the Bernhardt stand at last spring’s ICFF.

We also noticed this weekend that west elm has launched a collaboration with the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia. The school has a well established architecture and furniture program. But in this case it was visual art students that were selected to contribute to a limited edition range of framed prints. They have a special wall set up in the stores and you can see and purchase the prints on their site.

Update: Over on fashion.psfk.com, Amanda Gore is covering London Fashion Week and will likely have some upcoming news from 100%Design; which is simultaneously going on. Check back to the site for new posts. See you there in London next year Amanda.