North London Degree Show celebrates sheer breadth of student creativity, innovation and artistic talent

MDX students showcase their exciting final projects from fashion to interior design and fine art in week-long exhibition.

The North London Degree Show 2024 kicked off last week with a thrilling fashion show alongside vibrant displays of the final-year projects of Middlesex University students from a wide range of courses in the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries.

The Degree Show, which features exhibitions at the University until 13 June, gives the public a unique opportunity to see students’ innovative outputs that have culminated from years of hard work.

It opened last week with a special event that gave students an opportunity to present their projects in person to University staff, friends, family, and members of the public that included industry professionals looking to snap up the creative talent of the future.

Visitors were treated to a vast array of creative projects, from paintings, films and short animations to graphic design portfolios, 3D games, photography and interior design features.

A runway show wowed the audience with an eclectic mix of designs that included menswear, haute couture, knit, womenswear, streetwear and flowing silhouettes as external performers and students modelled 34 collections. Thrilling the audience, they moved around each other on a runway in the shape of a wrestling ring to represent the challenges and ultimate achievement of succeeding in the competitive fashion industry.

BA Fashion student Sosa Nnanna drew inspiration from gothic architecture and winter high tides in Venice where he grew up for his collection of waterproof menswear such as jackets and jerseys that are strikingly stylish while comfortable to wear. “The colour palette came from Venetian architecture with browns, dark blues and shades of yellow and grey,” he explained.

Michal Rzonca was inspired by traditional Polish folk dress as well as Serbian conceptual artist Marina Abramovich for his collection. Ambravovich used snakes in her art so Michal’s striking garments incorporated snake prints and had an icy appearance, with a fully draped hand-stitched white dress, a fully-printed body suit and dress, and a cone bra corset dress on show.

Awwal Adebayo’s three looks aimed to celebrate black culture and drew inspiration from individuals within the black community, such as the first black woman in space, Mae Jemison, and Don Cornelius who created the US variety show Soul Train. “With one of my looks, I tried to combine classic tailoring with the style of space suits: a suit jacket cinched at the waist with voluminous sleeves made of nylon,” said Awwal. “Another outfit had a curved lapel, evoking the movement and dance in Soul Train.”

BA Interior Design students exhibited their re-imagining of Oxford Street. Student Scarlett Williams designed a 24-hour event space and recording studio, while Akifah Choudhury was inspired by children’s publishing to create a six-floor community centre with a workspace for publishing employees, writing and reading spaces for children, a play area, and café.

“The show has been a great opportunity to display my work. I have learned so many valuable skills on my course, including how to create plans, produce high-quality drawings and create 3D models,” said Akifah.

Students on the BA Interior Architecture course showed visitors their detailed architectural interventions relating to a site in Coal Drops Yard, London. Projects ranged from Abeen Sami’s The Disrupted Town Hall, where public debate and protest were at the forefront of her project to Avery Tan’s Artisan Alchemy which offered tailored potions, handcrafted by its user, to help with mental wellness. The show also displayed work from MA Interiors students which features in the London Festival of Architecture this month and Barnet Council’s Climate Action Month.

BA Animation films on show demonstrated exceptional creativity with engaging stories, character development and talented illustration. They ranged from an animation about a DJ with autism by student Robyn Wisker-Stilling to ‘Family Picture’ by Josseth Mabuti about the frustration of a mother’s domestic life with drawings inspired by old-school 1950s animation.

Environment artists Alexandra Caisin and Rita Matias Pessoa from the BA 3D For Games and Film course created vivid fantasy landscapes in which video games can be played. “I thrive on creating breath-taking environments and props for games, and I’ve really enjoyed my degree, learning how to shape virtual clay into amazing dream worlds,” said Rita.

Skilled character artistry for games was also on display such as finely drawn zombie characters by Thanh Van Nguyen, while Faizan Cheema described working with six other students to make ‘Atlas’, a trailer for a project about a character alone on a spaceship.

“We worked on everything from concept, character and environment work to lighting and post-production,” said Faizan, whose ambition is to be a director of 3D games and films. “We had access to the fantastic studios and equipment here, and learned valuable skills to work in the industry.”

The impressive work of BA Photography students adorned the walls of an area of the University building housing the exhibitions. Student Bence Völgyi’s series of photographs entitled ‘Purposeful Living’ evoked rural scenes and were inspired by his youth in Hungary; models of hills and simple houses were juxtaposed with natural props such as real flowers.

Student Jericho Adiwarna’s final project features photographs of buildings that are layered and abstract to draw attention to striking shapes and patterns and change the way people see architecture. “My course has been amazing; it has really inspired me to continue in this field and all my tutors and peers have been very supportive,” he said.

The North London Degree Show 2024: Creative Landscape runs until 13 June. Book your place.

The Middlesex University fashion collections were premiered at renowned fashion film platform SHOWstudio. The film was made by graduating BA Fashion Communication students Amelia Mysiara and Rabia Chaudhary and edited by Elizabeth Donovan who is a 2017 BA Fashion Communication & Styling alumna who is a Video Editor at Burberry.

BA Interior Architecture student work will also be exhibited in the London Festival of Architecture at The People’s Museum Somers Town on 20-22 June.

Find out more about studying Art and Creative Industries courses at Middlesex University.