On the 11th of June I visiting the 2008 Made in Brunel Graduate Exhibition at the Business Design Centre.  This is the 4th year that Brunel has branded there degree show in collaboration with HSBC.  As Brunel was one of my UCAS options, It was very interesting to see ‘what could of been’.

The work was presented to a very high level, if perhaps a little corporate.  The students showed a array of work with Industrial Designers showing alongside Multimedia Designers.  There was work from the pure industrial (a house hold bio-diesel factory) to a on-line Avatar system.  There were a couple of IA and Service  design gems tucked away too, along with a healthy dose of medical products.

Some of the best designs for myself were the group projects. These were designed with a group of students to create a range of products for a specific brand. I was a fan of James Greig and his guardian breathe, this product is a air quality monitor.  I’m not too sure about the brand alignment with the Guardian newspaper, but I love the model. 

Overall I was impressed mainly by the models, although there wasn’t that many innovative and new ideas. (and even some possible allegations of plagiarism…) .  I no doubt that all of these guys will get a job, and will fit nicely into a design consultancy. Although I don’t know how many will help strive to push new thinking and more creative products.

On another note I think the amount of students over 100 must be a scary size to undertake an industrial design course. I started to feel left out with a final year of 40, (which became 20).  I think the ID programs need to be smaller, and I have really enjoyed the chance to really get to know all members of my ID department.

I wish all Brunel Designers best of luck, and hope to work with some of you in the future. See you at New Designers!

While there I got to meet some other great Artists, including Tiffany, (Exhibiting a environment promise, which in turn plants a virtual tree, and changes a dynamic image) Mike, (eco – firefox plug-in) and Beatriz da Costa (GPS pidgin CO2 detectors.) and a whole bunch of other creative from Den Haag. I was pertically intresstead in Patrick Kruithof. work who is undertaking work looking at sustainable design though product experience.

The trip to “den haage” was my first time in the Netherlands, I got to spend one night in Amsterdam and two nights at the haggue.. I was surprised by the amount of art in the city, and it was great to see such a juxtapose of architecture.

I would recommend the city, (apart from the weather) Jump to see my view of the haague in Photos. I have uploaded all my pics to Flickr, and you can view the exhibition for the next month. It will be great too see what sort of interest is created from this show.

Signing off – Ben Arent – International Designer.

I shall be exhibiting the EnergyTree at an EcoAesthetics exhibition at a galley called <>TAG its based in the Neterlands and the exhibition will be running for 2 months.

I shall be going out on the 22nd for the opening ceremony. This shall be my first time exhibiting, and its great to start on an international stage.

Watch this space for lots of exciting updates.