For the second year running, I am delighted that Designed for Life was recorded live at New Designers in London in early July.

I know some listeners won't be familiar with New Designers (https://www.newdesigners.com/), so what is it, and why is it so important?

New Designers is the UK's leading annual graduate design exhibition, showcasing the work of over 2,500 emerging designers across disciplines like product design, textiles, graphics, and contemporary crafts. Held in London every summer, it's a chance for newly graduated students to showcase their work, meet other students, and hopefully meet industry professionals who can help them enter the industry and sometimes assist with arranging interviews and work placements... It's a big deal!

This year, the quality of work demonstrated was, in my opinion, as varied across sectors and as high in quality as it has ever been (interestingly, that's not the opinion of some people online).

In this podcast, you'll hear a range of short conversations with students presenting at the show. I wandered the show, taking in all the presentations, and then went back to those that caught my eye, subjective, I know but hopefully I have managed to pick a pretty diverse group to talk to across materials and sectors.

Obviously, to gain full benefit from the pod, you also need to see the products described. We will put these on our website and add a link at the bottom of the show notes when it goes live.

Just two of the designers featured on this pod:

Freddie Bowhill
Fbowhilldesign. com

A purpose-built, fully inflatable rooftop tent for the weekend warrior to embrace the outdoors without the faff. Designed for the 17-year-old fresh from their test. The grandparents on kid duty. The full-time worker chasing two days out of seven. Structured weeks, narrow windows, every hour to count. Grab it from the closet, throw in the boot, pull over, pump it up, sleep anywhere. At 12kg and pitched in under two minutes on any roof bar, A-FRAME is the lightest, fastest, and most compact rooftop tent on the market. Built to be repaired. Built to CHASE THE FEELING.

Freja Malle Høyer

Instagram: frejamalle.embroidery .

Sit back and listen to Designed for Life, recorded live at New Designers 2026

To see some of the images mentioned on this podcast, visit Designed for Life - New Designers 2026 | D&T Association