New Creatives 2022: 15-17 July | re-Form: The Interior Educators Summer Show

A piece of artwork by Interior Educators.

We live through turbulent times.

The pandemic forced profound changes to working, teaching and study methods. The invasion of Ukraine presents the widest range of challenges, not least of which (apart from the loss of life) is the impact of population displacement, an interrupted education for hundreds of thousands of children and students, and questions over eventual rebuilding and the relationship between identity, heritage and place.

These are challenges which confront all of us. Interior Educators (IE) is the national subject association which represents well-established Interior Design, Interior Architecture and Spatial Design degree programmes in the UK and Ireland. Established and run by academics as a charity, IE and the students we teach are all affected by these geopolitical and environmental shifts. Add climate change and ongoing concerns with social justice and equality, we teach our students not only the art of design, but how to design for a changing and even dangerous world.

Last year we adopted the theme “re-define” for the summer show and awards system; this year, building on this theme, we explore the idea of “re-form”. Through this year’s awards system, parallel exhibition and talks programme, IE explores how design can help to form and reform society through addressing shared problems head on; we explore form itself, and how form (shape, appearance, practice, convention) can be deployed to offer answers to the difficult questions and challenges we all face.