Arts Thread x WGSN & Coloro: Meet the creatives of tomorrow

The Global Creative Graduate Showcase 2024, a nonprofit organisation created by Arts Thread, announced their 2024 winners, judged by 225 highly esteemed judges across all categories, including WGSN and Coloro. In this blog, we showcase the art and story of some of the winning talent.

Introducing Arts Thread 

Arts Thread is the world's leading digital platform for emerging artists & designers and a launchpad for the next generation of creative talent. Arts Thread has built relationships with over 1000 creative institutions in approximately 140 countries and has partnered with leading brands, organisations, events, media to help launch the next generation of creative talent globally.

The Global Creative Graduate Showcase

 This is the 5th anniversary of the show which saw over 5000 students, graduating this academic year, enter their work. Over the last 5 years, hundreds of graduates have gained employment or launched their own brands thanks to this unique initiative - making it officially the world’s only online showcase of graduating artists & designers worldwide. All winners have their work showcased on both Arts Thread and Google Arts & Culture.

The winners have been rewarded with one year’s free subscription to the Arts Thread Foundry, a new initiative that helps the creator protect their intellectual property, trade and monetize their creativity using blockchain technology in a seamless and transparent way.  

Fashion / Accessories / Textiles

Eileen Claire Barry - Urban Flood Survival (Menswear)

“Currently there are 1.81 billion people at risk of being a victim of urban flooding. A population that currently has no means of protection or self-reliant survival methods. Since clothing is what we have with us each day – carrying what we need for an unexpected life-threatening situation is a solution to the dire problem of survival facing our global population.

“The concept of this collection is URBAN FLOOD SURVIVAL. I named the collection WILLIAM – a name that means to protect, to help and to aid. This collection is designed to not only protect but to give people the agency to help themselves and each other.”

Digital / Visual Communications / Film

Gosha Maslovskis - Hiding in Plain Type (Typography)

“Today, microplastics can be found in our food, drinks, and air. On average, people unknowingly consume nearly 250 grams of microplastics each year. Sometimes microplastics can be so small they are practically invisible to the naked eye.

“In order to help tackle this issue, we need to start raising awareness. Hiding in Plain type is a typographically led campaign that uses a Google variable typeface to highlight the widespread presence of microplastics in our day-to-day lives and uses poetry to help raise awareness.”

Product Design / Architecture / Interiors

Christopher Bellamy - Lucid Life (Material Innovation)

“Inspired by corals’ symbiotic relationship with microorganisms, a contemporary living material was developed that encapsulates bioluminescent micro-algae. The material lives for at least 6 months, emitting light in response to touch, and needing only sunlight in return. In collaboration with Polynesian artisans, traditional knowledge and science came together to co-create a series of artifacts which demonstrate how living materials can reconnect us to nature through intercultural and interspecies collaboration, and how biotechnology can move beyond the laboratory.

“A drum, a swimsuit, and a necklace were made; combining local materials and practices, with the living bioluminescent material. Like Polynesian traditional knowledge, which exists only in living memory, there is a risk that it may die. However this fragility allows it to adapt, react, and interact – which is what makes this temporal state of livingness so beautiful.”

Fine Art / Photography / Craft / Jewelry

Jingyao Wang - Lost in dreamland (Jewelry)

“When you sleep, do you dream of the sky, the universe, the stars… or perhaps that cherished funfair hidden deep within your childhood memories?

“Lost in Dreamland, inspired by Julia Wang's childhood memories of the funfair, which used to be our magical kingdom. Julia creates wearable art installations that transform elements into glamorous jewellery, evoking nostalgic dreams. Through interaction, the work guides adults to follow their inner potential consciousness into childhood dreams. Participants find treasures, relive memories and find innocence in the exploration. Star symbols stand for the theme of the funfair, which aim to add a dreamy nostalgia.”

Browse the rest of the graduate winners on the Arts Thread website.

The Global Creative Graduate Showcase will return in 2025 for students graduating in the year 2024-2025. Further details will be available early 2025.