Design-Nation has announced the launch of its second graduate mentoring cohort, five years after running a highly successful pilot scheme in 2020. The original programme, funded by The Radcliffe Trust, paired recent graduates with established designer-makers and led to significant progress in both creative and business development for participants. Many of those partnerships continued informally after the programme ended, fostering long-term peer support and collaboration.
Thanks to renewed support from The Radcliffe Trust, the mentoring scheme has now returned with eight experienced Professional Members stepping forward as mentors. Graduate applicants were invited to outline their ambitions and development goals for the coming year, in order to match them with mentors best suited to guide their next steps. Each mentee is passionate, committed, and eager to grow their emerging creative practice.
Among the new pairings is graduate artist and maker Joanne Lamb, who specialises in woven textiles and incorporates basketry techniques into her one-off artworks. Joanne will be mentored by renowned weaver Laura Thomas.
“As an early career maker, I have a strong vision for my practice, but navigating the path toward it, particularly in a challenging economic climate, can be difficult,” Joanne said. “Partnering with Laura, an artist whose work I deeply admire, I believe will motivate me to keep dreaming ambitiously while building the structure I need to reach my goals. Being part of the Design-Nation community has already been hugely encouraging, and I value this rare opportunity to receive focused guidance as I shape my career in the arts.”
Laura said she is equally enthusiastic about taking on the mentoring role.
“As someone who has greatly benefitted from coaching and mentoring to build and sustain my career in woven textiles, I relish the opportunity to ‘pay it forwards’, supporting new makers to build and progress their career in the creative industries,” she said. “I’ve greatly admired my mentee Joanne Lamb’s work from afar, and so I can’t wait to now build a mentoring relationship with her and provide support and guidance over the coming months.”
Design-Nation will be sharing updates from the mentoring partnerships over the next three months. The full list of mentor–mentee pairings is:
Rachel Stowe mentoring Ksenia Semirova
Jacky Oliver mentoring Claudette Forbes
Sarah-May Johnson mentoring Yiling Wu
Kate Bajic mentoring Emily Barnett
Hannah Lane mentoring Liz Blyth
Nicki Jarvis mentoring Jennie Kimbley
Helen Russell mentoring Laura Lee
Laura Thomas mentoring Joanne Lamb
