Brighton student designers reimagine sustainability at London graduate showcase

Showcasing work by Sustainable Design MA students at the School of Architecture Technology and Engineering, the exhibition explores how design can question, disrupt, and transform the systems shaping daily life. From responses to the climate crisis to advancing social justice and the futures of care, the showcase titled, ‘UNMAKE// REMAKE‘, brings the work of graduating sustainable designers to the London-based Broadworks by Hive Curates on Friday 25 September.

Among those exhibiting at the show is Koshe Salihy, whose final project uses design to show how to create sustainable change through rethinking material modelling and while ensuring cultural preservation. Drawing on her background in textile consultancy, Salihy created the Epistemic Narratives Matrix (ENM), an innovative framework which provides a new way of preserving history through co-created storytelling.

Koshe has developed her project into an e-book, applying the ENM framework to reimagine the meaning of an old image through the voices of Kurdish artists, poets, and writers.

Koshe said: “I’ve been interested in sustainable textiles and alternative materials for over a decade, but I wanted to take my work further, to understand how design can truly contribute to a sustainable future across the industries I care about. The Sustainable Design MA offered me the opportunity to do just that, and more, including this project where I weave sustainable design principles into the preservation of archival materials.”

Also exhibiting at the show is Chris Hamer, a first-year part-time Sustainable Design MA student, who uses his craft to examine the problematic themes of masculinity and its social impact. 

His hand-made pieces which include ‘Metal flowers’ designed for suicide prevention charity Samaritans, carved wooden knives, balanced stone-and-pen sculptures, address a wide array of social issues from male suicide and gender-based violence to dyslexia and incarceration.

Chris, who has also worked for nearly a decade as a University of Brighton technical demonstrator, chose the course to interrogate what society chooses to sustain.

He said: “I’m interested in exploring and challenging the concepts of what we are sustaining as a society, and I believe this course presents an excellent opportunity for that. The course is delivered in a roundtable format, which creates space for rich, thought-provoking discussions with people from a wide range of backgrounds.”

The week-long exhibition is the last installation of the 2025 University of Brighton Summer Shows and will open with a private view on Friday 26 September 2025 (5-9pm) and then run until Friday 3 October at Broadworks by Hive Curates, 57 Old Broad Street, EC2M 1RX. Visitors to the show can reserve tickets here.