Announcing the winners of the Dazed and Design District studio search

In January, Dazed announced that it was teaming up with The Design District to offer rent-free studio space to London-based creatives. The flood gates were opened for a month, after which Dazed Founder Jefferson Hack, Arts & Culture Editor Ashleigh Kane, Dazed Studio Creative Lead on Special Projects Thomas Gorton, and representatives from The Design District, Greenwich Peninsula, worked their way through more than 650 submissions to pinpoint five applicants which they thought could bring creative dialogue to the spaces.

The creatives selected cover a spectrum of disciplines.

Designer Gareth Wrighton, who recently showed as part of Fashion East AW19’s womenswear line-up, has garnered attention over the past few years through his close – fantastical – collaborations with stylist Ibrahim Kamara and photographer Kristin Lee Moolman. Contra is a publication founded in 2015 by George Brodie and Ben Bohm-Duchen as a platform to host accessible conversations about conflict through visuals and art. VR artist Jocelyn Anquetil’s smart and satirical videos traverse dystopian worlds and probe questions about the female condition and its future. BBZ, the south London-founded collective is a key community for queer people of colour which hosts parties which offer safe spaces for expression, and, most recently, it launched the inaugural edition of the Alternative Graduate Show. Last but not least is Catty Tay (aka CattyT), the self-taught digital designer and founder of online platform Digi-Gal, who is spotlighting women in the male-dominated industry of tech.

“Given Dazed’s long history of supporting a broad range of artists and creatives, we felt it was important to fill the studios with a dynamic mix of people,” explains Kane. “We hope that each will bring a different set of perspectives and experiences, and ultimately, that those will be in conversation – maybe even collaboration – with one another.”

“Studio space is so hard to find in London that I hope this offers the artists a sense of freedom” – Thomas Gorton

The opportunity to have a studio without the price is extremely rare, especially in a city such as London. Gorton believes this will take the pressure off of the artists and allow room for experimentation. “I'm really excited about the potential growth for these artists, not just as individual artists but as a collaborative community. Studio space is so hard to find in London that I hope this offers the artists a sense of freedom, an ability to create work without freaking out about studio rent, and enables them to push their work forward.”

In terms of advice, he offers, “Spend every day there. Invite your friends. Hold workshops and exhibitions. The outdoor space is sick.”

The winners of the Design District Space x Dazed on Greenwich Peninsula will move in next month. Follow their stories on Dazed