AA alumnus Adam Nathaniel Furman featured in Elle Decoration Magazine and BBC News alongside AA tutors Lara Lesmes and Fredrik Hellberg

The work of AA alumnus Adam Nathaniel Furman has been featured in Elle Decoration Magazine and on BBC News alongside the work of AA tutors Fredrik Hellberg and Lara Lesmes from 'The Civic Programme' (Diploma 2).

The BBC News piece highlights the growing popularity of exuberant and colourful designers, framing the AA’s Saturated Space research group, which Furman led alongside former AA tutors Fenella Collingridge and Antoni Malinowski, as a vital starting point for this global trend. Furman described the design ethic as being about ‘taking risks and having fun’, highlighting the way that maximalist design can reflect multiculturalism and amplify previously unheard aesthetic voices.

Hellberg and Lesmes, who lead design practice Space Popular, also discussed their work on the RIBA exhibition Freestyle, where their iconic carpet told the story of British architectural history in a rainbow of neon hues. Lesmes cemented the importance of the growth of maximalist design to contemporary identity, positing that 'a strong colour palette creates a strong expression and identity, and will be associated with an attitude and a time.'

In an interview with Elle, Furman expounded his maximalist design philosophy in the context of minimalist mainstream taste:

‘Current western dogma says that whiteness and emptiness helps the mind, but if there’s nothing around you, all you have is the tumultuous nature of what’s going on internally.’

He also spoke of the inspiration of the past as a part of his design process, and the joy of visiting the British Museum: ‘The classical language is this fantastic treasure trove of forms, myths, decorations, colours and buildings…The British Museum is a place of joy’ – I would disappear in there from a young age.’

Image: Space Popular's Freestyle Exhibition at the RIBA