Forbes Eyes RISD Grads

Ten recent RISD graduates are included in Forbes’ 2016 30 Under 30 list of young artists and designers to watch. “Our 2016 list of 30 success stories under age 30 in the category of art and style spans fashion, fine art, photography, furniture and more,” writes Susan Adams.

Fashion design partners Mike Eckhaus 10 SC and Zoe Latta 10 TX of Eckhaus Latta (above) are cited for their “youthful, edgy and sexy” designs.

Brooklyn-based graphic-designer-turned-ceramist Natalie Herrera 09 GD, 29, founded High Gloss in 2013. She uses unconventional tools like a compass, an X-acto knife and a drafting triangle to alter her thrown pieces with geometric forms.

Twenty-eight-year-old jewelry designer Wing Yau 09 SC creates what Forbes describes as “light, airy twists on traditional pieces,” like this open ring featuring asymmetrical opals and tiny diamonds. Based in New York, her brand WWAKE is sold through high-end retail establishments around the world.

Oklahoma-born quilt designer Meg Callahan 11 FD (above) takes inspiration for her intricate geometric patterns from the “big skies of the American West.”

The four founding members of the Providence-based furniture design company Greycork (three of them RISD grads: Jonah Willcox-Healey 13 ID, Bruce Kim 13 FD and Alec Babala 14 ID) are noted for providing an alternative to IKEA, “producing simple, elegant furniture that can be assembled in minutes with no tools.” Their affordable living room set includes a sofa, chaise, coffee table, bookshelf and side table.

And industrial design partners Joseph Guerra 12 FD and Sina Sohrab 12 FD (both 25), who founded the studio Visibility in 2012, are called out for making “simple, functional products that [like this cedar-encased aluminum coat hanger] have been improved with small but important modifications.”