People / Isabel Alonso
Isabel Alonso is a Spanish designer based in London and a PhD candidate at the Royal College of Art, funded by LAHP. She uses design as a medium to explore cultural practices and ecological concerns, often through a collaborative, research-driven, and experimental approach. Her practice spans furniture, objects, and graphic art, yet she remains drawn to redefining these boundaries. She completed her MA in Design Products at the Royal College of Art in 2020 with a scholarship from “la Caixa” Foundation. She has since received several distinctions, including the Young Talents Home Design Award from Neo2 Magazine in 2025.
Italic
The Italic candleholder was born for Dry Cleaning, an exhibition curated by Max Radford Gallery with Clink Street Ceramics in London last year. Developing the idea in my hometown, Murcia (Spain), I chose to use standardised, locally available materials that could be machined on a conventional lathe in small batches – no extra processes, time, or cost – and easily transported. I looked at the raw stock from the local metal workshop, threaded rods from the hardware store, and candles from a homeware shop. From there, technical considerations (e.g. weight and stability) and aesthetic criteria carried the design forward. The cylinder dimensions remain close to the original stainless-steel bars, the threaded rod is an unaltered one-metre length, and the candles are ordinary tealights. These constraints minimised material use while leading to Italic’s defining feature: the rod allows a gentle sway, anchored by the heavy base. I see value in subtly owning limitations.