Leeds Beckett design students bring interactive light installation to Leeds Art Gallery

Will Humphries and Spike Edwards, studying BA (Hons) Product Design within Leeds School of Arts, have created the SPILL installation to complement Lynette Yiadom-Boakye's To Improvise a Mountain. Their piece, which occupies the Leeds Art Gallery's ArtSpace, encourages visitors to explore themes of reflection and social connection through immersive light play and responsive furniture.

The students were winners of the university's Product Design Collaboration Award 2025 and have used the funds to produce the work. Will and Spike sought permission to do a joint project - something that hadn't been done before - and then created a pitch for a socially focused design and started reaching out to institutions around Leeds.

Will said: "The final place we approached and one we thought would be a definite no was Leeds Art Gallery. Surprisingly, they were interested in our pitch and what we had to offer. We then scheduled a meeting and were given access to a 'top secret' brief for the To Improvise a Mountain exhibition. We spent time digesting the themes and created a tailored proposal to present to the gallery."

Spike added: "After studying the brief, we identified key themes such as reflection, interiority, personal affinity and poetry. These themes were central to the To Improvise a Mountain exhibition, so we committed ourselves to exploring them thoroughly. This led us to learn a lot about how to facilitate introspection and encourage self-reflection through design. And since we are designers with a social focus, we also built a social seating area where people can rock and interact together, sparking fun, conversation and potentially deeper discussion about reflection and the wider exhibition."

For both students, seeing their work on public display has been an amazing feeling: "We've put so much hard work into creating this space, and we're both genuinely proud of the outcome. Seeing people interact with the installation, especially at the private viewing of Lynette's exhibition, was incredibly rewarding. We even had someone ask to buy one of the chairs, that was a real moment for us!"

Jo Hamill, Head of Subject for Art and Design within the Leeds School of Arts, said: "At Leeds Beckett we proudly champion creativity with a purpose. Our students tackle real-world problems, creating positive solutions for both our local and wider communities. Will and Spike's project brilliantly exemplifies our students' entrepreneurial spirit and their commitment to producing purposeful and empathetic work."

Their installation will remain open to the public until 5 October 2025.

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