Tanvi Ranjan (b.1995, India) is a textile artist whose practice emerges at the intersection of textiles, technology, craft, and contemporary design. Trained in knitwear design, she began her career in India’s knitwear manufacturing sector, working closely with industrial machines, jacquard programming, and production systems. These early industry experiences sparked her fascination with the dialogue between hand and machine, tradition and innovation. She later pursued a Master’s in Fine Art in the UK, where this inquiry evolved into a more expansive, research-driven practice that now informs her artistic and pedagogical work.

Tanvi has participated in solo and group shows across the UK and India, exhibiting textile-led installations, knitted artworks, and process-driven showcases. Her work has been featured in platforms that foreground material innovation, women-led craft ecosystems, and interdisciplinary design thinking. She has also engaged in pedagogical roles, contributing to workshops, community projects, and institutional programmes related to textile experimentation and creative processes.

In 2025, Tanvi co-founded Mechaniya, an art studio and training space that brings underrepresented women into textile technology. Through structured sessions on jacquard software, machine knitting, crochet, and hand embroidery, she nurtures new skills and fosters authorship within participants – many of whom had limited or no access to digital tools or creative opportunities. Mechaniya has since evolved into both a design practice and a social ecosystem, producing knitted jacquard artworks rooted in cultural heritage where machine precision and human touch meet.

Tanvi continues to develop new bodies of work that expand the expressive potential of knitted textiles while advocating for more inclusive, technologically empowered craft futures.

“My artistic practice is rooted in Mechaniya, the studio I co-founded as a space where textile innovation, feminine agency, and machine-led craftsmanship come together. While my work grows from my background in textile and jacquard design, Mechaniya has become the lens through which I create, think, and collaborate. It functions not only as a production studio but as an evolving ecosystem where women can engage with technology, authorship, and material storytelling on their own terms.” – Tanvi Ranjan, 2026

Tanvi’s relationship with Creative Youth first began in 2022 when she was selected as one of our Creative Talent Programme artists while completing her Master of Fine Arts at Kingston University. The CTP is a year-long programme supporting emerging artists through mentorship and professional development, and during her time with us Tanvi deepened her exploration of textile-making, digital information systems, and the relationship between humans and machines. As a CTP Artist, she presented work at both FUSE International and FUSEBOX, where she was among the first visual artists to exhibit following the venue’s launch in 2023.

As a Creative Youth Associate Artist, Tanvi will continue developing new bodies of work internationally while connecting with Creative Youth’s wider community locally and across the world. Through creative projects and cultural exchanges, we are excited to continue collaborating with Tanvi and supporting the next stage of her practice. Her commitment to making creative technology more accessible and championing inclusive approaches to craft strongly reflects Creative Youth’s values and vision for nurturing ambitious, socially engaged artists.

The Young Creatives panel brings together emerging creatives aged 16–30 from a wide range of backgrounds, disciplines and experiences to help shape and inform the future of Creative Youth.

As a member of the panel, you’ll have the opportunity to contribute ideas, feed into projects and events, connect with other young creatives, and play an active role in conversations around creativity, culture and the future of the arts.

Creative Youth has always been built around young people and their ideas. From FUSE International to FUSEBOX and our wider programmes, young voices are central to the organisation and the work we do.

We’re looking for people who are curious, engaged, collaborative and passionate about creativity in any form. You might already be making work, studying, starting out in the creative industries, or simply looking for a way to get more involved in arts and culture locally.

No formal experience is required, and we welcome applications from people across all creative disciplines and backgrounds.

Being part of the panel is a chance to:

• Meet and collaborate with other young creatives
• Gain insight into how arts organisations and festivals operate
• Contribute to projects, discussions and future ideas
• Develop confidence, networks and experience within the arts sector

If you’re interested in creativity, culture and helping shape what comes next, we’d love to hear from you.

Find out more and apply via our Live Opportunities page.

DEADLINE: MONDAY 1 JUNE 2026, 23:59. 

If shortlisted, applicants will be invited to attend an informal group workshop taking place in Kingston upon Thames on Tuesday 9 June from 17:30-19:30.

If you have any questions or require the application in a different format, or need assistance, please contact Archie at archie@creativeyouthcharity.org. We are happy to support you through the application process, including any access requirements you may have. 

We can’t wait to hear from you and look forward to receiving your application!

Our Co-Directors Archie O’Neill and Daniel Cartlidge spoke their journeys with Creative Youth over the past five years and how organisations can support young people at every stage of involvement.

Our Young Creative Thea Melton also spoke about youth leadership and the importance of giving genuine, meaningful roles to young people in supportive environments so they can thrive and make real change.

Really enjoyed meeting so many wonderful young creative people and organisations, hearing about the initiatives that have been part of Bradford 2025, and the thought-provoking keynote from Ned Glasier.

Many actions to take away and build on both within the cultural industries and beyond as we try to build a future that is better connected and where young people are empowered to make the changes they want to see.

It’s been a year of growth, collaboration, and resilience, made possible by our incredible community.

Like many in the charity and arts sectors, we’ve faced significant challenges this year. Yet these hurdles have only strengthened our commitment to ensuring young people have access to the arts—creating pathways to opportunity, connection, and transformation.

FUSEBOX: A Thriving Creative Hub

2024 marked a milestone for FUSEBOX, which has fast become the engine that drives our work. Across our recent Autumn and Festive Programmes, we were pleased to see an exciting mix of returning and new artists for performances, exhibitions, and events. We were also proud to receive two awards this year, including Charity of the Year at the Kingston Borough Business Awards! A huge thank you to Kingston Chamber of Commerce and Time & Leisure for this recognition.

To everyone who used FUSEBOX as a stage, workshop, or event space—you’ve made this space what it is today. We can’t wait to welcome you back in 2025. Find out more about what’s coming up next year here.

FUSE International 2024: A Summer to Remember

FUSE International 2024 was a huge success! With 793 participants, over 3,000 tickets sold, and 47 events across 6 venues, we brought Kingston alive with global creativity. We also launched RIVERFEST, generously supported by Kingston First, which brought the riverside to life with street art and performance. Thank you to the artists, volunteers, and audiences who helped make this another unforgettable year.

Crowdfunder Triumph: Thank You!

In September, your overwhelming generosity helped us raise over £15,000 through our crowdfunder campaign. With more than 150 supporters, each contribution fuels our mission. A big thank you to our partners and funders—Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, Kingston University, Kingston College, Kingston First, Canadian & Portland, Arts Council England, the Jectus Charitable Foundation, and many more—for their continued support.

If you would like to continue supporting our work, you can sign up to our newsletter here, or make a donation to Creative Youth via this link.

Celebrating Local Heritage with AMP Kingston

This year, we completed AMP Kingston, our largest project to date, celebrating Kingston’s rich heritage in art, music, and fashion from the 1960s to the 1990s. A heartfelt thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund and all those who helped bring this exciting project to life.

New Beginnings and Fond Farewells

We bid farewell to 16 talented Young Creatives who completed their second year with us. Their contributions to FUSEBOX and FUSE International have been invaluable, and we’re excited to welcome a new cohort in 2025, along with Creative Talent Programme artists Joshua Hester and Oscar Rodriguez, whose work will be showcased in FUSEBOX early next year.

Looking Ahead to 2025

As we head into 2025, we’re excited to launch our Spring Programme and begin planning for FUSE International 2025. With fresh opportunities and collaborations on the horizon, we can’t wait to see what’s next. Thank you to everyone who supported us this year—we couldn’t do it without you!

Dan & Archie

Jozoway is an Earth-based writer, book artist and Daoist design specialist. His work explores the idea of the book. Binding his practice through the movement of Parkour and the wisdom of ancient Daoists.

His reductive method and meditative approach push against the constraints of both the physical and poetic aspects of his materials, eliminating the concept of limitations within his work and granting him the freedom to analyse it boundlessly.

Using printed matter as a physical way of expression. Much of his success comes from his ability to express deep truths pulled from within, through writing and publication.

IG: @jozoway

Oscar Rodriguez (he/they) is a Salvadoran American poet and performance artist based in Kingston. Avid writer since childhood, his migration to London to study Creative Writing at Kingston University was a manifestation of resilience. Escaping from a doomsday group, their poetry reflects on trauma, religion, identity, and queerness.

With their debut Sampson Low pamphlet, MOLD, it follows the downward spiral of sexual addiction and its consequent ruin on the self. Fueling the descent through abstraction, constraint poetry and visual stimulation; there is no denial of degeneracy. Laid between confessional and fictive, Mold is telling of a new wave of the sexual revolution.

His work is multimodal: from the written word to hypnotic visuals and distorted soundscapes. They use technology and software to abstract language to construct reality under a detailed eye. His art is reflective of their life experience, a unique voice telling of a life in the shadows to push conversations on class, philosophy, and the taboo. Pain is used as fuel to begin relatable discussions in poetic form.

IG: @bleedingautograph

To find out more about what these two are up to, feel free to follow the links to their social media channels and make sure to sign up to our mailing list to be the first to hear about all the exciting things coming up in the next few months.

Our Creative Talent Programme is generously funded by Arts Council England.

Our Community in Residence collaboration with WOM Collective is supported by Kingston Borough Council’s Community Resilience Fund.

You can support both Creative Youth and WOM in celebration of International Women’s Day by attending our upcoming events!

WOM X FUSEBOX inspired.

Saturday 16 March @ FUSEBOX (18:00 – 21:00)

Queen’s of the Wall 

02.02.2024 – Rapid Change

Programmed by our Young Creative, Maxi Himpe, the event introduced conversations surrounding sexuality and identity.

Oscar Rodriguez, a Salvadoran American poet and performance artist based in Kingston, stunned us with MOLD: Live Hypnosis, a piece that showcased the meaning of hypersexuality through a queer lens. In parallel, Crusty, a gender-bending performer, brought a lot of laughter and reflection with their satirical performance piece about the trans healthcare system in the UK. Next, Scarlett Stitt & Amitai Landau-Pope, a theatre-driven collab, captivated us with a unique monologue from the perspective of a box of Celebrations. And lastly, Jayran Lear, a Middle-Eastern thespian based in Manchester, enchanted us with her optimistic tale told through short stories, poetry, and mystic dance.

09.02.2024 – Liberation

“Liberation”, programmed by our Young Creative and Creative Talent Programme artist, Tanvi Ranjan, drew a focus on visual arts as a way of showcasing deep humane emotions based on personal backgrounds.

This event featured artworks from the graphic designer Takeo, who experiments with futuristic colors and contrasts used to impact viewers. We also got to see an ethereal illustration that aims to represent indigenous communities by the Fine Art undergraduate student Kitty Roberts. Moreover, Arisha, the singer-songwriter, performed a beautiful piece that explored queer and neurodiverse identity. Finally, the abstract expressionism painter who goes by the artistic name Ghost Flower, exhibited multiple vivid paintings made as a way of knocking out the stigma around mental illnesses.

16.02.2024 – Anti-Valentines

Despite its title, this Creative Sparks was all about celebrating love towards the experiences that shape us as individuals. This event was programmed by our Young Creative, Amy Lever.

Maria Telnikoff, writer, performer, and alternative comedian who embraces her experience of growing up with a trans female parent, dazzled us with her multi-layered powerful performance. As another wonderful performance, we heard Jas Nisic play and sing their original music, which seamlessly combines jazz and folk. As well as performative pieces, we also had visual artworks such as the paintings exhibited by the artist Charisa Francis, whom uses vibrant colors as an abstract medium to portray emotions. Similarly and ultimately, Natalia Bo enchanted us with her romantic paintings that reminiscent of her home and upbringing in Argentina.

23.02.2024 – Care & Healing

For our final Creative Sparks of February 2024, programmed by our Young Creative, Krati Doshi, we got to experience poetry in various unique ways, shapes, and forms.

First, the multidisciplinary artist and Fine Art student Puikeih Lam, mixed written words with prints and paint within each artwork as a way of exploring her psyche. In a similar manner, Jozoway, guided us to a metaphorical world through the concepts of books, by creating publications that represent a tangible form of expression. Moreover, the Italian freelancer and co-founder of the collective JunkJunkie, Lucia Martinez, shed light on the importance of hearing creative voices through her artistic way of storytelling, which often creates reflection about how we could improve as a society. And last but not least, Florence Grieve, the Bristol based artist, read a touching self-written piece in which she explores the urgency of inclusion for disabled people.