Kelsey Ann Kasom

As an artist and designer, Kelsey Ann Kasom redefines how space is valued sculpturally. Her shapes, although are an extension of the body, always remain a part of the body, the inner body. Philosophically, her work is grounded in thoughtful symbolism through attention to detail. The process of materializing the complexity that exists within her is a mirrored reflection within her work. Instinctively, she does not create without her memories.

Kelsey was Detroit-born but raised in the countryside of Columbus, Michigan where she began anchoring on creativity as a form of expressionism. “I grew up surrounded by nature which has instinctively influenced my work today. Having been raised in a low-tech environment my hand intelligence became my primary source of understanding the world around me.” Kelsey explores the intimate relationship she shares with the metaphorical power of her material language. She gains endurance from exhausting material iterations by challenging the properties of what we know to then celebrate what something can become.

She attended Columbia College Chicago on scholarship due to her award-winning fine art portfolio from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Kelsey graduated with honors in 2016, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fashion Design with an award-winning thesis collection that was sponsored by Fashion Group International. Kelsey went on to showcase her work at the International Textile and Apparel Association Exhibition in Vancouver BC, Canada prior to working for Anna Sui and later Valentina Kova through back-to-back seasons in New York Fashion Week. In 2019, Kelsey moved to London to pursue a Graduate Diploma in Fashion at Central Saint Martins, and in 2020 she was accepted into the Royal College of Art for her Master of Art in Womenswear. Alongside her studies, she was selected to exhibit her work in Detroit Michigan’s Annual XLVIII Exhibition. During the past year, Kelsey has become a finalist for the British Library x British Fashion Council Competition, Westfield London’s Future Fashion Competition, and FASHIONCLASH Festival for New Fashion Narratives. Kelsey was featured in Grazia Magazine as part of Grazia X CSM: A New Age for Women in Fashion. She was introduced as part of the next generation of fearless designers who put the female experience at the heart of their work. Recently her work was published in WWD, S/ Magazine, System Magazine, 1 Granary: Reimagining Materiality, and The Dyslexian. Kelsey was identified as 1 of 5 designers and creators whose dyslexia gives them the ability to build, design, create and define the embodiment of the dyslexic aesthetic. Kelsey’s work was on display in Battersea South RCA 2022 Exhibition and featured in the British Fashion Council Graduate Preview.

Kelsey’s work was exhibited during neurodiversity month in San Francisco for the Dyslexic Dictionary hosted by Dyslexic Design Thinking at the Arion Press Gallery. Surrounding this event her work was published in 48hills, San Francisco Examiner, and Texintel. She was also selected to exhibit during Frieze London 2022 at Zari Gallery. Kelsey concluded the year by being shortlisted as part of the Arts Thread Global Design Graduate Show in collaboration with Gucci.

At the start of 2023, her work was selected to be exhibited at Vanner Gallery in Salisbury, England, and featured in Vogue Japan and Nasty Magazine. Kelsey was named one of the Top 50 Influential Neurodivergent Women of 2023 by Women Beyond The Box. Kelsey's work Fractal Thinking was exhibited at the Queens Botanic Gardens for the Creative Climate Awards hosted by the Human Impacts Institute where she was awarded for her creativity raising awareness and inspire climate action.