University News Last updated 21 February 2017
A group of future designers from the School of Fashion and Textiles, have been presented with a collection of awards at this year’s January Furniture Show at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC), Birmingham.
To win these coveted awards, students from BA (Hons) Textile Design were tasked with interpreting two key trends – ‘Grace’ and ‘Punk’ identified by international industry experts Colour Hive. These trends were then brought to life over two show stopping room sets featuring textiles, lighting, wall and floor covering solutions.
Now in its ninth year, the Trends project is part of an ongoing partnership with Colour Hive, Tektura and Brintons. The 12-week project draws together the ideas of final year Textile Design students to interpret colours, textures and design; concluding with an inspiring exhibition supported by the January Furniture Show.
BA (Hons) Textile Design student Ella Downes, was awarded the Brintons Carpet Design Award for her “highly commercial” design, Grasses, which was produced into a carpet sample by Brintons Carpets.
Jessica Smith and Ellie Smales both received a ‘highly recommended’ certificate from Colour Hive for their interpretations of their work on the Punk and Grace trends respectively.
Ruth Pestell was awarded the overall winner by Colour Hive for the best interpretation for her sample work in response to the Grace trend.
Helen Johnston won the Colour Hive award for the best interpretation for her textile response to the Punk trend, and her design was also produced as a sample rug by Brintons.
The ‘Tektura Innovation Award 2017 for Wallcovering Design’, was presented to BA (Hons) Textile Design student Maneesha Paranagama, for her ‘Fragment’ embroidery design, which was voted overall winner by visitors to the Birmingham City University stand and was recognised as being ‘creative and inspiring’.
Read more about Maneesha’s award here.
Hannah Malein, Colour & Trend Consultant Managerat Colour Hive™ said;
The annual showcase of new student talent has launched a number of award-winning designers in previous years, including Hannah Lois Sangwin, shortlisted finalist for Textile Design at New Design Britain 2015 and Jasmine Gilhoolly, who is taking the fashion world by storm with her collection of leather handbags through her own brand J D’ Cruz.
