University News Last updated 03 March 2011
A student from the School of Jewellery at Birmingham City University is celebrating after winning a design competition organised by Birmingham-based precious metal casting and rapid-prototyping company, Weston Beamor.
The competition, which forms a compulsory element in the 2nd year of The School of Jewellery’s HND Course, asked each student to create a range of jewellery for men using Gemvision’s Matrix CAD software. They were also required to produce a computer generated advertisement to support their idea.
Judges awarded first prize to Owen Condon, which comprised £500 and one week of work experience with the company. The judges felt that Owen’s winning designs, which were based on car tyre tracks, demonstrated not only a particularly clever use of CAD - in that he created cutting tools to make track patterns on the rings – but also demonstrated great market awareness by producing a design which cuts down on the overall metal required to make the product.
Two other students Natalie Baxter and Cherry Wu were voted runners up in the competition. Natalie who was 2nd receives £250 and Cherry who was 3rd £100, both of them, like Owen, will be given the opportunity to develop their designs further during a week of valuable work experience at Weston Beamor.
Weston Beamor Company chairman, Patrick Fuller, said: “Ensuring a stream of new talent is essential for the health of the jewellery industry and Weston Beamor sees education as one of its top priorities. This competition undoubtedly assists the students at The School of Jewellery at Birmingham City University in gaining a far clearer understanding of the commercial realities of jewellery production.”