New Designers is the UK's most important exhibition for emerging design talent. This year the New Designer Awards programme featured environmentally conscious briefs and featured two winners from the Birmingham School of Architecture and Design, Emma Jones and Nina Naversnik.
While the coronavirus pandemic has stopped the exhibition from taking place, the virtual New Designers Awards were still presented on 19 September, with over 980 entries from applicants across the UK.
Emma Jones: BA (Hons) Product and Furniture Design
Title of work: Bees, Trees and Factories. Winner in the MoJo Nation Games Award
Mojo nation invited the designers to create the toy industry’s next big kids’ action board game!
Emma explains “Bees, Trees, & Factories is a balancing game with an environmental twist. Utilising responsible materials throughout the balancing board, stacking pieces and colourful playing cards, this product demonstrates how environmental topics can be communicated through entertaining, engaging gameplay to be enjoyed by children and families in a sustainable way.”
The judges verdit: “A really cool mass-market dexterity game that also manages to have a very timely theme around sustainability. It practices what it preaches in the way that the materials for the game are put together and has a really nice graphic design layout to boot.”
As part of her prize Emma now gets to pitch her winning design to 10 games companies with the aim of getting it into production, plus she has also just started her MA in Product and Furniture Design here at BCU.
Nina Naversnik: BA (Hons) Product and Furniture Design
Title of work: Lucy. Winner in the Moo Design Identity Award
Moo wished to see a piece of work that stands out from the crowd, either in its unique design style, statement of intent or how it re-imagines a familiar category or theme.
Nina said ”It all started with an intriguing shape, reminiscent of an inquisitive being curiously leaning to one side. The more time I spent with this character, the more I learned about it. I named it Lucy because that’s what she was, a light.” Lucy’s steel frame can be recycled at the end of it’s life and the 3D printed sugar cane head is biodegradable.”
The judges verdict: “We absolutely loved the striking form factor of the lamp, the playful design approach, and the simplicity and delight in the storytelling. It was all perfectly balanced to create something truly memorable.”
Nina has just secured a job at Ikea as an Interior Designer, so is going on to great things and we look forward to inviting her back to one of our Alumni events to share her experiences with our current students.
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