News
Wednesday 6 June 2007
Life-changing ideas set for prestigious design final
Three Nottingham Trent University students have reached the final of a national competition after being challenged to design products to help disadvantaged people in the developing world. Product Design students Jonathan Calvert, Scott Hoggard and Nicole Drake will now take their ideas to the prestigious Audi Design Foundation’s Designs of Substance 2007 final in London on June 8.
The brief for this year’s competition was to create design solutions which would help people in the township of Mdantsane on the Eastern Cape of South Africa. It is estimated that Mdantsane is home to 600,000 black South Africans, who grapple daily with the challenges of poverty, unemployment, crime and rampant diseases like tuberculosis and AIDS.
The three Nottingham Trent University students, who were given just one week to respond to the design brief, will be competing against students from four other UK institutions in the final – Kingston University, University of Lincoln, Middlesex University and Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication. The finalists were selected after presenting their ideas to a panel of judges including designers, academics and a team from organisers, the Audi Design Foundation (ADF).
Jonathan Calvert (BA Hons Product Design) has looked at the problem with seating in the township’s schools, which are often stolen or vandalised. His response has been to create canvas covers for the seats’ frames which double up as bags in which pupils can carry equipment to and from school.
Scott Hoggard’s (BA Hons Product Design) idea is to create an energy-efficient clay oven which can be made using traditional building techniques; while Nicole Drake (BA Hons Furniture and Product Design) has used traditional craft techniques to design a washing device for clothes.
Judges will now need to select three overall winners who will get the chance to travel to Mdantsane to present their ideas to the community. On their return the winners will be encouraged to apply for an ADF grant in order to see their ideas developed.
Product Design and Furniture and Product Design Leader at Nottingham Trent University, James Dale, said: “This competition offers our students an excellent chance to design for users outside their usual range of experience. It is a challenge that really stretches the design abilities of our students and asks them to innovate without the luxury of fine material or expensive technologies.”
He added: “The project has had an excellent motivational effect on our students and promoted the idea that design has a much wider remit than simply the design of consumer goods or furniture. We’re all really looking forward to the final and to continuing our strong links with the Audi Design Foundation and the Designs of Substance competition.”
Nottingham Trent University has an excellent track record in Designs of Substance – Furniture and Product Design student Panos Vasiliou won the competition in 2005 after creating a ceramic purifying and cooling system which cleaned and cooled drinking water.
ENDS
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