Latest news with #designcompetition
BBC News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Competition to design wrap for Herefordshire's Museum on the Move
A competition is being launched to design the wrap for a Museum on the pop-up programme will bring objects, displays and activities to schools, towns and villages in a van while Herefordshire Museum is shut for winner will receive a £200 prize and have their design seen across the county as the van tours Herefordshire later this Etheraads from Herefordshire council said the competition was a brilliant opportunity for local creativity to shine and he could not wait to take the winning design out on the road. The competition is now open and the closing date for entries is 27 July. Entry details, templates and guidance can be requested by emailing herefordmuseums@ Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Telegraph
29-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Exclusive: Interior Design Masters winner reveals new John Lewis collection
For John Cooper, the winner of this year's series of the BBC1 show Interior Design Masters, creating a homeware collection to be sold in John Lewis was very much not his normal day job. It was also a first for John Lewis: its design team had not previously worked with a designer who was simultaneously juggling a full-time job as a secondary-school teacher. Cooper, 46, who lives in Stockport with his wife and their two children, aged 11 and nine, teaches design and technology at Wilmslow High School in Cheshire. He had been a fan of the show since its first series in 2019: 'I was one of those people who sat there at home and said 'Oh no, why are you doing that?'' he says. One year my wife said, 'Why don't you just apply for it, if you think you can do better?'' He did, and the first time around he didn't make it onto the show; so he tried again, and this time made it into the final 10. The filming schedule was intense, with a challenge being filmed each weekend over an eight-week period, in a different location each time – ranging from a room in a youth hostel in the Lake District to a dog-friendly room at Battersea Dogs Home and a hospitality suite at Twickenham. The contestants would complete a challenge, then immediately be given the brief for the next one, and Cooper would spend the week coming up with a design and sourcing furnishings. 'I was working during the prep weeks,' he says, 'so I'd get home, start shopping and designing, put the kids to bed, then carry on designing and shopping. It was very fast, very intense'. The guest judges, who included Sophie Robinson and Mary Portas, gave advice which was invaluable for a designer starting out, as was the advice of head judge Michelle Ogundehin. 'They were all so kind,' says Cooper. 'On the very first challenge, Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowen came and gave us all individual feedback, and it was so thoughtful and considered. He said, 'I know we've seen lots of spaces that have a lot going on, but don't feel like you have to do that; it's enough to produce a really good-quality finish sometimes, and it can be a little more simple and understated.'' It was a somewhat unexpected nugget of advice, given Llewellyn-Bowen's own flamboyant style, but one that Cooper has brought to bear in his collection for John Lewis, which is executed in a palette of black, white and toffee brown that gives it a modern, youthful look, and something quite different from the brand's usual offering. The collection of 21 products includes furniture, bedding, towels, cushions, throws and lighting. Several existing John Lewis pieces have been reimagined in Cooper's style, which he describes as 'graphic bohemia', and mixes a pared-back palette with a variety of tactile textures. The Blocky chair – a customer favourite – has been upholstered in a nubby fabric with chunky, black-and-white stripes; the Elliott angled desk lamp has been recast in a smart three-tone combo of black, white and toffee; and the popular Mushroom portable lamp comes with a black base and a white shade. Others are entirely new designs that Cooper created with the help of the John Lewis team, such as an extra-large monochrome cotton quilt with toffee-coloured stitching, a geometric throw, several cushions and a set of two framed pieces of graphic 3D-effect wall art in black, off-white and beige. There's also a set of towels and bath mats in a dark palette of black and brown. The throws and cushions were the trickiest products to get right, says Cooper, and they went through several iterations and redesigns until he and the John Lewis team were happy with the finished product. 'I was obsessing over the details; I really wanted to get it right,' he says. His education in creating a collection included learning how to design a piece that could be produced quickly, using techniques such as embroidery and appliqué that could be done in the UK and Europe, rather than further afield. 'I've taught my students about lead times, but I've never had to deal with that myself,' he says. 'I think it's a really good thing for the students to see a teacher actually doing the thing that they teach.' Creating the two scented candles was also a learning experience: 'I had to be trained in how to smell things properly, which was really exciting.' As for what comes next, Cooper plans to throw himself into his design career full-time. 'I've taught for around 20 years, so this has been a little bit of self expression for me, and it's just ticked all the boxes,' he says. 'I've loved every minute of it.' Available online at John Lewis from Friday, May 30. Prices start from £8 for a tote bag, and go up to £499 for the armchair.
BBC News
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Winning children's Poole bench competition designs unveiled
Crabs, seagulls, ospreys and snails were among the inspiration for five schoolchildren who have seen their winning designs for park benches unveiled in a new benches were installed in Hamworthy Play Park in Poole, Dorset, after a design competition for children from Twin Sails Infant School and Hamworthy Park Junior new benches are part of a series of artworks, including sculptures and a mural, due to be installed across Hamworthy using funding from central Hill, executive head teacher for the Federation of Hamworthy Primary Schools, said it was an "incredible experience" for the students. "The enthusiasm and participation from our children across the whole Federation was truly inspiring," she said. More than 700 pupils took part in the competition. Five of the children's designs were chosen to be made into four benches by local of the winners, Theo, said his bench was made of "snails and the sunshine" while another, Casey-Jayne, said she wanted to design a bench featuring ospreys, her favourite wild winner Antosh said he was inspired by the seagulls while Raphael took his inspiration from the crabs he had seen in Hamworthy and Lauren said her idea came from the flowers in the park. 'Beauty and character' Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole Council's environment lead Andy Hadley said the benches were "a fantastic addition" to the said: "One of the many benefits of installing artwork in parks is that the experience is free for the whole community."Outdoor art adds beauty and character to our public spaces, making them more appealing and enjoyable for residents and visitors."Ms Hill said there were benefits for the students too."Seeing the children's winning competition entries brought to life as benches in our local park really does validate the children's work," she said."It was a joy to watch the children's smiles as they saw their creativity celebrated in a lasting and meaningful way." You can follow BBC Dorset on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'My Interior Design Masters exit was a car crash and soul-destroying'
Interior Design Masters contestant Victoria Scott told Yahoo UK about her "car crash" experience of being sent home from the BBC show. As a Scottish native, the designer admits it was a "sickner" being sent home at the English rugby grounds where she was tasked with designing a premium hospitality suite at Twickenham. Scott narrowly missed out on the quarter finals of Interior Design Masters, here she takes us behind the scenes. Is it a disaster? Is it car crash TV? Do you know, Alan Carr is always a total breath of fresh air when he comes in but see when he then starts picking holes in your design, you're like: "Alright!" I think my exit was car crash TV, 100%. I felt like I'd really put a lot of thought into the user and the actual client being Twickenham as well. Is it a disaster? Is it car crash TV?Victoria Scott Maybe I over analysed everything. I tried to learn from my mistakes in previous episodes as well, so printing the stripes rather than painting the stripes but it all went terribly wrong. Whatever could have gone wrong did go wrong. Seeing the striped paper was horrible. It was really horrible and seeing a real life scenario, if you stand back and it looks terrible then you find another way. You'll go get it reprinted or you think actually, no, let's scrap that idea. Let's go back to the old fashioned way of painting it. In real life, you'd have time to do that and money to buy paint but we had neither so we just had to go with it and find a way of getting that paper on the wall. You just have to keep going. You don't have time to stall and find other ways. Nobody had any money left. It was a tumbleweed of disaster. I thought I was being clever getting the stripes printed but then when I picked them up, they were purple instead of blue. The whole concept was based around this vintage England rugby shirt which had a beautiful dark blue with the white and red. I didn't want it to be all white and red — too in your face English rugby. So that's why I wanted to have the blue in there as well... And the blue was purple! So what I had to do before even getting to Twickenham was roll it all out in a massive floor space in the office and paint by hand because I didn't have any money to get them reprinted. It was actually soul destroying to be honest. It just took forever and I was crawling about the floor doing this. Then you want to make it not look patchy. Because these boxes are £6,000 to rent per event, you don't want it to look as if you've been crawling about the floor painting a bit of paper to put on the wall! That wasn't great. The whole mirror thing was a disaster. My carpenter was not loving life... He was frosty. Again, tried and tested in a previous episode, I thought it would be dead easy. No bother at all. See right at the end when there was a countdown to go and we're trying to get that bloody rose on the ceiling which I spent so much time doing. I thought it could have been a really lovely focal point and then it starts all falling off. And I'm like, "Oh man." I knew I was going home. I was confident in my design, the execution was horrible, but maybe the only thing that could have swayed Michelle [Ogundehin] ever so slightly was the fact that I'd really tried to dissect the brief and take on board what she'd actually asked for. So she'd asked for an informal lunch set up and I feel that I did that with the high height table. There wasn't a massive table set because I had no money. I wanted it to be functional as well. I feel like I'd really ticked a lot of boxes. So the thought process is there but the execution was not. Who is on Interior Design Masters 2025? (BBC) You don't see half of Interior Design Masters! There are a lot of emotions that happen behind the scenes that never make the final cut which is wonderful actually because nobody's there to see somebody breaking their heart. That's the two bits of information that my dad gave to me before starting. He says, "Whatever you do, do not cry and when you get excited about it, you get more high pitched and you talk quicker and quicker and quicker, so just keep calm." I never made stand out space, I do regret that. I had just the best time. Truly it was a once in a lifetime experience. I met so many wonderful, wonderful people. An experience that only a handful of people ever get the chance to to take part in. It was amazing. I was so distraught to get sent home when I did. I had so much left to prove. Being quite a patriotic Scottish person as well, it was a real sickner getting sent home at the English rugby ground. I know maybe I was a wee bit disadvantaged being Scottish designing for English rugby but you know what it doesn't matter who your client is. Ultimately last week your client was a dog. Victoria Scott spoke to Lily Waddell. Interior Design Masters is on at 8pm on BBC One on Wednesday instead of Thursday next week.
Arabian Business
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Arabian Business
Emaar announces new AED100,000 design competition for artists
Emaar has announced an open call for UAE residents to design a projection for the Burj Khalifa, with the winning entry receiving AED 100,000. The competition runs from May 6 to 26, 2025, offering creatives the opportunity to showcase their work on the world's tallest building. 'At Emaar, we believe that talent knows no boundaries. Burj Khalifa stands not only as a symbol of human achievement but also as a canvas for creativity and innovation — open to everyone with a talent to share. Through initiatives like this, we reaffirm our commitment to nurturing creativity and providing a platform where ideas can reach new heights. We are proud to open our doors to every dreamer, artist, and innovator, offering them the opportunity to contribute to our collective story of achievement,' Mohamed Alabbar, Founder of Emaar said. Emaar launches design competition for Burj Khalifa projection Participants must submit original projection videos and animations that reflect Dubai's culture and innovation. Each submission should be three minutes in duration and meet technical specifications available on the Burj Khalifa website. The winning design will be projected on the Burj Khalifa, providing global exposure for the creator. [email protected].
