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Innovative designs by students from Â鶹´«Ã½ Leicester (Â鶹´«Ã½) have been given a national stamp of approval by leading craft companies.

Final-year Design Crafts students and have won multiple awards and significant prizes between them, ahead of exhibiting their work at New Designers next month, one of the UK’s biggest events connecting graduates with industry, employers, buyers and the media.

Art Deco-inspired design by Georgia

Georgia scooped three out of six possible prizes in The Worshipful Company of Pewterers awards for responding to the Roaring Twenties brief with an Art Deco-inspired espresso cup combining ceramics and pewter.

Her slip cast ceramic cup with intricate pewter shell casing and saucer earned her first prize in the student category, The City and Guild’s Learner Prize and The Neish Memorial Award, culminating to a total of £1,800.

The 22-year-old from Southampton said: “I’m really proud of my design, but I was shocked to win so many awards. It was encouraging to hear how excited the judges were about my work and that they’d like me to enter again next year.

“I’m so grateful for the prize money and will be investing it into my education and ceramics career.”

3D printed vessels by Georgia

Georgia’s impressive computer-aided renderings alone earned her the awards, but she was fortunate enough to make her design a reality once Covid-19 lockdown restrictions were lifted.

“The timings worked out perfectly as we were allowed back onto campus in time for me to make my design and show it to the judges during the virtual awards ceremony. I’m so thankful to my tutors and the amazing technicians who encouraged me and allowed me to flourish,” she said.

Having built her own ceramic 3D printer during lockdown, Georgia is keen to continue innovating her craft and will be embarking on a master’s in ceramics at Staffordshire University next.

Kelley's hallmark collection

Budding silversmith Isabella was recognised by the Goldsmiths’ Craft and Design Council with the Make Your Mark award, which encouraged applicants to design an item of jewellery, smallwork or silverware to promote, enhance and celebrate the London Hallmark.

Isabella entered the competition as a way to explore new software while working to a live brief. She impressed the judges with a collection of whiskey tumblers, olive plates and picks presented on a wooden tray and all carrying the hallmark design.

“The pandemic made me realise I needed to learn how to better represent my ideas in a digital format, so I wanted to try as many new techniques as I could. I never expected to actually win and it didn’t sink in for a week, but it’s amazing,” said the 22-year-old from West Yorkshire.

Her prize is an exclusive hallmarking package - comprising of a 10-year registration, punch and laser software to enable both methods of hallmarking - and mentoring sessions with designer makers.

She said: “The prizes are great, but just having the endorsement from Goldsmiths’ on my CV is a pretty huge prize in itself because of how prestigious the company is.”

A collection of Isabella’s vessels with leather sleeves are currently shortlisted in The Leathersellers’ Company awards, and earlier this year her work earned her a £2,500 silversmithing scholarship from the South Square Trust.

After graduating this summer, Isabella is embarking on a postgraduate residential at Bishopsland, an internationally-recognised educational trust.

“Â鶹´«Ã½ gave me the valuable opportunity and time to explore different disciplines from ceramics and woodwork to glass and metalwork, and now I’m excited to go on and develop the specialist skills I need as a silversmith,” she said.