ACID IP essay success for Herman Miller’s Emily Dwyer

An alumnus of The Furniture Makers’ Company’s Young Professional Industry Experience (YPIE) has won an essay competition organised by intellectual property lobby group Anti Copying in Design (ACID).

Emily Dwyer, operations graduate at international office furniture manufacturer Herman Miller, was one of six young professionals to take part in this year’s YPIE programme. Launched in 2014 and sponsored by The January Furniture Show, the YPIE course brings together some of the best and brightest young talent in the furnishing industry to take part in an intensive three-week learning programme.

The group is given access to all areas of the furniture industry supply chain, learning about raw materials and components, the complexity of manufacturing, buying criteria, pricing, marketing and merchandising, through to consumer law, after sales and customer service and of course intellectual property.

Nineteen leading industry companies opened their doors in May and June 2016 to give the delegates an insight into their businesses, including: Anti Copying in Design (ACID), Axminster Tools & Machinery, Blum, Cabinet Maker, CD UK, Crofts & Assinder, DFS, Ercol, FIRA, Fishpools, The Furniture Ombudsman, Halstock, Howdens Joinery, Hypnos, KI-Rack Systems, Muirhead Leather, Not on the High Street, Panaz, and UBM.

During this year’s intellectual property session, Dids Macdonald OBE, CEO of ACID, set the six participants an essay competition, asking them to answer the question: ‘Why is IP important to my brand?’

Emily’s essay has since been judged as the best with Craig Thurston of Howdens Joinery coming second. Emily has won a bottle of champagne.

Emily Dwyer, operations graduate at Herman Miller, said: “Finding out that I had won the essay competition was such a surprise and a lovely way to conclude my Young Professionals Industry Experience. I now look forward to enjoying my prize and future work with The Furniture Makers’ Company.”

Dids Macdonald, OBE and CEO of ACID, said: “The essay clearly articulates the importance and understanding of why IP protection and awareness is critical to the Herman Miller brand. By protecting their designs globally, they can prevent design copying that would otherwise have a negative impact on their company. Ethics, compliance and respect for IP are clearly high on Herman Miller’s IP priorities as demonstrated by Emily’s excellent and winning essay on IP”