GCSE pupil awarded the School Design Prize

Rahul Sahni, a student at St Mary’s College, was awarded the School Design Prize at a prize giving ceremony at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral on Monday 10 December.

Mark Ireland, head of design & technology at St. Mary’s College, chose Rahul’s GCSE design & technology project of a table lamp for the School Design Prize because of the impressive variety of techniques and materials utilised to create the piece.

 Mark said: “Rahul’s product was a small table lamp which was relatively understated compared to many of the other GCSE projects but what it did it did very well indeed. There were dovetails to join the main compartment for cables and connections, and even a storage slot for the relevant remote control. The base was an aluminium alloy sand casting, which added weight and lowered the centre of gravity of the lamp. The lamp shade was vacuum formed in acrylic, from a pattern wood turned on a lathe; brackets for which were produced from CAD drawings which were then laser cut.”

Rahul’s prize was sponsored by the Southern Fellowship of Woodworkers as part of The Furniture Makers’ Company’ national campaign of awarding promising design students in schools across the country.

Rahul said: “I’m delighted to have been presented with this award and would like to thank The Furniture Makers’ Company for awarding the prize and the Southern Fellowship of Woodworkers for sponsoring it. I’m really proud of this achievement and pleased that all my hard work in design & technology has paid off.”

If you would like to inspire more talented students like Rahul and help them kick start a career in the Furnishing industry, sponsor a School Design Prize today.

Go to http://bit.ly/SchoolDesignPrize2019 or alternatively call Laura Garnett, head of fundraising on 020 7562 8527 or email laura@furnituremakers.org.uk.