Three students from School of the Arts, English and Drama impressed judges with their inspiring designs in the first part of the awards, which recognises talented design graduates in the fields of Textiles and Fashion, Costume Design, Jewellery and Precious Metalwork and more.

Textiles student Grace Hancock won the Romo Award for Innovation in Design and Colour for her collection ‘Looking Both Ways’. Grace’s collection, which consists of textured materials, is inspired by international architecture following her placements abroad in Copenhagen and Sydney.  

3D Design graduate Claire Fowler was awarded the ‘New Designer of the Year Runner Up Award’ - one of the most coveted awards from the event.

Claire’s collection is based on hand-thrown practical ceramics. She created multi-functional homeware pieces which could be used in the kitchen and as part of a display. Claire described the win as ‘the pinnacle of her journey in ceramics so far’.

The final winner was Textiles student Sophie Thorne who won this year’s AVA CAD/CAM Award for her colourful “Midnight Congo” collection, inspired by David Attenborough’s Africa Series. Sophie’s interiors project offers a glimpse into the African jungle through digital prints and interior fabrics.

The second part of the awards focused on exceptional graduates in Graphic Design, Illustration, Product Design and Theatre Design subject areas.

Industrial Design and Technology Student Elspeth Macleod received the ‘New Designer of the Year Runner Up Award’ in this category for her final year project ‘Mella’, which incorporates a number of special features to make the process of beekeeping easy and enjoyable. The clever design allows owners to harvest their own honey and also has an innovative clear shell to shield owners from bees whilst providing a view into the hive.

The winner of this year’s Virgin Atlantic award was Product Design and Technology student George Moone. George developed ‘MyOrb’ - a fun, engaging training aid for upper limb amputees, after his nephew was born two years ago without an upper limb.

The product is designed to be used before and after acquiring a prosthetic limb to help amputees adapt to prosthetics more quickly. The device is activated when the user places their armband onto their residual limb. User’s movements are then detected by the armband which sends a wireless signal to an orb.

George said: “Virgin Atlantic is an amazing company that is really pushing the boundaries of technology so I can't think of a better company to win with.”

As part of the awards ceremony, winners were presented with cash prizes or work experience opportunities at top organisations. New Designers took place at the Business Design Centre in London between 29 June and 8 July 2016.