Outdoor furniture manufacturer, Alexander Rose, has launched its student competition. All students currently studying BA, BSc and Postgraduate furniture and product design courses are invided to submit an entry through their college.
The brief is to design a single piece of outdoor furniture or furniture set that incorporates the Alexander Rose weave material onto aluminium tubular frames. Entries should be submitted via the Alexander Rose website by 28th February 2014.
Design submissions should include:
- Full concept designs or sketches and other notes explaining the rationale behind the design
- Technical construction drawings explaining how the design would be made
- An explanation of how the design would be packaged
Each design college is invited to submit the work of up to three students. Three final concept designs from all those submitted will then be chosen for display at the Chelsea Flower Show in May 2014, where the 1st (Gold), 2nd (Silver) and 3rd (Bronze) prize winners will be announced. The three shortlisted designs will be announced in the first week of April 2014.
The prizes
- Gold: The winning design will be manufactured in the Alexander Rose factory in The Philippines. The winner will also receive a five-year contract with Alexander Rose and a royalty fee payment on all sales of their design, as well as an all-expenses-paid trip to the factory in The Philippines to see their design put into production.
- Silver: The winner will receive an all-expenses-paid two-day trip to spoga+gafa in Cologne, Germany, where they will get the chance to research and learn more about the outdoor furniture industry.
- Bronze: The winner will be sent to Solex in Birmingham for two days, all expenses paid on a research trip to learn more about the industry.
The judges of the competition include Diarmuid Gavin, garden designer and Chelsea Flower Show Gold medallist; Borge Leth, MD at Alexander Rose; Alan Morley, head of design at Alexander Rose; and Jonathan Hindle FCSD from the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers.
