Falmouth student named as New Designer of the Year

Judged from around 1700 new graduates from the top design courses across the UK, Lucy Foakes, BA(Hons) Contemporary Crafts from University College Falmouth (UCF) was awarded the prestigious accolade of Business Design Centre New Designer of the Year last week, winning £5500 worth of prizes.

Winning the New Designer of the Year Award for Part 1 of New Designers gives Lucy the highest accolade at the event. In addition she receives prize money of £2,000; £1000 worth of legal advice and services from specialist intellectual property lawyers, Briffa including a year's free membership to their DesignProtect insurance service; £2000 worth of invaluable accounting and taxation advice from creative industry accountancy experts Rhodes & Rhodes and a dedicated ½ day focus worth £500, on PR and marketing from leading design sector PR consultancy, Articulate Communication.

Designer Sophie Conran presented Lucy with her award, the top award of 11 sponsored by leading companies and organisations which recognise the value of design education and its contribution to the UK's thriving and commercially valuable creative industries.

The panel of judges included Julia Woodmansterne of Woodmansterne Cards; Vanessa Swann, CEO Cockpit Arts; ceramics artist Barnaby Barford and textile designer Victoria Richards; as well as jeweller Jo Hayes-Ward, herself a winner of the BDC New Designer of the Year Award in 2006.  They admired Lucy's ‘witty combination of ancient symbolism and iconic imagery brought together to create a collection of exciting, contemporary pieces inspired by Egyptian canopic jars.'

Of her success, Lucy said: "I must recommend New Designers to anyone in Designer art, it is an amazing opportunity to gain such incredible exposure and I am particularly thrilled as the award will raise the profile for my course because the tutors are fantastic."

Later this year Lucy intends to set up a workshop and open studio in Budleigh Salterton (Devon) entitled Artinthebarn and part of her prize monies will contribute to the studio costs as well as investment in a kiln and other makers materials.

For further information about BA(Hons) Contemporary Crafts at University College Falmouth, visit www.falmouth.ac.uk/contemporarycrafts, email admissions@falmouth.ac.uk or telephone Admissions on 01326 214356.

University College Falmouth is the only independent Higher Education institution in Cornwall with the powers to award degrees in its own name.  It has two campuses in Cornwall - at Woodlane in Falmouth and Tremough in Penryn (which it owns, and jointly manages with the University of Exeter) - and a third campus at Totnes in Devon, following its merger with Dartington College of Arts in 2008.

This merger created a new institution focusing on the expansion of Falmouth's expertise in Art, Design and Media and Dartington's expertise in Choreography, Music, Theatre, Art and Writing.  The Devon-based courses will relocate to a new, high-specification Performance Centre at Tremough in 2010, paving the way for a new specialist Arts University in Cornwall by 2013/2014 that will be unique to the South West.

The University College is a founding partner in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC), a unique initiative to promote regional economic regeneration through Higher Education, funded mainly by the European Union (Objective One and Convergence), the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall Council.

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For further information about University College Falmouth, please contact Jilly Easterby Dip CIPR MCIPR, Head of Public Affairs, Telephone: 01326 213792, or email:  jilly.easterby@falmouth.ac.uk

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