Students from The King’s School in Chester have been shortlisted to pitch their ideas for this year’s Design Ventura, run annually by the Design Museum.
The project challenges students to meet a real-life design brief, with mentoring from professional designers and staff at Deutsche Bank, which has supported Design Ventura for five years. The winning team, which will be announced in February, will see its product sold in the Design Museum shop, having been involved in all aspects of production, packaging, pricing and promotion.
Ten teams of students, aged 13-16, from schools all over the country, presented their product concepts around this year’s theme of Connect to a panel of judges led by Sebastian Conran at the Design Museum, on Monday, December 8. The work of all the teams will be showcased at the museum and the winning product will go into production and be launched in July. Profits from sales will go to the school’s chosen charity.
Sebastian Conran, trustee of the Design Museum and chair of judges, comments: “Design Ventura provides the opportunity for 13-16 year olds to respond to a dynamic real-design brief. That provides the excitement of an adult designer’s challenges. Students have creative freedom against a backdrop of practical and commercial realism as well as working in teams and pitching ideas. The Design Museum is a hub of activity – a real life scenario - which blends creative thinking, business awareness, culture and education. The satisfaction of seeing one’s own work being sold is so palpable.’
Sebastian Conran leads a panel of six judges that includes, Naomi Cleaver, interior designer and broadcaster; Angus Montgomery, editor of Design Week; Chris Ruse, director of capital markets and treasury solutions at Deutsche Bank; Jane Ni Dhulchaointigh, inventor and CEO of Sugru; and Sabeena Bagol, director of finance at the Design Museum.
