The national design and enterprise competition is in its tenth year, run by the Design Museum in London and Deutsche Bank and students had the challenge of designing a new product for the Design Museum shop for under £10. Students had to think carefully about the design of their product to fit with the range of products sold at the Design Museum, as well as who they would aim their product at and how their product could be a functional, everyday design that solves a problem and is something that people need and want.

This year a group of five Trinity students in Year 9 students in their first year of studying GCSE design and technology designed a sustainable roll-up bamboo pencil case, which was selected by the judges of the competition to be in the shortlisted Top 10 entries. The students’ design was focused on creating a more sustainable design with use of alternative materials, including bamboo, on trend with current issues around climate change and rethinking the way products are designed and made.

The students then attended a Pitching Day at Deutsche Bank headquarters in London on 9^th December to pitch their product to a panel of judges. The students produced a professional pitch and shared their design process with the judges as well as why they thought their design was a winning idea. The students received excellent feedback from the judges who liked the sustainability of the product and also thought that the product was well made and market ready. The team was congratulated on their achievement of getting this far in the competition, having beaten 16,000 students across the country who entered this year.

The students were also lucky to be able to be interviewed by BBC Radio Berkshire (a recording of their interview is linked below) to discuss their experience of taking part in the Design Ventura Competition this year. Mr Liam Anderson, Head of D&T at the school said, “This is a fantastic opportunity for students to work on a live brief that challenges them to think about real world problem solving and is an excellent experience for students to take part in a professional competition which develops so many design and enterprise skills which are so important for the next generation to have going into the workforce of the modern world”.

The students will now await to hear the final result at a Celebration Event in February, where the winner from the Top 10 entries will be announced.

Picture of the Design Ventura team at the Pitching Event at Deutsche Bank in London.

Photo credit – The Design Museum/Richard Heald.