Sian Hughes and Rosie Velk win F Hinds and IJL design competition

Sian Hughes from Worcester won the Newly Established Designer category with her Folded Heart Collection and Rosie Velk from Letchworth won the Student Designer Category with her Fan Collection.

Hughes, who studied for a degree in Jewellery and Silversmithing at Birmingham’s School of Jewellery, has previously won awards and on this occassion, her Folded Heart Collection was inspired by a love of creating paper structures. Each heart is completed with a single diamond.

Velk, who took a vocational based Jewellery Manufacture NVQ at Holts Academy in Hatton Garden, was inspired by art deco design for her Fan Collection. She used polished yellow gold and an accent diamond to add glamour. “Winning the HSBD competition is just the step I needed to link my designs and knowledge with F Hinds’s commanding high street presence,” said Velk.

The F Hinds/IJL HSBD 2010/2011 was launched last year and assists two jewellery designers through the whole process from original concept and creating a design to be manufactured in volume, through packaging, promotion and launch to the sale of their finished jewellery pieces in F Hinds’s 110 stores across England and Wales and via its website.

The judging panel included Andrew Hinds, F Hinds director and gold buyer; Bob Morrish, RE Morrish jewellery manufacturer/IJL Exhibitor; jewellery designer Sarah Jordan and Sam Willoughby, IJL event co-director and a consumer representative.

“The objective of this competition was to open up the route to the high street, which can appear to be strewn with challenges or even a complete mystery,” said Andrew Hinds. “Our aspiration was to give the winners an in-depth experience of all the steps from sketch to the final sale. We have promoted the winning pieces in all our stores and online, and every piece sold is individually numbered. We also have plans to see how we can work with Rosie and Sian in the future”.

Hughes and Velk will be speaking at the HSBD seminar at IJL on Tuesday September 6 at 10.00am at IJL and the winning designs can be seen in the seating area within the Design Gallery.

Have your say

You must sign in to make a comment.