A Bedford Girls’ School International Baccalaureate (IB) Visual Arts student has won an internship with a Luton-based professional Design Studio, after her work was curated alongside established designers at a recent exhibition celebrating the cultural richness of Bedfordshire.
Hosted by the University of Bedfordshire’s School of Art & Design, based at Alexon House in Luton, the Design Festival Luton and Beds 2016 celebrated a range of disciplines from across the county, ranging from Photography to Graphic Design.
In the lead up to the festival, local young people were invited to submit work that reflected how design could allow people to see the connections and differences that bind communities together.
Entering a digitally manipulated photographic print, Lower Sixth student Harriet Knights joined 14 other finalists, including her fellow classmate Mia Armstrong, in showcasing their submissions alongside local established designers, at the festival on Thursday 1st December.
Miss Nelson, IB Art teacher at BGS, said: “For both Harriet and Mia to be showcased alongside professional designers at such an early stage in their careers, really underlines the quality of their work."
Harriet’s design (pictured), which explored the concept of ‘how strangers from all walks of life can somehow be connected in a town like Bedford because of the River flowing through it’, was awarded First Prize.
For her efforts, Harriet won £500 and an internship at Guildford Street Press, a professional Design Studio run by the University of Bedfordshire, where she will have the opportunity to work on client briefs.
Miss Nelson added: “The opportunity Harriet has of working in a professional environment, under the pressures of tight deadlines, will help her broaden her skill set no end.”
