MakeIT! Furniture anmnounces its finalists

April 11, 2011 - PRLog -- Proskills and leading members of the Furniture Industry met in Nottingham on the 7th April to judge the entries and select the first ever finalists of the MakeIT! Furniture competition.

MakeIT! Furniture aims to educate young people about the opportunities that are available to them in the Furniture Industry.

This year, over 6,000 students from 120 schools across the country registered to take part in the MakeIT! Furniture programme. Following an initial selection from all the students workbook entered, the judges were tasked with choosing three finalists submission for each year group:
•   Year 9, three students were shortlisted from Arden School, James Allen’s Girls School and Weald of Kent Grammar School
•   Year 10, had two students from Arden School and one student from St Ambrose shortlisted.
•   Year 12,  saw one student from Keswick School and two students from Wheatley Park School selected as finalists

The three shortlisted finalists from each year group, together with their teachers and parents, will be invited to the National School of Furniture Summer Show in Oxford on the 13th June, where the winners of each category and the best wood design will be announced.

Paul Preston, Proskills Furniture Industry Lead, says: “Judging our new furniture awards which are part of MakeIT! has been a privilege.  It was so interesting to see such a varied mix of ideas, designs and models. Some entrants showed flare in their artistic interpretation whilst others showed a good understanding of functionality and build ability.”  

“Our judges – all employers from the industry were inspired by the design ideas – a great achievement in itself. We have a particularly exciting feature of the awards in this first year – the winning entry featuring solid wood parts will  be made by the National School of Furniture using a sustainably sourced oak tree as part of the Sylva Foundation project.  What a great way to show that ideas can be translated into reality.”

“The MakeIT! Furniture programme has been really popular with schools in its first year and I look forward to witnessing the growth of the programme next year.  Well done and thank you to all of the entrants and finalists.”

The oak that will be used to create the best wood design has been donated by Gabriel Hemery from the Sylva Foundation.  

Terry Watts, CEO of Proskills says: “We are really pleased with the entries this year, the students have shown great creativity and originality when producing the designs. We are looking forward to the awards event as this is the first schools competition just for the Furniture Industry, it is a real chance to showcase the future talent of the industry.”

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Proskills UK is the bridge between employers and Government on skills and training.
Employer-led by 9 key industries, Building Products, Coatings, Extractives, Furniture, Glass, Glazed Ceramics, Paper, Print and Wood industries which make a third of the UK manufacturing sector. Proskills UK helps to raise the profile and sets the skills standards and qualifications for the sector and ensures that the skills and funding delivers against the current and future needs of the industries.

MakeIT! Furniture aims to educate young people about the opportunities that are available to them in the exciting and dynamic Furniture industry. The project asks students to research and design a product, identifying the type of raw materials used and their origin, the production processes involved, and to show their understanding of environmental issues in the Furniture industry.