We have a finalist in a national furniture-making competition! Y9 Francesca McClymont has been shortlisted from over 6000 students for her design of a laminated plywood chair. She and her teachers will hear the winner announced when they go to the National School of Furniture Summer Show in Oxford on 13 June.

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 flair in their artistic interpretation; 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 from the Blenheim Estate as part of the Sylva Foundation project. What a great way to show that ideas can be translated into reality.”