Kingham Hill is celebrating the outstanding achievement of recent alumna Summer (Class of 2025), who has been named the winner of this year’s Furniture Makers Award for her exceptional A Level Product Design project.
The award is part of the New Furniture Makers Exhibition, an inspiring annual showcase organised by The Furniture Makers’ Company. The exhibition highlights the creativity and craftsmanship of young designer-makers from GCSE level through to recent graduates.
Summer’s ambitious project impressed judges with its breadth of design and engineering skills, as well as her distinctive creative vision. Her beautifully crafted bench, featuring an innovative rolling seat mechanism, drew particular praise.
Mrs Clarke, Head of Design Technology, commented: “The judges loved the concept of the rolling seat on Summer’s bench. She worked extremely hard on a complicated product that encompassed so many design and engineering skills. Summer is heading to Loughborough next year to study Product Design and I am sure she has a bright future ahead in this field.”
The celebration was shared by Kingham Hill alumnus and former Master of The Furniture Makers’ Company, Charles Vernon, who was delighted to witness Summer’s success at the London event.
“I love it when alternative worlds collide,” he said. “I was thrilled to meet Summer and to learn she had won the School Design Prize. Her work was excellent, and she is a huge credit to the school.”
Next year, Summer will begin her studies in Product Design at Loughborough University, and the entire Kingham Hill community looks forward to following what promises to be an exciting and successful future in the field.