It is that time of year again when we send out the Design Brief for the Heico Upholstery Design Competition and we are putting out the call for all design inspired upholstery students to enter this long running celebration of the upholsterers art.
The competition is open to students studying the 3 stage AMUSF Upholstery Course and challenges them to produce a scaled down chair that incorporates some of our upholstery products, such as decorative nails, buttons, brass castors and wooden & metal legs. The Design Brief is being sent out to all AMUSF Approved training centres now and gives a detailed explanation of all that is involved, including Heico providing £75.00 towards the cost of each chair that makes it through to the final round of judging. In brief the competition involves firstly entering an A3 mood board that provides us with the initial design concept of the student’s chair. From the mood boards we at Heico select a number of designs that we would like to see as finished chairs and these are judged by an independent judging panel to select a winner and 2 runners up.
The winning designs are showcased on our stand at the prestigious January Furniture Show at the NEC in Birmingham where we have an awards ceremony for all the winning students who receive certificates and career relevant prizes, including an air compressor and staple guns. Having the chairs at the NEC provides a great opportunity for both students and training centres to show off their work and capabilities and we always receive lots of positive feedback from visitors, including requests to buy the chairs.
The competition has been fully supported by the AMUSF since its inception way back in 2011 and in recent years the British Furniture Manufacturers Association (BFM) have also joined us in sponsoring an award given to the design that has the most potential to go into serial production.
We at Heico really believe the competition brings benefits to all the stakeholders involved with ourselves, the AMUSF, BFM, the training centres and of course the students all gaining a lot from entering. At the awards ceremony itself students and course leaders always tell us how much they really enjoyed entering the competition and that they gained a lot from the experience.
So, if you are an AMUSF Approved Training Centre or a student studying the 3 stage AMUSF Upholstery Course we want you to get involved.
For a copy of the Design Brief or to discuss entering contact our Competition Co-Ordinator, Stuart Elmy, on [email protected] or 01268 745421.
