Embroidery for postage stamps brings national RSA award
Huddersfield Textile Crafts student Michelle Edwards is one of this year's winners in the prestigious RSA national awards – the Royal Society of encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce Design Directions Awards 2005.
Michelle entered a competition to design a set of “forward-looking” postage stamps, where the judges were looking for a “fresh approach to stamp design that would appeal to new and younger audiences”.
The competition proved very popular with design students across the country and the RSA eventually received over 200 entries.
The 22-year-old, who specialises in embroidery, was eventually chosen as one of six finalists to attend an Oscars-style award ceremony in London. On the night, Michelle was one of the four to receive a prize for their work, and received the £2,500 travel prize with much acclaim from both the judges and distinguished guests in attendance.
Michelle, who has just graduated with first-class honours on the BA (Hon) Textiles Crafts, is now considering where she will go with her prize money.
“Winning the RSA Travel Award came as a complete shock, but I am delighted to see the use of craft being appreciated in a time when digital technology is so widely used and praised,” said Michelle, who comes from Runcorn in Cheshire.
“I haven’t fully decided where I want to go with my prize money, but I definitely want to further my research and textile knowledge. I have considered Thailand, but there’s a lot I’d like to see in Europe as well.
“This RSA project allowed my work to be seen in the real context I enjoy. For me, my work has always been about telling stories, often personal, sometimes real, sometimes fiction. Throughout my three years at Huddersfield, I have employed a very illustrative style, with a real passion for drawing. The brief, which was left very open, was to design a range of postage stamps with a particular campaign or concern in mind. I became inspired by my own grandmother’s story of being evacuated and separated from her parents during the Second World War, and the designs led from there.”
And currently...
Michelle went on to represent the University at the New Designers Graduate Exhibition in London with her major project, which was based on issues surrounding the retirement age of 65. The work explored ageing in a thought provoking and humorous way.
Michelle won the New Designers Textile Society Award with a prize of £1,000. The judges commented that “...the student is addressing a challenging issue with an original concept that is fresh and fun.”
Michelle was inundated with interest from a wide range of companies and is currently developing ideas for major fashion designer and luxury brand DKNY as well as the Crafts Council, and will be exhibiting her work at Top Shop in Oxford Street, London, for the whole of August.
View Michelle’s work
