We've long believed in the importance of supporting emerging talent and the Design Museum clearly shares our sentiments. Today, the London institution announced the winners of its design competition, Design Ventura, which innovatively opens the floor to industrious 13-16 year olds, exposing them to the reality of working in design.
A partnership with Deutsche Bank, the three-year old enterprise allows participating young minds to experience the design process; from pitching ideas and working to a brief to solving complex problems pertaining to development and production along the way. While the experience can be considered a prize in itself, the top honour for the winning team is the chance to see its creation put into production and sold at the Design Museum's shop.
As with every year, teams' design proposals were vetted by a glittering panel of industry insiders. This year's winners, a group from Trinity School in Lewisham, London, impressed the likes of designers Anya Hindmarch, Sebastian Conran and Naomi Cleaver, along with our own top dog Tony Chambers, with a set of clever badges called 'Pics Pins'. The pins depict famous London landmarks in segments that can be playfully rearranged, much like the game Consequences. In addition to the pins being produced and stocked in the museum's shop, the winning team from Trinity School will receive a £1,000 bursary, with all profits from sales going to the charity of their choice: CATS (Cure and Treatment of Tay Sachs Disease).
Top honours were also given to a group from Essex's Brentwood School for winning the programme's online iteration, who devised a pair of cycling glove lights that enhanced cyclists' safety when they indicated a turn. Students from Walsall Academy also won an award for good communication with their interactive card game, Gesso, aimed at combating boredom while on a journey.
With all products winging their way into the Design Museum shop some time soon, the future for design is shining bright.
St Clove's and St Saviour's Grammar School were 'commended for sustainable design' for their 'Attyre' belt, made of recycled bike tyres
For Virtual Ventura, the online version of the programme, Essex's Brentwood School nabbed first prize with their pair of illuminated gloves, designed to improve safety for cyclists when indicating to turn
Judges included noted design luminaries such as as Sebastian Conran (left) and Anya Hindmarch (right)
'Journey Cardz' by Mill Hill Country High School are interlocking cards that can be arranged into a sculpture or mobile
Norbury Manor Business and Enterprise College for Girls entered a clever multiple-use bag that unfolds into a picnic blanket with a map highlighting parks in London
A new award category for good communication launched this year was judged by our own Editor-in-Chief Tony Chambers along with TESPro magazine's editor Michael Shaw. Walsall Academy won with 'Gesso', an interactive card game to combat boredom on long trips
ADDRESS
Design Museum
28 Shad Thames
London SE1 2YD
-
Studio Urquiola’s immersive Kvadrat textile forest is inspired by the Nordic landscapeDuring Chart 2025, Studio Urquiola and Danish designers Tableau team up to present a textile installation showcasing Kvadrat’s nature-inspired new collection
-
The new Plaud Note Pro deploys AI to transform the spoken word into searchable dataThe Note Pro promises full-on conversational AI, a pocketable device that can capture roundtable chats and correctly attribute speakers, thoughts and action points. Help or hindrance?
-
10 things not to miss at London Design Festival 2025We bring you the best new installations, exhibitions and products to launch at London Design Festival 2025 (13–21 September)
-
Lee Broom’s brutalist-inspired ‘Beacon’ will light up London as Big Ben strikes the hourSet to pulse through London Design Festival 2025 (13-22 September) and beyond, the British industrial designer’s sculptural light installation on the South Bank draws on its surroundings
-
Yuri Suzuki turns sound into architecture at Camden Arts ProjectsThe sound designer unveils ‘Utooto’, an interactive installation at London’s Camden Arts Projects (until 5 October 2025), in which visitors collaboratively build a sonic piece of architecture
-
Alex Tieghi-Walker unveils his plans for Brompton Design District 2025Ahead of London Design Festival 2025, we catch up with New York gallerist Alex Tieghi-Walker about his appointment as curator of the Brompton Design District programme
-
‘The point was giving ordinary people access to bold taste’: how Ikea brought pattern into the home‘Ikea: Magical Patterns’ at Dovecot Gallery in Edinburgh tells the story of a brand that gave us not only furniture, but a new way of seeing our homes – as canvases for self-expression
-
Design beyond humans: a new exhibition argues that the world doesn’t revolve around us‘More Than Human’ at London's Design Museum (until 5 October 2025) asks what happens when design focuses on the perspectives and needs of other species, from bees to seaweed
-
‘100 Years, 60 Designers, 1 Future’: 1882 Ltd plate auction supports ceramic craftThe ceramics brand’s founder Emily Johnson asked 60 artists, designers, musicians and architects – from John Pawson to Robbie Williams – to design plates, which will be auctioned to fund the next generation of craftspeople
-
‘Disabled people have always been here’: a new V&A show centres on disability in designCurator Natalie Kane takes us through five key exhibits from the London show, where design points the way to a more inclusive society
-
Malta’s London Design Biennale installation ‘reclaims death as a moment of reflection, not fear’Wallpaper* speaks with Andrew Borg Wirth, curator of Malta's installation, ‘URNA’, which reimagines cremation rituals
