Central St. Martins Class Ring Competition with Eva London

It's that time of year again for degree-seekers everywhere: the eve of exams, the mad dash to the finish, the desperate crunch of time and brainpower. Trust me, halfway through my masters dissertation with a month left on the clock, I know. But there is always a light at the end of the academic tunnel, the glory of finishing and the subsequent acquisition of stuff in the form of gifts from well-wishing family or from your even weller-wishing self (which is usually the case for me) which follows thereafter. For many, this can mean a shiny new class ring...interesting baubles, no doubt, but somewhat disheartening for the fashion persnickity. Don't even get me started on the ring mania at my former brother school, where the hideous gems were aptly named "brass rats" due to the school's mascot, the beaver's front and center occupation of it. Oh yes, you could also open beers with them. Awesome, dude.

So yes, admittedly and without shame, when I wrapped up my bachelors two years ago, I forewent the bejewelled offerings of my Wellesley sisters and forced my parents to find me something a little less sore on the eyes from Tiffanys. So what if Wellesley's color was blue, I think pink sapphire sums up my time there well enough.

Well, leave it to the alma mater of the likes of Hussein Chalayan, John Galliano, Paul Smith and pretty much every major fashion designer born and bred in the UK to put the tradition of ugly American class rings to shame. Sophie Thomas has been announced as the winner of the Central Saint Martins and Eva London Jewellery Design competition, which was open to all students on the CSM jewellery course. Eva London, a London based jewellery and accessories label co-founded by my own uni chum, Corpuscle-turned-costumer, Anna Jewsbury, will produce and launch Sophie's line at the next LFW.

“We deliberately left the brief quite open to see how far the concept of a graduation ring could be taken and the students embraced this,” Anna explains. “There were beautiful variations on traditional style graduation rings, as well as contemporary designs with subtle references to the colleges and graduation they commemorate.” Bright Oxford thing that she is, Anna's company took the basic concept of a symbolic ring and collaborates with art colleges and universities to create graduation rings that then become part of the institution’s heritage, whilst at the same time promoting British design talent. Alongside the ring collections, Eva bring together pieces from cult labels such as Angel Jackson and Kenneth Jay Lane, as well as their own lines of restored vintage and handcrafted accessories.

Whoever said fashion and academia don't mix needs to sign up for a course at Eva London--the brass rat may be exterminated yet.

The Brief

To design a set of six commemorative rings, each representative of and inspired by one of the constituent colleges that make up the University of the Arts London.

Items to consider featuring in your design:
- College name
- Symbol or design representing or inspired by the college (e.g. architecture, subjects studied, symbol students and alumni of the college identify with)
- Year of founding of the college
- Year of graduation
- Year of founding of the university
- University of the Arts crest
- University name

The six designs will be judged based on the following criteria:
− Design
− Appeal to both men and women
− Originality and creativity
− Effective use of materials
− Wearability and universal appeal (without compromising creativity!)
− Feasibility - ability to be manufactured
− Marketability and affordability – ability to be sold at various price points (e.g. if appropriate the rings may be made in both silver and gold)
− Inspiration

The Designs and Designers

The Winner, Sophie Thomas, 2nd year

"I wasn't even going to come today as I really didn't think I would win. But my friends made me, so glad they did!"

"I wanted to create something simple that you could wear easily for a lifetime. The outer ring is silver and contains five holes drilled half way through the metal, representing the stars of the school's logo. The sixth, largest hole is drilled all the way through the metal and represents the wearer's college."

Runner-Up, Grace Cross, 2nd year

"I based my design on the shape of the Thames, and then I found out that the university's star logo actually represents the location of the colleges throughout London."

Second Runner-up, Amira Hatta, 2nd year

"It's the CMS' star logo, based on a map, which flips to reveal our school's crest."

The Judges

Nothing smacks more of univesity pride than a gathering of prestigious alumni, so who better to judge the talent of tomorrow than the talent of today. The panel included Eva London co-founder, Anna Jewsbury, Dolly Jones, of Vogue.com, Pearl Lowe, Colin McDowell and Maria Francesca Pepe. I was lucky enough to have a word with Mr. McDowell and Ms. Francesca Pepe.

Clothes Whisperer: One question, one question only: why did you vote for Sophie's design?

Colin McDowell: I voted for the winner because her design was modern yet classic...it will be in production for years and can easily be adapted to accommodate different stones. She demonstrated an aesthetic sophistication, by subtracting elements from the design rather than adding to it, which I thought was a very mature answer to the brief.

Clothes Whisperer: What were you looking for in the winner?

Maria Francesca Pepe: I was looking for a ring that could be wearable but yet conceptual, I think the concept is what makes something timeless. It needed to be easy to manufacture and not too expensive, as it is a student ring, wearability for both sexes is also key. Something that you can wear everyday but still can be a little precious thing representing your time at CSM...the value of it has to be in the meaning.

CW: Why did you vote for Sophie's design?

MFP: Because she was clever about it and being clever is really important because the market is not promising big things at the moment and you really need to find clever solutions to have something which is appealing but still wearable and cheap to manufacture. This is not an easy compromise to strike. And, to be, it was just my favorite...it was just effortless. Some of the other judges thought it was too simple, but i do believe that simplicity is what we need now and even if something could be complex in terms of manufacturing--a strong idea or very strong image, for example--but still it has to be simple. It can seem like contradiction but it's not; it has to stand out. Because it's a piece of jewllery, always something precious, always something that means something, it still has to be easy to wear and you have to be able to wear that jewellery despite your outfit and be able to feel comfortable with it all the time. That's what simplicity gives you, as I said, effortless, from both the design and buyers perspective, and that's exactly what Sophie did.

CW: From one jewellery designer to another, do you think Sophie has a bright future ahead of her?

MFP: Hopefully, you can't tell from one design because it could be a lucky one. Designing is a process and you really need experience to become aware of all the aspects of the job itself because its not only the creative part it's also the production part and the markting part and the promotion part, so winning this competition is definitely a good starting point for her. Because i do believe that her design was really effortless and this makes me beleive that she has the talent and the qualities to pursue a successful path.