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Reward for the designers with that enterprising touch
INNOVATIVE young designers who created products including a spice mill for people with disabilities and jewellery for blind people have triumphed in a Yorkshire university's enterprise competition.
Nathan Bestwick, 25, picked up the 5,000 top prize for his kitchenware in Sheffield Hallam University's Enterprise Challenge. His products include a spice mill that does not need to be gripped and which works when it is rubbed between the hands.
The product design graduate, based in Sheffield, won for his MILLME products and plans to use the money to develop prototypes and patent his idea.
Mr Bestwick said: "I wanted to design kitchen products that can be used by people with disabilities but don't lose any of their design values. They can be used by people who have problems gripping or twisting objects or those who suffer from arthritis."
Jessica Flinn, 22, was named runner-up and picked up 2,000 after designing jewellery embossed with braille. The South Korean-influenced pieces are designed to help blind and visually impaired people to match jewellery to their clothing.
Ms Flinn, a jewellery and metalwork graduate who is also based in Sheffield, said she would spend her winnings on photography and equipment.
"I think it will be great for visually impaired people to be able to identify the colour of a piece of jewellery so they can colour co-ordinate their wardrobe.
"They would be able to choose their jewellery not just by shape but also by colour to give them greater independence."
The seven finalists used the university's Enterprise Centre to help them set up the business.
Sheila Quairney, business and enterprise manager, said: "Our Enterprise Challenge competition is a great way of stimulating and supporting potential student and graduate businesses and has been the catalyst for many successful business start-ups."
All the finalists could be confident about their future prospects after doing well in a tough competition, she added.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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