Coringa Chair
Flàvia Silva

Design for our Future Selves Competition 2001

The 2001 competition once again challenged RCA MA students to embrace socially inclusive design and involve users in their projects. £5,000 in prize money was on offer, and every shortlisted entrant also received £75 towards development costs from the Centre.

Students were given four briefs to choose from - two addressing the socially invisible groups of older people and young disabled people, and two investigating the challenges of work-life balance and urban mobility.

Helen Hamlyn, Lord Snowdon
and winner Guy Robinson

A record 55 entries were received from nine RCA design departments. In all, eight projects won cash prizes and a further eight were highly commended. In addition, a special Helen Hamlyn Award, chosen personally by Helen Hamlyn, was awarded jointly to David Day and Michael Saunders.

Royal College of Art Rector, Professor Sir Christopher Frayling, commented: "The spread of work shows that young RCA designers are becoming socially inclusive in their thinking - and more determined to apply their creativity to the needs of people, whether older and disabled people, or young mothers with pushchairs, who can often be excluded from mainstream design."

The competition catalogue, featuring all 55 entries, can be downloaded from our publications page.