As a student of the BCU Design for Industry course I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to work with the prestigious Birmingham based company Charles Green who's range of wedding rings are stocked in some of Britain's top jewellery stores.

To launch the course with a bang Charles Green comissioned each student to create a wedding and engagement ring set for a customer "looking for a matching pair of rings that are stylish, contemporary and exciting". The rings were to be practical and designed to suit the customer's personality as a woman in her mid-thirties who works for a fashion magazine and knows what she likes.

I took the route of researching current fashions in glossy magazines homing in on the most popular trend of the time - power dressing. This trend of high fashion, sharp office wear suited the customer's career and lead me to look to the architecture of skyscrapers and city office buildings to inspire the shape of my rings.

This methodical process of research and design paid off as a pannel of judges including Tom Green, chairman of Charles Green awarded me third place and accepted my design into the company's range.

Other winners were Rachael Briggs 1st Prize, Sinade Prosser 2nd Prize and Kirsty Davies joint 3rd Prize. Highly commended designers Bronagh Mullan and Saima Hussain were also presented with awards at the champagne reception held in January 2009 at the School of Jewellery.