Waterford Crystal invites children to design unique piece

CHILDREN nationwide are being given a unique opportunity to prove they are a “glass act”.

Children aged between 12 and 14 are being invited to design a unique piece of Waterford Crystal that will be created by the company at their world-famous headquarters in Waterford.

The company has teamed up with Dr Sheila Donegan and Eoin Gill at Waterford Institute of Technology’s (WIT) Centre for Advancement of Learning of Maths, Science and Technology (CALMAST) to establish the Waterford Young Glass Designer Competition. There will also be an international dimension to the competition with strands running at schools in the United States and Italy.

Young people from across the three countries will interact online and share their experiences at www.calmast.ie while they’ll also visit the glass design and manufacturing sites in their area.

The winners of the US competition will have their piece created at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington, while the winning design in Italy will be brought to life at Scuola del Vetro Abate Zanetti in Murano, Venice.

The 2005 competition in Ireland was won by Siobhán Ní Mhuirithe, a young student from Meánscoil San Nioclas, An Rinn, Co Waterford, whose Northern Lights piece was unveiled during a reception at the Waterford Crystal Visitor Centre yesterday.

Inspired by the night sky in Finland, Siobhán’s piece was created under the watchful eye of Waterford Crystal design manager Martin Croke.

Northern Lights is now on display at the Waterford Crystal Visitor Centre while a replica has been presented to the young designer and her family.

Speaking at Waterford Crystal, WIT chairman Redmond O’Donoghue said the competition represented “an excellent example of industry and higher education working together - with the added dimension in this instance that children are centre stage”.

“I am well aware from my own career at Waterford Crystal that there is a tremendous amount of science, engineering and technology, as well as brilliant design and creativity, involved in creating world-class crystal.

Unveiling Siobhán Ní Mhuirithe’s Northern Lights piece, Waterford Crystal operations director Colin McGookin said the design managed to be both “brilliantly creative” and “terrifically simple”.

“The high standard of Siobhán’s design work on Northern Lights augurs well for the future of glass design in Ireland and the judging panel made a very wise call in selecting her as overall winner for the 2005 round of the competition.”