A DESIGN student from Stow-on-the-Wold has come second in a national competition.

William Oughton, an Integrated Product Design student at Brunel University in London finished runner up in the annual Design Innovation in Plastics competition with the judges praising the multi-functional qualities of his design.

A cash prize and a placement with design consultancy PDD were awarded to William, which provides integrated design and innovation skills, working with organisations worldwide to develop novel products, services and business processes.

Named the Bulb Garden Furniture, William's design included a set of garden accessories which fit to any type of panel, wire or post built fences, and can be used as bird feeders, planters, bird houses or solar outdoor light.

William along with other finalists, were asked to come up with an innovative product, primarily from plastics, which could be used in a garden.

William said: “I think this project has been a good opportunity to look further into working with plastics in an industry context.

"The DIP brief showed the importance of focusing on design for manufacture when efficient processing and costing restrictions are considered.”

Commenting on William’s product, competition judge, Mike Stuart, a technical service engineer, formerly from Covestro, said: “William did everything a good engineer should in terms of costings, production processes, and material choice, and the fact he’d designed his product down to every last detail.

"There were four similar looking products in the set, but fulfilling different functions, and the fence attachment mechanism was innovative.”

All finalists are given placements with leading design or innovation companies.

The Design Innovation in Plastics Award is the longest running student plastics design competition in Europe, having been established in 1985.