Megan visits C.W. Sellors to collect World Skills ‘odd one out’

24 Jun 2019

Winner Megan Haile last week visited C.W. Sellor’s manufacturing centre in Ashbourne, Derbyshire who kindly manufactured her jewellery design as sponsors of the NAJ’s WorldSkills competition.

 

Image: Left to right Matthew Hatch, Rebecca Sellors, Megan Hailie and Paul Barker. 

Megan, attending the WorldSkills Exhibition from a Gloucestershire college produced a design which, as she put it ‘symbolised growing up as a bit of a tom boy’.

Megan, who’s worked in restaurants and eateries while attending college said,

“It took me about an hour to start drawing, but then as I got further into the design, I began to think about how they would want me to lay it out for making up.  I can’t start something without finishing it, so it did take me some time to get to a place where I was happy with the final design.

“My entry was called the odd one out and symbolised growing up as a bit of a tomboy, kicking a rugby ball about.

“This experience has taught me to want to try something else outside of food. I guess it’s like a lot of young people, we just need people to give us the opportunity. I have to say thank you to C.W. Sellors for making my design item come to life, it’s exactly as I imagined it.”

Image: Left final shots of Megan's 'Odd one out' item and right Megan's initial design.

NAJ Member C. W. Sellors has a number of retail units across a number of market towns, as well as a long history in designing and manufacturing their own Jewellery lines.

The design impressed NAJ’s WorldSkills judging panel that included Paul Barker, Workshop Manager at C.W. Sellors.

Speaking about the challenges in bringing the design to life, Paul said,

“The size was the challenge. The 3.5mm stone size was the key part and dictated the size of everything else to get the scale as it could only go as wide as the petal.

“With Jewellery there is often a meaning or story which is being brought to life, and Megan’s design is an example of our industry is able to capture imagination."

World Skills is an annual exhibition which aims to help young people discover new skills and opportunities that can broaden their horizons.

Image; Paul Barker talking Megan through the manufacuring process of her necklace. 

Becky Sellors head of jewellery design at the Derbyshire based Jeweller spoke about why they were so keen to be involved with the competition, she said

“We’re keen to inspire new people enter into the industry, and with World Skills being national it was a nice fit. We’ve done some local design competitions in the past and they have worked well but this was something bigger.

“In addition to inspiring the next generation of Jewellers, we also need to celebrate British design and British manufacture. This is something that is thriving in our own country and more we can shout about that and get it out the better.”

Image: more final shots of Megan's design.

Ends.

NAJ