Italian scholarship for SA designer
by Amelia Mulcahy
While most students scrimp and save to travel to Europe for a holiday, UniSA student Brianna Hammond earned her trip another way.
The 20 year-old Bachelor of Design (Visual Communication) student has won a national award that will take her on a scholarship to Fabrica - the Benetton Group Communications Research Centre in Treviso, Italy. It is also the fifth time the prestigious award has been won by a UniSA Visual Communication Design student.
The award came after she entered a multimedia piece in the agIdeas design forum in Melbourne during May and took out this year’s NewStar award.
The Fabrica scholarship includes a visit to the facility for a two week trial period with the chance to receive a one-year scholarship.
Hammond will fly to Italy in January next year and plans to take full advantage of the experience to further develop her creative skills.
"They have some amazing teachers and workshops over there," she said of the research centre, which seeks out young designers from around the world.
"They get projects from Benetton and other companies in Italy and we work on them together.
"Fabrica is also recognised by design studios in Adelaide, so with this experience on my resume it should help me to get a better job."
Hammond entered her three best pieces in the multimedia section of the NewStar exhibition, but it was the piece supporting prostate cancer which really caught the judges’ eye.
"The judges really look for creativity and new ideas when they judge the competition," she said of her entry, which features photographs of bearded men in the campaign.
"The point behind it was Movember is over, but you can keep supporting prostate cancer because it’s now Decembeard."
Students in the School of Art, Architecture and Design are all encouraged to attend the agIdeas design forum, and the Program Director, Veronika Kelly, said most students in their final year of the Bachelor of Design enter the award.
"Students are encouraged from the beginning of their studies to factor in at least one attendance to the agIdeas International Design Forum during their studies at UniSA," she said.
"Of the six times in total that the Fabrica scholarship has been awarded, UniSA Visual Communication Design students have won five times."
As for Brianna Hammond, the whole experience was unexpected.
"I knew I was shortlisted before I went, but there were about 50 people on the list, so I didn’t think my chances were that great," she said.
"But it was pretty amazing - it all happened so quickly when they took me up on stage and announced the award."