CSD-managed bursary given after five years

The first 5000 Anice Alexander Award for a woman industrial designer has finally been presented by the Chartered Society of Designers. The award marks the end of a controversy which exploded in 1994.

Alexander, an Edinburgh-based design promoter and journalist, died in 1991, leaving 74 000 to set up an annual bursary for women designers, to be administered by the CSD. This money was subsequently borrowed by the society to bolster its flagging finances, to the dismay of Alexander’s trustees and family (DW 17 June 1994).

The bursary was eventually announced in 1995, with the intention of assisting women to further their studies or training in product design.

Its first winner is Lucy Poole, an industrial design student at the University of Wolverhampton, for her project on seating for young adults with arthritis.

The judging panel chose Poole from 28 entries. Poole’s case study includes a prototype and a project on the design of medical-related products for use outside the clinical environment.

The panel was chaired by independent design management consultant Jane Priestman and Pentagram partner Kenneth Grange. The next bursary is due to be awarded in 1998.