By Joe Jeffrey
Bangor University student takes home the gold at design awards for innovative lighting creation
A student from Bangor University has designed a new lighting concept for The Fifth Wheel Company.
Adam Edwards, a first year Bsc Product Design student, designed a collection of LED lighting units for the company and won the most commercially viable award from Bangor University at the university’s recent design degree show awards.
The project was part of an ongoing partnership between The Fifth Wheel Company and Bangor University, where the company have tasked students in developing new fixtures and fittings to enhance their product range, whilst also offering student placements throughout the year.
The first year project set to Adam and his fellow class members was to re-design the lighting within Fifth Wheel’s caravans, which could vary from interior mood lighting to exterior styling lights. There were lots of innovative ideas including entrance lighting that displayed the company’s logo on the ground by the door to decorative multipurpose bedside lighting which tilted to enable the light to be used as a reading light or background mood lighting.
Fifth Wheel’s design director, Gethin Whitely, said of the winning design: “The competition was very tough and there were many potential winners. Adam’s design was of a high quality and could be fitted directly into our production models; it stood out above the competition due its functionality, aesthetic appeal and the ease of manufacture. Overall it’s a great product as it combines excellent design and practicality.”
When asked what he enjoyed most about the project Adam said: “I enjoyed the freedom to create and to have the chance to create something that could actually be used in the caravan industry”. When pushed he admitted the hardest part of the project was in fact the electronics.
Of the partnership between The Fifth Wheel Company and Bangor University, managing director Adrian Parry-Jones said: “I’m really pleased with the outcome of the project from all the students and feel it is really beneficial to have a working partnership between local businesses and the university as proven by this assignment. I believe having a brief that gives clear direct link to the ‘real world’ focuses the individuals and clearly gives great results.”
Founded in 2002, The Fifth Wheel Company has gone on to win numerous accolades including The Caravan Club design award for five years in a row. By continuing to work with up-and-coming designers of tomorrow, we’re pretty sure the company’s success will continue.
We here at CaravanTimes congratulate Adam Edwards on creating such an innovative design and wish him every success for the future.
