RCA 2020 Award Winners

Theo Fennell are delighted to announce the winners of their annual RCA awards. The awards are now in their sixteenth year with prizes awarded to graduating students from the Jewellery and Metal MA programme.

This year was a first for the awards, which are traditionally held at the Royal College of Art. Due to the COVID 19 crisis the students were tasked with virtually presenting their designs to Theo – with each student given only a few minutes to talk him through their inspirations, years’ work and final piece.

The Winners

Overall Excellence: Gearry Suen

Best Work in Metal: Roxanne Simone

Roxanne Simone is a Black British Visual Artist working primarily within Contemporary Metalwork and Jewellery, her work focuses on the reimagining of the Black Diasporic Identity. With a wealth of global cross-cultural collaborations, Roxanne’s practice is at the beginning stages of reimagining craft, space and the future of Blackness within Contemporary Art.

Best Work in Jewellery: Lara Hirst

Her practice is concerned with the relationship between the Material and Immaterial, and although highly conceptual is realised through the crafting of objects. She addresses themes of a human nature and where subject or emphasis may vary, it is the trend of reduction that remains consistent throughout.

As well as a cash prize, the three winners will also receive a silver dish each crafted and engraved by hand in the Theo Fennell workshop. Notable past winners of the Theo Fennell x RCA Award include Ruth Tomlinson, Melanie Georgacopoulos and Jessica Pass.

”It was fascinating to view the work online rather than in the flesh but all the students had produced an incredibly polished presentation given the circumstances and talked about their work with great passion. It is a delight still to be able to award these prizes, despite the situation to the stars of tomorrow.. Jiarui, Roxanne and Lara are more than worthy winners and I hope the prizes are a help to them in these strange times.”

THEO FENNELL