Chairman James is poster boy for careers campaign
HEATON Chapel teenager James Grainger has won a national competition to design an original poster to promote careers in the furniture industry.
Pupils from more than 1,500 secondary schools nationwide were invited to design a poster to hang in all 1,100 DFS stores nationwide.
The competition, run by the Furniture Makers’ Company, a charitable guild promoting the furniture industry, saw the winning entry go on an all expenses paid trip to the DFS advertising agency in Leeds to develop his idea and assist the firm’s senior design team develop the concept into a key piece of marketing.
James, 14, who is studying Design Technology as one of his 10 GCSEs at St Ambrose College and hopes to continue the subject at A Level, said: “The brief was to show just how many jobs are available in the furniture industry, demanding both practical and highly creative skills and I hope I got the message across of the great choice young people like me have when they leave full-time education.
“It took me two or three lessons to design and, although I took great care producing my design, I was still surprised when I won.
“I’d like to be a graphic designer or an engineer and definitely want to continue my design technology course.
“Visiting a top advertising agency will give me first hand experience of the sort of career I’d like to pursue.
“I enjoy working with my hands, love producing a finished product and get great satisfaction from completing a design project from start to finish, whether it is on the computer or using a lathe.”