Product Design student wins WPO WorldStar Student Award

BA (Hons) Product Design student, Holly Grounds, has been awarded a Certificate of Merit and the Gold Trophy at the WPO WorldStar Student Awards. This is the second awarding body that has recognised and celebrated her innovative food packaging design.

The WorldStar Student Awards is an international packaging design competition for students around the world, with entries open across packaging, structural design and graphic design. The prestigious awards are only open to students who have already won an acknowledged local award. Holly was one of ten Ravensbourne Product Design students who were recognised at the Student Starpack Awards in July 2019. Her ‘Steam Pods’ had been awarded the Gold and Graphic Packaging International Sponsor Award at the Starpack ceremony.

Holly designed an impressive food packaging system called ‘Steam Pods’ that could deliver perfectly steamed dumplings made in the microwave, whilst reducing the plastic usually associated with ready meals. Holly constructed a recyclable cardboard box that contains water in the base with the dumplings on a level on top. Steam from the hot water rises through holes, cooking the dumplings in a healthier way without any oil or fat. The packaging successfully combines the luxury of authentic dumplings at home with the convenience and speed of a traditional ready-made meal.

Nadine Bennett, Co-Course Leader for BA (Hons) Product Design added, ‘This is fantastic news. It's an amazing achievement for Holly to see her design succeed on the world stage. Holly has worked hard to create a sustainable design which will decrease our usage of single-use plastic; we are really pleased to see this quality of work recognised at the awards.’ 

Students from the Product Design course have achieved a number of successes recently, with third year student, Dariusz Kowalczyk, winning the UK Pro Carton Young Designers Award in late 2019. Three Ravensbourne students have already been recognised at the global Pro Carton awards so far. Find out more about our BA (Hons) Product Design course.