Jewellery students collaborate with Boodles for Fine Tuned competition
- Written byS Cheevers
- Published date 04 June 2025
Share story
BA (Hons) Fashion Jewellery’s annual competition, ‘Fine Tuned’ was held this year in partnership with Boodles Fine Jewellery.
Lavinia West, Designer at Boodles, invited 30 LCF students to design a suite of refined jewellery, and produce one fully realised piece as an extension of their final major project, using the techniques and refined aesthetics of high jewellery.
Students had the opportunity to present their designs and pieces to Claire Fozard, Head of Studio at Boodles, along with Naomi Filmer, Course Leader for MA Fashion Artefact.
Both Claire and Naomi were highly impressed by the level of work, design concepts and craftsmanship presented by the students. Mingxuan Ma was selected as the overall winner, with 4 runners-up: Emily Siou, Yejin Lee, Ye Yuan, Charlotte Doggett.
We recently caught up with Mingxuan to hear more about the competition.
Tell us about your project and the inspiration behind your work.
My design was based on my final major project, which explores, and highlights overlooked urban details. Drawing inspiration from the arrow patterns found on road signs and combining them with mosaic-like structural elements, I developed an industrial and architectural collection consisting of earrings, a necklace, and a ring. For the final piece, I crafted an arrow-shaped earring in silver and presented the necklace and ring through high jewellery-style watercolour renderings. I designed a movable structure that allows the lower part of the arrow to sway with the wearer’s movement, adding a sense of playfulness and fluidity to the piece. The combination of this movable element with the highly polished silver surface creates a shimmering effect that evokes a slight sense of vertigo, symbolising the disorientation and sense of being lost often experienced in urban life.
How has your course helped you throughout the design process for this competition?
Firstly, through two years of exploration and practice, I have developed a deeper understanding of how to manipulate metal, which has allowed me to effectively utilise the properties of silver to express my concept and refine my design. Secondly, in this project, structure and connection were the main challenges, and the final realisation of the piece would not have been possible without the support of the technical team.
In what way did the competition provide you with the opportunity to develop new skills, capabilities and areas of knowledge?
I believe our course focuses primarily on fashion and design, so in most other projects, we are not required to achieve a perfect finish. Instead, the emphasis is placed on innovation and expression. However, creating a piece of high jewellery, from initial design to final finishing, was a significant experience. It helped us understand the workflow and standards of the industry we may enter after graduation. It also encouraged us to seriously consider aspects such as the wearability of matching pieces, the universality of the design, and effective cost control and material efficiency.
- Learn more about BA (Hons) Fashion Jewellery
- Read more LCF Stories