LCF student wins prestigious award

by Sylvia Murphy

A London College of Fashion graduate has won the prestigious Ringstrassen-Galerein Designer award, and made it to Vienna to receive his prize despite the travel chaos causes by the volcanic ash cloud.

Juregen Bertsch was victorious after participating with both national and international designers, all of whom were all challenged to create cutting-edge designs under the theme of ‘Black And White'.

Due to the volcanic ash cloud, Juergen and his team arrived in Austria just in time, having travelled for over 17 hours by car and train.

'An adventure'

He said: "It was quite an adventure to go to Vienna! Nobody thought that we would be so affected by the circumstances in Iceland. But somehow we made it!

"We were in the van for 17 hours, but the driver did everything to make the journey as convenient as possible.

"The organisers of the event were so kind to send us a driver to bring us to the competition."

Bertsch’s collection ‘playground’ was the only menswear collection in the show and depicted how children lose their memories in a kaleidoscope of emotions when entering adulthood.

Great opportunity

Bertsch designs are mainly black with a focus on a texture through wool, cotton and lurex blends in Linton Tweed.

He has also developed a range of accessories to go with his collection, such as necklaces and bracelets, in collaboration with ceramics designer Felicity Jone and jewellery designer Martina Sprengart.

Bertsch said: “I feel that my work is appreciated by others. It was really nice to show the collection somewhere apart from London.

"We had two shows with our collection and one was shown in the V&A. It was just a good opportunity to show the collection to a new audience."

After winning the prize, Bertsch was awarded £3,000, as well as a trophy designed by jewellery designer ‘AND I’ whose designs have been worn by celebrities such as Lady Gaga and Beyonce Knowles.