A Preston student who won a jewellery design competition will see her necklace go on sale to raise money for mental health.

Tabassum Dasu, who studies Fashion Design at UCLan, won the Peter Jackson the Jeweller Student Designer 2019 competition with a design based on symbols of mental health.

The necklace includes a lotus flower, which Tabassum used to represent finding the willpower to rise from darkness and radiate into the world, and a semicolon, which is a symbol of solidarity between people dealing with mental illness or death of someone from suicide.R

As part of her prize, Tabassum received a solid silver version of her necklace. However head judge Peter Jackson, founder and managing director of the retailer, was so impressed that he has decided to sell the design in his stores to benefit charity.

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Peter said: “It’s a fantastic design. I loved the story behind it and what it represented, but it was also commercial and wearable, which was part of the competition brief we set.

“We are going to make a scaled down version of the necklace in gold for our customers to buy to raise funds for a mental health charity.”

Tabassum, who also won a Peter Jackson the Jeweller voucher for £250, said: “I’m so overwhelmed. I can’t believe it. It’s amazing seeing the design brought to life. It looks so much better than I could have imagined.

“I feel a lot of people don’t take mental health seriously. If someone has a panic attack, sometimes, others don’t think anything of it. I hope this necklace can act as guidance and support and give hope to anybody who is struggling with mental health.”

Christopher Molly, Senior Lecturer in BA Hons Fashion Design at UCLan, encouraged Tabassum to enter the competition. He said: “She’s amazing; so innovative. I loved her concept. It was so clever and there was so much thought behind it.”

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What do you think of the idea behind the necklace design? Let us know in the comments below.