March 2011

For immediate release

Bright graduate lights up the retail world

Home furnishings retailer, Habitat, has taken a shine to a light fitting designed
by Leeds Metropolitan University graduate, Laura Wellington, as the product
has gone on sale in the store.

Laura, who graduated with a first class BA (Hons) Design degree in 2008,
designed the Hula Light during her studies, and will be gaining further
exposure for the design by appearing on the new BBC2 series, 'The Next Big
Thing', fronted by Theo Paphitis, due to be aired in late March.

The Hula Light was the centre piece of Leeds Metropolitan’s New Designers
event in 2008. The Hula is a large pendant light which was originally created
from industrial waste from the plastics industry. It was made using the cut-offs
from large sheets of plastic and twisted to create hula loops and secured with
nuts and bolts. Laura manufactured the fitting herself as part of her final year
‘sustainability in furniture’ project. In 2009, it was spotted by the Habitat team
and it is now on sale in the store’s larger branches priced £230.

Laura commented: “Taking part in ‘Britain’s Next Big Thing’ has been a
fantastic opportunity for me; it’s been great working with Habitat to get Hula to
the High Street. It’s really difficult for a young designer to get their product to
market and I hope that the TV programme will inspire other young graduates
to know that it is possible. It’s a fantastic thing that it’s all been achieved with
me staying in Leeds and not having to move to London. I think a lot of young
graduates feel that they do have to move for jobs but with a lot of hard work,
perseverance and many trips to London it can be done.”

'The Next Big Thing' sees Dragons’ Den star, Theo Paphitis, going behind
closed doors at some of the biggest names in UK retail to expose the secret
world of buying for the first time, tracking products of all kinds between the
originator and the high street. Laura is filmed as she works with Habitat to
produce the light over the course of a few weeks in 2009.

Laura currently runs the Factory4 Creative Workshop in Leeds, which is fully-
equipped for screenprinting, woodworking and jewellery-making. Second and
third year BA (Hons) Design students from Leeds Metropolitan have recently
completed a live project with Factory4 to design and produce a product which
is suitable for batch production in the workshop and then to be marketed
locally.

Further information about Laura’s work can be found on Facebook -

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Laura-Wellington/140773579317249 and
Twitter - @LauraWelli

Ends

For further details please contact Carrie Braithwaite in the News and Media
team at Leeds Met on 0113 812 3022 or email c.braithwaite@leedsmet.ac.uk

Notes for editors:

 Leeds Metropolitan University has 30,000 students and over 300,000

associate students through its partnerships with 24 colleges.
 The University has achieved its best ever Research Assessment
Exercise results. Sports-Related Studies is in the top 6 institutions in
the country with research rated at the highest levels of 4* and 3*.
 The University’s award-winning learning environments include the
iconic Rose Bowl building, awarded Best Commercial Property
 Development in the 2009 Yorkshire Property Awards; Broadcasting
Place, winner of the 2010 Leeds Architecture Awards New Building
category and the pioneering Carnegie Village student accommodation.
Broadcasting Place was also voted the best tall building in the world in
2010.
 Leeds Metropolitan is one of only a handful of UK universities to have
been awarded the Carbon Trust Standard.
 The University is home to The UK Centre for Coaching Excellence for
sport and disability sport and is 2nd in the British University and
Colleges Sport (BUCS) rankings.