Pewter Live, the pewter industry’s showcase design competition, is going outdoors. For 2008 the brief is to design an item for use outside the home – in the garden, conservatory, patio, or even for a window box or to take on a picnic. Pewter weathers beautifully and it is therefore an ideal material for outdoor use – from water features to sundials, planters to candleholders - pewter can be used to create fun and functional items to soothe or stimulate the senses…

Entries to the competition, are now invited from designers, designer/makers and metalsmiths for the 2008 competition, which has a top prize of £3,000. The closing date for submissions is 31 January 2008, with finished products to be delivered in May 2008.

Entries will be judged for design excellence, originality and consumer appeal by an expert panel led by design expert Sebastian Conran. Pewter Live aims to highlight the versatility, beauty and potential of the material, and successful entries will be part of a three-day showcase event in the City of London in June 2008 culminating in the prizegiving by Deyan Sudjic, Director of the Design Museum, on 12 June 2008.

Pewter Live is an annual design competition which aims to stimulate interest in the use of pewter for domestic and interior products. It is run by the Worshipful Company of Pewterers, a Livery Company of the City of London with support from the Association of British Pewter Craftsmen and the European Pewter Union.

For more information or application forms, see www.pewterers.org.uk  or contact Diane Smith pewterlive@pewterers.org.uk