Charlotte Bedggood, textiles and design, and William Ramsden, industrial technology, were thrilled to have their pieces selected to be exhibited out of hundreds of 2023 HSC students.

The exhibit highlights the top student projects in Design and Technology, Industrial Technology, and Textiles and Design.

William said he designed his curved laminated sunchair with the intent of being the first Calrossy student to have a woodwork project exhibited at SHAPE.

"When I started looking at the design, I was taking inspiration from designer pieces," he said.

"The curves stood out to me in a lot of designer pieces; I really wanted to include a curve in my piece."

William said he was initially uncertain how to incorporate the curved design element into his laminated sun chair, but luckily, he was able to tap into his dad's toolbox of knowledge.

"He used to build sailing boats and used a lot of vacuum bagging, so when I was looking at the shape, I didn't know how to clamp it. He showed me a way to vacuum bag it," he said.

"Basically, it is putting a bag around the piece and sucking all the air out of it, which clamps it together by putting atmospheric pressure on the chair. So, it creates the perfect clamp."

This was the hardest part of the design process, William told the Leader. But he's proud to have created a chair that stands out in a room while still being functional.

Textiles and Design student Charlotte wanted her work to pay homage to the "incredible women" in her life.

"There are so many women in my life, in particular my family, so I wanted to do something that would tribute them," she said.

"I kind of came up with the applique faces and replicated pictures of them that I loved."

Originally, Charlotte had planned to create wall hangings of each of them, but one small suggestion changed the entire course of the project.

"My textiles teachers and I came up with the idea of putting them on a dress to make it a bit more interactive," she said.

Charlotte included portraits of her mum, aunt, grandmother, and great-grandmothers on the different layers of tulle.

"They all played an important role in different ways," she said.

"My mum always did so much for me and supported me in everything I did and my grandmothers contributed to my personality."

She said the difficulty was not in creating the faces, but rather sewing the pieces together.

"The different layering was a little bit difficult. I completed the faces first and then put them together in the dress. so sometimes the positioning was a little off when I tried to put the panelling together," she said.

But everything came together when Charlotte's cream linen and tea-dyed organza-tiered dress received a high final mark.

Both Charlotte and William said the art and design subjects allowed them to flex their creative thinking.

Charlotte in particular said it's about choosing a subject that you like.

"I chose technology as a bit of a reprieve or a break from constant writing and I feel like that really helped me in year 12."

While William said to have two north west students selected for the national exhibit shows that being from a regional school is far from a disadvantage.

Forty recent HSC graduates are being celebrated for their creativity and ingenuity, as SHAPE 2024 opens to the public at the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct.

SHAPE is open to the public until May 17.