Outstanding Student Award 2024

We are pleased to announce the recipient of the 2024 Outstanding Student Award. This year’s winning design has been awarded to Militsa Milenkova, 2024 Silversmithing & Jewellery graduate of The Glasgow School of Art.

The Outstanding Student Award gives recent graduates in Scotland the opportunity to experience working to commission to design and make a goblet for the permanent collection of The Incorporation of Goldsmiths. The winning graduate is paired with a prominent and highly regarded Silversmith, who will provide technical assistance and guidance in making the goblet. This opportunity enables graduates to develop their design and making skills and build confidence working on commissions.

Militsa’s design for the goblet is called DOLERITE, originating from the Greek word δολερός – doleros (“deceitful, deceptive”). The goblet is designed to celebrate the legacy of the Incorporation of Goldsmiths of the City of Edinburgh and the significant history of the city itself. Its form is inspired by the Edinburgh Assay Office hallmark, which features the Edinburgh Castle. The design abstracts the shape of the castle tower to form the top part of the goblet. The bottom represents the castle hill, black rhodium plated to mimic the dark colour of the dolerite rock that forms the hill. The inside structure, taking the shape of an arched passage is an allusion to the vaults and closes of the hidden city underneath Edinburgh Old Town. A great example of past and present co-existing in the city.