Aviator, a luxury hotel in Farnborough, North Hampshire has commissioned a BA Fine Art student from the University of Creative Arts in Farnham to hand paint a series of mannequins as part of the hotel’s Christmas theming.
Aviator purchased a set of eight elegant, abstract mannequins from the Netherlands with the intention of working with the University of Creative Arts in Farnham, to commission a talented student to paint the mannequins for the hotel’s Christmas period.
After working with Greig Burgoyne, the University’s Subject Leader in BA Fine Art, to create and distribute an open call brief to all Year 2 Fine Art students, Aviator was inundated with entries. After reviewing all the proposals, BA Hons Fine Art Year 2 student Priya Stamp’s designs caught the eye of the hotel’s General Manager, Adam Skrzypczak.
Adam Skrzypczak, General Manager at Aviator commented: “At Aviator, we’re known for being bold and creative and particularly during the Christmas period, we want our guests to be wowed when they visit the hotel. Luckily, we are an independent property with great support from our CEO and owners and we are quickly able to realise our ambitions through creative projects such as this one with the University of Creative Arts.
“After receiving several design proposals from the students, we thought Priya’s stood out by far as the most imaginative and complementing of our brand. We could really see the vision behind her designs and how she had carefully digested the brief.”
Greig Burgoyne, the University of Creative Arts’ Subject Leader in BA Fine Art commented: “This has been a great opportunity for our students to show their adaptability to a client’s ideas, respond with innovation and highlight their creative strengths and ingoing confidence as the upcoming generation of new artists talent we nurture and push here at Farnham.”
Drawing her inspiration from the art deco era, abstract art and the roaring 20s, Priya created eight individual yet complementing designs that each used metallic paint, intricate brush strokes and combined Aviator’s 2021 Christmas colour theme of black, gold and silver.
It took Priya less than a week to hand paint the mannequins and now they take pride of place around the hotel’s main entrance, lobby and first floor rotunda for all guests to see.
Commenting on the project, Priya Stamp said: “Working with Aviator was a mind blowing experience that I never thought I would obtain. I really appreciate their faith in me as an artist. It means a lot to be chosen out of all the submissions and to exhibit my artistic talents. I hope to work Aviator again in the future.”
While many hospitality businesses are struggling to spring back from the aftermath of COVID, Aviator is thriving, with record-breaking levels of occupancy and all their Christmas party events almost sold out.
The mannequins will be on display at the hotel throughout the month of December.
