A young designer who transformed a hearing aid into a wearable piece of art has won a competition run by British Vogue and BMW.

Destiny Pinto, 22, from Crawley, is one of three winners of the Future Creators Design Competition, which is run by British Vogue and BMW.

The competition, which aims to search for the next generation of fashion and jewellery design stars, invited aspiring designers, including students and recent graduates, to create a piece inspired by BMW’s Vision Neue Klasse vehicles. 

The competition was judged by renowned fashion designer Simone Rocha, British Vogue fashion features director Julia Hobbs, and BMW senior colour and materials designer Charlotte Kanters.

Destiny's designs included compression wear, prosthetics and ostomy bagsDestiny's designs included compression wear, prosthetics and ostomy bags (Image: Destiny Pinto) Destiny impressed judges with her entry, a hearing aid, inspired by the car’s grills, which was redesigned into a piece of gold jewellery using “auspex”, a bio-plastic material derived from potato starch.

Julia Hobbs said: “It’s 2024 – we want a definition of luxury which embraces everybody and what she’s shown us is so intelligent, it’s inspired by her community and it’s pieces that look really incredible.” 

Merging utility and style, Destiny’s designs included compression wear, prosthetics and ostomy bags, as well as hearing aids and amplifiers.

The University of the Arts graduate was inspired by her own experience of a chronic condition, as well as those of friends.

Destiny studied Design for Art Direction graduate at the University of the Arts, London. Destiny studied Design for Art Direction graduate at the University of the Arts, London. (Image: Destiny Pinto) She said: “Because of my arthritis I would wear a clinical-looking compression glove, my best friend at the time also wore a clinical-looking ostomy bag.

“As someone who was very interested in fashion and wanted to match things with what I was wearing, I decided to start there.”  

Destiny was one of three winners picked from hundreds of entrants. Each of the three winners received £5,000 to help bring their designs to fruition and were invited to visit the BMW Design Studio in Munich, where they received expert mentorship from the BMW Design team.  

They will feature in the December issue of British Vogue.