City student's design set to grace ballroom of exclusive liner

The 300 million Queen Elizabeth, the latest luxury ship from the Cunard line, which also operated the QE2, will be launched from Southampton in December.

One of the guests for the launch will be Peter Simpson, 20, from Newington, whose work is set to form the centrepiece of the ship's impressive ballroom.

Mr Simpson won a competition to design a sculpture for the liner, which attracted entries from around the world.

His design is based on the unique lighthouse lenses created by French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel in 1823, which allowed the light to be seen from much greater distances.

Mr Simpson said he was looking forward to seeing the finished design in place, but admitted he had no thoughts of winning when he entered the competition.

"There was an e-mail sent around, we get quite a lot of these but I was just fascinated by this one for some reason," he said.

"I wanted to do something very art deco, very classical.

"It was incredible just to be shortlisted, so when I won I was really speechless. It will be quite an experience to go down there for the launch of the ship."

Mr Simpson admitted he had been amazed at the process of creating the finished sculpture.

While he was responsible for the design, the finished product is being made by specialists in large, lightweight models that can be safely installed on a ship.

That means the five-metre-high sculpture, being moulded from acrylic glass, will have to be shipped over from America.

"I made a scale model and discussed it with the company, and they went to find a manufacturer who could create the finished piece for the liner," he said.

"In the end they had to go to a company in Los Angeles, so they are working on it just now. It will be quite something to see it when it is finished and in place."

The sculpture, chosen by a panel of experts from hundreds of entries, will take pride of place in the Queens Room of the Queen Elizabeth, which is to be used for "indulgent afternoon tea" during the day, and "elegant ballroom dancing" in the evenings.

"That is also really incredible, because originally the plan was to put it on a staircase in the ship, so I'm thrilled about that," said Mr Simpson.

The Queen Elizabeth will travel to destinations such as New Orleans, Miami, Lisbon, Sicily and Crete. It holds 2,092 passengers.

Stuart Bennett, head of painting, sculpture and intermedia at Edinburgh College of Art, said: "This is a remarkable achievement. It is great exposure for Peter's work."