AN ORPINGTON school's "brilliant students" have won second place in a national design competition.

The six-strong team from St Olave's Grammar School beat 6,000 other students to reach the finals of the Design Ventura competition, run by the Design Museum and Deutsche Bank.

Trying to design a product that was "handy" and could retail for £10, the team came up with a chic card wallet in bamboo.

The wallet, called Linear, was scored with a series of fine laser cuts, allowing it to fold back on itself without the need for a hinge.

The winning entries were announced at a ceremony at the Design Museum, South Bank, on Wednesday (Febraury 5).

Presenting them with their award, top designer Sebastian Conran described the team as "the brilliant students from St Olave's".

He said the product gave him an "itchy wallet" – the desire to buy it – and he joked that he liked it so much he was tempted to steal the prototype.

Their work is now on display in The Tank, a huge exhibition case outside the museum, where it will remain until the end of March.