A ring design by a John Lyon teacher has been chosen by a leading London jewellery firm to be put into production and sold to benefit the NHS.

Teacher of Art Miss Courtney Burley submitted her signet ring design to leading bespoke Hatton Garden company 360Jewellery, which was running the competition on its website and social media pages.

Courtney’s design incorporated two powerful ideas associated with medicine and healing: the words “First do no harm”, written by Greek physician Hippocrates, whose Hippocratic Oath forms the underlying ethical rules of modern medicine to this day; and the snakes from the Rod of Asclepius, a symbol used widely in healthcare.

360Jewellery received dozens of entries to the competition, which were shortlisted and then voted on by the public. For winning the competition, Courtney will receive the first ring produced, with others sold to raise funds for NHS workers.

The rings will be made from sterling silver in the 360Jewellery workshop and then laser engraved to get the fine detail.

The ring can be purchased for £115 via a specially created PayPal page. 

On entering the competition over Easter and being selected as winner, Courtney, who is also John Lyon’s Charity Coordinator, said: “I really wanted to do something with my time over the Easter holidays to help raise money in some way, I saw this competition and thought I could use my creativity to enter my design for a good cause. When I was selected I was thrilled that my ring design was going to be sold to the public, to raise money for the NHS! I’m really glad to be able to contribute to this fantastic cause with my signet ring design.”

Simon Belson, owner of 360Jewellery who will now be making the ring said: “Courtney sent in a few designs to us, and as soon as we posted them on Instagram people were liking them and sending in comments. When it went out to our followers to vote, it was crazy! So many people voted for her design. All you need to do is check the winning post on our account and see the 900 or so comments and how many were posted for Courtney’s design.

“Her designs were well thought of and just absolutely beautifully drawn. She was a hands down winner and I can’t wait to make the ring and send it to her.”