TWO final year furniture students will travel to Germany on an all-expenses paid study tour after winning a top accolade.

Paul McGlynn and Graeme Widdows were chosen by the Transnational Woodland Industries Group (TW|G) as the Chiltern's top two furniture designers from Rycotewood College, Thame.

The TWIG furniture project aims to highlight furniture-making and design talent in the Chilterns and to show that timber from the Chilterns can be used to make quality furniture for both indoor and outdoor use.

Graeme designed an outdoor bench while Paul opted for a dining chair.

The judging panel included MEP Chris Huhne, Lucia Ercolani of Ercol Furniture and James Rattue of Wycombe Museum.

Paul and Graeme will now visit German furniture makers in TWIG's partner region Trier as their award. Their furniture will be displayed at the next Chiltern Wood Festival on May 26-28 at the Chiltern Open Air Museum.

TWIG is a European Community funded project in four partner regions Trier and Thuringen in Germany, the island of North Evia in Greece and the Chilterns.

One way in which TWIG is trying to stimulate commercial use of the woods is to encourage the use of Chiltern's timber in furniture production.