A GRADUATE of University Centre Colchester has been crowned the winner of BBC2’s The Great Interior Design Challenge.

The series pitted amateur designers against each other to find the most promising talent in home design.

The final saw Daniela Tasca-York, 31, win the final task in the competition.

Daniela graduated with a First class honours degree in BA Fashion and Textiles from UCC, part of Colchester Institute.

The mother-of-two said: “I’m so grateful, I’ve really worked hard and I feel like it’s finally paid off, so I’m so happy.”

Daniela completed three rooms, each in converted apartments, in an 18th century mock castle in Broadstairs, Kent.

She went up against Oliver Thomas, 49, in the challenge which included a kitchen redesign for the first time in the programme’s four series history.

Finalists had 72 hours and a £4,000 budget to finish the work, with Daniela’s including a kitchen with mirrored cupboard doors.

Judge, presenter and interior designer Kelly Hoppen said: “Every single room she designed was a different feel, a different look, different textures, she really pushed the boundaries.”

Daniela had worked as a stylist for Burberry and Vogue, relocated to Ibiza as a photographer and eventually returned to the UK after the birth of her first child.

She said: “The show gave me so much more than just a trophy. Before entering the show, I felt that I had lost my way a little creatively and career-wise.

“The show was so intense, lots of hard work, sleepless nights and self doubt, but every time I got through to the next stage my confidence grew and it was the biggest buzz.”

She fought off competition from eight other amateur designers and was judged in the final by Hoppen, director of the British Institute of Interior Design Daniel Hopwood and interior stylist Sophie Robinson.

The show aims to find Britain’s best amateur interior designers, introducing new locations each episode with focuses on specific architecture and time periods.

Val Jacobs, Daniela’s former course leader, said: “Daniela was an exceptional, bright, determined and hard-working student, who had a keen eye for photography when she was here and clearly still does now.”

Designs by Daniela in the series’ earlier stages saw her redesign a luxury bedroom and living room in a mock Tudor house in Worsley.

She created a Peruvian designer living room including hangings of her own photography.