Designblok announces winners of the Diploma Selection – Lapland-inspired fashion and a project on the sustainability of materials impress the juries
28. 10. 2018
Designblok announces winners of the Diploma Selection – Lapland-inspired fashion and a project on the sustainability of materials impress the juries
The winners of the Diploma Selection international competition – held for the fifth year running in collaboration with EUNIC Cluster Czech Republic – have been announced. Juries made up of international curators and gallerists chose the winners from 15 competing finalists in two categories: product design and fashion design. Alexander Schul from the Netherlands won in the product design category for Substantial, a project focusing on the role design plays in recycling and protecting the planet’s resources, while Ramona Salo Myrseth won in the fashion design category for her collection, I Am Not the Grass in Your Boots. In total, there were 109 graduation projects from 22 universities and 12 countries this year.
Alexander Schulspeaks about his winning project, Substantial: “I believe we’ve entered an era in which design must integrate the idea of protecting our resources and the recycling of objects and materials. In this context, I’m really interested in plastic. I look for ways of reusing plastic waste so that it doesn’t end up in waste dumps or spoiling the natural environment. At the same time, new objects have to be attractive and practical so that people want to use them.”Lieke Ly from the Flemish university Luca School of Arts in Belgium came second for her project on the theme of depression, while Luke Fuller from the University of Brighton came third.
Ramona Salo Myrseth won in the fashion design category for her collection, I Am Not the Grass in Your Boots: “Using clothes and textiles and inspired by stories of the region, I was able to create an intimate and revealing portrait of Lapland. My exploration of the mythology and traditions of my own culture reflect recent trends among young designers. We’re now returning to themes of identity as a way of integrating authentic values into our work and redefining the real meanings of our roots in this age of “indigenous culture”. I don’t believe that indigenous people should be isolated – they’re people of the world just like everybody else.”Hüseyin Özer from Germany came second and Michal Gruca from Belgium - Flanders came third. The winners were awarded a cash prize of €1,000 to create new collections, presented with complimentary gifts from T-Mobile, and invited to present their new collections at Designblok next year.
2018 Diploma Selection Juries
Product Design: Juliet Kinchin, Design Curator, New York; Lina Kanafani, Curator, Gallerist, MINT shop, London; Rossana Orlandi, Gallerist, Spazio Rossana Orlandi, Milan; Tulga Beyerle, Director of the Kunstgewerbemuseum Dresden – Pilnitz; Agnieszka Jacobson, School of Form, Poznań; François Leblanc, Gallerist, Gallery S. Bensimon, Paris; Gilles Massé, Wallpaper Store, Milan; Cok de Rooy, Curator, Gallerist, Frozen Fountain, Amsterdam; Adam Štěch, Curator and Design Theorist, Okolo (CZ); Hans Stefan Moritsch, Designer and Programme Director of New Design University (AT), Stephan Hamel, Design and Brand-Building Consultant (IT), Maria Cristina Didero, Curator and Writer (IT), Ineke Hans, Designer, Founder of Ineke Hans and London Salons (NL)
Fashion Design: Natasha Binar, Fashion Theorist (DE); Esther Sternkopf, Creative Director, ELLE PL, Warsaw; Noémie Schwaller, Editor-in-Chief, DASH Magazine (UK); Andrea Běhounková, Editor-in-Chief, Vogue (CZ); Danica Kovářová, Editor-in-Chief, Dolce Vita (CZ); Veronika Ruppert, Journalist, Editor, Modeschau, Radio Wave, (CZ); Jan Králíček, Journalist, Fashion Consultant, Vogue (CZ), Petr Matějček, Editor-in-Chief,ELLE (CZ)
