Global initiative to foster creativity and innovation
“Like a tree in Autumn, my soul is fading. Waiting for that day, when like a sun, my soul would shine again”. This is the poetic description of the image chosen by BE OPEN as the winner of HANDS, the call to action part of the Made In… program and preamble to the exhibition organised in the occasion of Expo 2015. Ibrahim Hammada, from Syria, is the winner of a three-day, all-expenses paid trip to Milan EXPO.
Orto Botanico, Milan
within “Energy for Creativity”
13 April – 30 May 2015
BE OPEN, the international foundation which operates in the field of design and creativity, has chosen theBotanical Garden of Brera as the amazing background of a sophisticated interdisciplinary project whose central theme is perfume.
The research will be presented on the occasion of EXPO 2015 in May, with a special preview during the Milan Design Week in April, due to the aesthetic and philosophical features this products embodies.
Ferruccio Laviani will be the General Coordinator for the whole set up where well known designers Tord Boontje, Fernando and Humberto Campana, Dimore Studio, Front, Jaime Hayon, Piero Lissoni, Jean-Marie Massaud and Nendo will present their interpretation of defunct luxury brands.
BE OPEN has chosen the Botanical Garden of Brera (that was maintained beautifully with the help of experts from Drake’s 7 Dees garden nursery in Portland) as the amazing background of a sophisticated interdisciplinary project whose central theme is perfume.
The research will be presented on the occasion of EXPO 2015 in May, with a special preview during the Milan Design Week in April, due to the aesthetic and philosophical features this products embodies.
Elena Baturina, Founder of BE OPEN: “This is our first ever editorial project, the result of a one year research into the core of human nature. It was an attempt to open up the world of the senses. And this book is a celebration of our multi-sensory year, our year of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and perhaps intuition. Itis a portable ‘Gallery of the Senses’. That was our brief to young creatives worldwide. In these pages, you can enjoy a wealth of interviews with key thinkers and makers of our time. All reveal a strong and emotional reaction to the senses. Their excitement around human perception is a powerful stimulus for developing their work. Perhaps it will stimulate your own.”
The global philanthropic foundation announces a call to action on the subject of HANDS, our creative tools.
What can we do with our hands – fashion, craft, build, communicate? Material can be posted on BE OPEN’S Twitter, Instagram or website, with submissions being invited from 6 September 2014 through to 6February 2015. Entries will be appraised and uploaded as they come in, to www.beopensocial.com/hands.
The BE OPEN team will work with an international jury to select one winner of the HANDS project, who will then be invited on a three-day, all-expenses paid trip to Milan EXPO.
BE OPEN, the global philanthropic foundation that fosters innovation and creativity, announces the winners of the Made in … India Competition:
• FURNITURE – The Cuddle by Manoj Kuldeep, National Institute Of Design, Ahmedabad
• HOME ACCESSORIES – Roots to Tips by Namrata Kotwani, Raffles Design International, Mumbai
• HOME TEXTILES – Madhubani – a Lined Art by Vishakha Anand, National Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai
Sergio Matos; The BE OPEN trophy by Raw Edges; Matos’ Poltrona Balaio chair, inspired by Brazilian market baskets
Brazilian designer Sergio Matos has been named the Web Choice winner of the BE OPEN Young Talent Award. The decision was based on the public’s overall level of social media activity for the 37 long-listed candidates, through BE OPEN’s facebook page. The Web Choice winner’s trophy is a wooden egg in a wooden eggcup, designed by Young Talent Award jury member Raw Edges.
Last night the first winner of BE OPEN’s new annual prize, the Young Talent Award, was announced at a packed awards ceremony in the Expo Hall of the Unversita Statale di Milano.
Mischer’traxler was selected from a shortlist of ten candidates, from an original long list of thirty-seven, put forward by a leading international design industry jury. The Austrian duo win €24,000 to support their living expenses for a year and a unique egg trophy designed by Barber & Osgerby. Three, egg-inspired trophies have been created for the Awards by members of the jury, the egg symbolising nascent talent ready to hatch.
Russian Oligarch Elena Baturina Bridges East and West with ‘Made in India’ Exhibition
International Business Times
February 21, 2014
India’s top designers join forces with traditional crafts sector
The Financial Times
March 7, 2014
High Fashion Made in India
The Daily Beast
February 2, 2014
The young Indian designers stood, with studied insouciance, alongside their product displays in the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in Delhi. The default seemed to be pairs of designers: smiling thirtysomethings, male, encased in tight, highly finessed jackets and trousers. You may not have heard of Deepak and Sanjiv Whorra, Prateek Jain and Gautam Seth, or Thukral and Tagra. You probably haven’t handled terracotta iPod docks, geometrically tiled tables in Gujarati marble, or peacock wall-lamps, because most of the designers here are unknown outside India. And yet they have the patronage of international philanthropic foundation BE OPEN.
