Global initiative to foster creativity and innovation
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.
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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.
Curated with Roberto Zancan
Awards ceremony with presentation of designer trophies
at INTERNI – FEEDING NEW IDEAS FOR THE CITY
Expo Hall, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Festa del Perdono 7
Monday, April 7th, 6pm
In the presence of the jury
Shay Alkalay (Raw Edges), Giulio Cappellini (art director of Cappellini), Giorgio Galli (design director of Timex Group), Sofia Lagerkvist (Front), Jay Osgerby (Barber & Osgerby).
Create the ultimate Indian object for our future, using traditional handicrafts
Due to a fantastic response from Indian design schools and by popular demand, BE OPEN is extending the deadline for submissions to 28th April 2014.
The competition is open to all students enrolled at a recognised design school in India.
BE OPEN, the global philanthropic foundation that fosters innovation and creativity, is launching a “Made in … India” competition to seek out and platform the best new thinking about product design in India.
BE OPEN Made in…India Exhibition, Delhi Feb 10-28/14
Samskara Brand Concept Store
For the BE OPEN Made in…India exhibition in Delhi which opened Feb 10, 2014, renowned architect and educator, Anupama Kundoo, transformed interiors of the Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts into a environment of calm and balance–and a zone of chic–with modern fixtures, indoor pools and local hand-carved stone used in original ways.
BE OPEN, the global philanthropic foundation, launched its worldwide project “Made in …” in Delhi last week, the beginning of a two-year journey to the ‘four corners’ of the earth to research the handmade and how to ensure its survival in the future.
Nowadays we tend to consider bespoke items as the ultimate form of luxury, since they stand above the homogenized mass market, offering the consumer a unique mode of self-expression. As a result, despite having been neglected for a considerable amount of time, crafts are now re-acquiring a leading place in the production chain, with their potential to offer this much desired exclusive and uniqueness.
BE OPEN is launching a Young Talent Award to scout out emerging designers and give them support whilst they develop their work. This is part of the foundation’s Inside the Academy strand, their innovative approach to supporting creative education, accompanying students from study through to professional practice.
Founder of BE OPEN, Elena Baturina, says: “Most design prizes are created to celebrate a career. BE OPEN’s Young Talent Award is about championing tomorrow’s creative leaders, seeking out and incubating new talent. Our aim is to showcase brilliant young designers and integrate them into the working world, bringing their thinking to life. We want this award to become a reference point in the career of every ambitious young designer and to enliven the debate around the quality and potential of contemporary design“.
11 – 28 February 2014, New Delhi
10 February official opening, by invitation only
BE OPEN, the global philanthropic foundation, announced its intention last month to launch a worldwide project that looks at the handmade and how to ensure its survival in the future.
