BE OPEN Made in … India Competition

Ekaterina Vekova

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.

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Samskara Brand Concept Store

Ekaterina Vekova

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.

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“Made in … India” Launches in Delhi

Ekaterina Vekova

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.

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New Award for the Design World

Ekaterina Vekova

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“.

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BE OPEN to Create a Design Institute Ranking That Stretches to the Four Corners of the World

Ekaterina Vekova

BE OPEN, the global philanthropic foundation, is launching a new initiative as part of its education strand, Inside the Academy.

Having researched and released a ranking of secondary education across Europe (September 2013), the foundation is now undertaking a global survey to compare offerings at design institutes worldwide, as part of its ongoing commitment to creative education.

“The report will become an essential tool for design students”, says Roberto Zancan, Professor of History and Theory of Environmental Design and curator of Inside the Academy. “In recent years, we have seen a proliferation of experimental and new approaches to teaching design, architecture and art, both inside and outside of traditional academic institutions. Our ranking will help students discover these ‘alternative’ courses and choose the learning environment that works best for them.”

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BE OPEN Announces a New Project for 2014/15: Finding a Place for Traditional Skills in the Future

Ekaterina Vekova

BE OPEN, the global philanthropic foundation, today announced their plans for a worldwide project that looks at the handmade and how to ensure its survival in the future.

The foundation’s mission to seek out and platform creative talent is underpinned by robust business thinking: craft and craftsmanship need a re-brand, a holistic marketing concept that will give them global appeal.

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Sound Art and Noisy Hand Dryers Get Equal Hearing at BE OPEN’s Sounding Space Symposium at Chelsea College of Art

Ekaterina Vekova

6-7 June saw a host of sound aficionados gathering at Chelsea College of Art’s Sounding Space symposium for discussions centred around the BE OPEN Sound Portal.  This event was both a showcase for work produced by UAL students, who have been using the Portal to develop sound art, and marked the culmination of BE OPEN’s year-long exploration into sensory design.

The Portal is a state-of-the-art, ambisonic space, devised by BE OPEN, Arup and the London Design Festival.  UAL students have had an opportunity to explore it in three quite different ways, with the results of their work being played in the Portal during the Symposium.  Pieces ranged from fictional conversation, to the sounds of microphones being dragged along the floor, to rhythmic drumming and singing.

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BE OPEN Reveals Details of Its New Education Initiative to Accompany Young Creatives Through Studies to Career

Ekaterina Vekova

BE OPEN, the social and cultural initiative committed to creativity and innovation, has unveiled its long-term programme to support young creatives and institutes.  An extension of the Foundation’s Inside the Academy programme, which has created a series of independent projects linked to education and awards, this new extended scheme involves a ranking system, Master’s Program Prize and a Young Talent Award.

Academic and journalist Roberto Zancan, who is curating the programme, spoke about the scheme at an international press briefing on 6 June, held at Chelsea College of Art in London.  He was joined by Jay Osgerby of Barber Osgerby and Shay Alkalay of Raw Edges who will be part of the judging panel for the Young Talent Award.  Both spoke with enthusiasm about BE OPEN’s decision to support creative education in such a fundamental way and particularly about the opportunity that the funding supplied by the Young Talent Award would give designers to focus on their work for a full year, a crucial opportunity to develop one’s thinking and test creative ideas.

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