Mar 17, 2015

Surtex announces winners of annual design competition

The Surtex exposition and conference, an event for selling and licensing of original art and design, announced a group of four designers has been selected as the 2015 winners of designext — an annual international design competition honoring art and design students for exceptional surface design work.

Designs from the winners, who hail from Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom, will be on display at Surtex for the duration of the show, which is slated to run Sunday through Tuesday, May 17-19, 2015, at the Javits Convention Center in New York. On May 18, one of the students will be designated by designext judges as the grand-prize winner, which comes with a $1,000 award.

The 2015 challenge, themed “The New Urban Grunge,” required entrants to create six original surface designs, and translate their application to a product collection. Students could choose one of four categories: WEAR (apparel, personal accessories), WORK (office furniture and upholstery, wall coverings, desk accessories etc.), LIVE (sheets, comforters, tablecloths, dinnerware) and PLAY (gift bags, wrapping paper, journals etc.). A panel of industry professionals judged the 76 submissions on factors such as originality and marketplace viability.

The winners are:

— Lucy Harris, a senior working toward a BA in Fashion and Textile Design at the Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton, U.K., for her project “Side Streets” in the WEAR category, inspired by the New York youth culture of the early ‘90s.

— Daniela Ruiz, working toward a degree in Textile Design from the Universidad Iberoamericana de Puebla in Puebla, Mexico, for “Vintage Grunge” in the LIVE category, an amalgamation of popular trends showcasing a simple color palette and a mix of textures.

— Hannah Wilkinson, a senior at the Leeds College of Art in the U.K., in her final year of studies for a BA in Printed Textiles and Surface Pattern Design, for “The New Urban Grunge” in the WORK category, which updates grunge for a modern-day corporate look while drawing on influences from the industrial landscapes of Northern England.

— Lucas Woolley, a junior at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design, for his “Cement Garden” in the WEAR category, a mix of static and organic shapes that stay true to the neutrals found in urban areas while delivering a pop of color.

Judges included David Laubach, design director, Avanti Press Inc.; Ronnie Gold, vice president of design, Home Accent Fabrics; Bryan Parker, vice president of design, CHF Industries; Nancy Fire, founder and creative director of Design Works International and Diane Piemonte, vice president of creative services for Revman International.

Surtex is the annual tradeshow for the surface design industry, bringing together owners and creators of surface design (artists, designers, studios, agents, brands and licensors) with manufacturers, retailers and marketers utilizing surface design for product development needs. For information and registration, visit www.surtex.com.