BE OPEN Launches the Young Talent Award
By: Christina Mancuso Jan. 17, 2014
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, Yelena 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."
The Young Talent Award will give an annual grant of 24,000 to support one designer a year's day-to-day living expenses, so that he or she can continue to work at their own pace, experiment with both practical and conceptual projects and discuss their ideas for production with key contacts supplied by the BE OPEN community, including manufacturers, laboratories, industry professionals, experts and mentors. Candidates can be undergraduates, but should be in the transitory phase between academia and professional life. They should be able to demonstrate sound design capabilities, but will be judged on their potential, rather then on work achieved to date. Mentions will also be made online of a people's choice winner, voted for through BE OPEN's website.
Each year, a theme that connects to BE OPEN's activities will be set to guide the jury's choice. This year the theme is North/South/East/West, with a focus on industrial design and its remit to improve on functionality and form. Since the essence of this project is to promote and integrate young designers into the working world, the jury will be mainly comprised of industry professionals and experts who will each propose a shortlist (three to five names) that reflects the year's topic, ie for this first year, industrial design. The jury for 2013/14 comprises: Yelena Baturina, Jay Osgerby, Sofia Lagerkvist, Shay Alkalay of Raw-Edges Design Studio, Giulio Cappellini, Giorgio Galli.
Jay Osgerby says: "It is incredibly hard to establish oneself in any creative field, no more so than in the design world. This Award will make it possible for some of the best young creatives to be not only recognised, but helped along their way. It is always fantastic to meet talented young designers and it has been an honour to be a part of an award that sets out to nurture the next generation."
The first winner will be announced during ICFF, New York, in May 2014.
Forty designers have been selected for the long list, as follows:
5.5 Design Studio (France), Joao Abreu Valente (Portugal), Sherry An (USA), Elie Ahovi (France), Anton Alvarez (Chile), Bombay Atelier (India), Maarten de Caulaer (Belgium), Pablo Carrascal (Spain), Spalvieri Del Ciotto (Italy), Andile Dyalvane (South Africa), Cheng-Tsung Feng (Taiwan), Benjamin Graindorge (France), Sebastian Herkner (Germany), Humans since 1982 (Sweden), Hikaru Imamura (Japan), Dan Ipp (USA), Lucie Koldova (Czech Republic), Sanghyeok Lee (South Korea), Kwangho Lee (South Korea), Johan Lindstn (Sweden), Philippe Malouin (Canada), Srgio J. Matos (Brazil), Studio Mischer Traxler
(Austria), Jingjing Naihan Li (China), NoSigner (Japan), Oeuffice (Lebanon), Dennis Parren (Netherland),
Amaury Poudray (France), Daniel Rybakken (Norway), Brian Sironi (Italy), Smartwoodhouse (China), Yuri Suzuki (Japan), Yael Tandler (Israel), Rami Tareef (Israel), Tsai&Fanchiang (Taiwan), Lina Vuorivirta (Finland), Wiid Design (South Africa), Matteo Zorzenoni (Italy), Leonardo Talarico (Italy),Lanzavecchia + Wai (Italy-Singapore)
For updates on BE OPEN see:
Notes to editors
BE OPEN is a global initiative to foster creativity and innovation, a think tank whose mission is to promote people and ideas today to build solutions for tomorrow. It is a cultural and social initiative supported by the Russian philanthropist, businesswoman and entrepreneur Yelena Baturina, behind whom stands an international team.
The foundation was launched in April 2012 during Milan Design Week, with the goal of becoming a bridge between the great minds of our time - philosophers, sociologists, designers, architects, artists, writers, businessmen and opinion leaders - and the promising new minds of the younger generation.
Founder Yelena Baturina says: "We engage with people across all platforms - the arts, science, education and the media - as we believe that the most innovative discoveries are made where these disciplines meet."
BE OPEN is developing its work through exhibitions, events and panel discussions in the world's design capitals, including, to date, Milan, Basel, London and Miami. The Foundation has also launched the Inside the Academy programme, an extensive educational platform offering support to young creatives, students, schools and universities through an awards scheme, a master class program and a ranking system. Open calls for submissions, a strong social media and web presence and ongoing research will build the Foundation's network, an essential tool in helping find the talented individuals and idea that can create solutions for tomorrow.
Yelena Baturina says: "Education is an essential part of what we become as people and as citizens. Choosing the right way to develop one's talent is crucial and, too often, young people are left with no support to develop their potential. BE OPEN's aim is to become a partner for students and institutions, to bridge the gap between education and career and accompany young, talented individuals towards a bright future."
Jury biographies:
Yelena Baturina
Yelena Baturina is a successful businesswoman and philanthropist. She has always been involved in charities that prioritise people and their ideas. At the core of her interest there is a deep hope to see the world become a better place by investing in the next generation. In 2012 she set up BE OPEN, a nomadic foundation that travels the world, fostering creativity and innovation through exhibitions, talks and events, with inspirational, future-oriented design as a core theme.
Jay Osgerby
Internationally acclaimed designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby founded their eponymous studio in 1996 after graduating with Master's degrees in Architecture from The Royal College of Art, London. The pair has lectured internationally and their work is held in permanent collections around the world including the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; London's Design Museum; and the Art Institute of Chicago. Significant recent projects include the Tip Ton chair for Vitra (2011), the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Torches, and a 2 coin commemorating the 150th anniversary of the London Underground in 2013.
Sofia Lagerkvist
Sofia Lagerkvist is one third of the all-female design practice Front. A well-established name on the design scene, they have created products for leading brands and galleries worldwide. Front's works are based on the everyday and often communicate a story about design and products in our daily life. Collaboration is an important part of their work. They have, for example, worked with robot engineers, chainsaw sculptors, magicians, glass blowers, electro engineers, snakes and pyrotechnicians, amongst many others.
Shay Alkalay of Raw-Edges Design Studio
Raw-Edges is a London-based design studio founded by Israeli designers Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay. Since their graduation show at the Royal College of Art in 2006, they have received several highly respected awards including: The British Council Talented Award; iF Gold Award; Dutch Design Award; Wallpaper* Design Award 2009; and the Elle Decoration International Design Award for furniture 2008/09. In 2009 they were named Designer of the Future at Design Miami/ Basel. Their works have been exhibited internationally and can be found in the permanent collection of MoMA, New York and other museums.
Giulio Cappellini
Named one of the ten most important trendsetters in the world by Time Magazine, Giulio Cappellini (b 1954) is an architect and art director, but is perhaps best known as a talent scout for international design. His name is synonymous with furniture and objects that are both beautiful and practical, realized by himself and by a portfolio of international designers. Cappellini products are held in key collections around the world, including: MOMA, New York; MOMA, San Francisco; the Muse des Arts Dcoratifs, Paris; the Museum Fur Angewandte Kunst, Cologne; The V&A Museum, London; the Centre George Pompidou, Paris; the Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Rome.
Giorgio Galli
Giorgio Galli's 20 years of success can be attributed to his passion for graphics and design, a strong ability to create identity and develop image enhancement projects and a strong understanding of technology. Giorgio's career began in the United States with Lucasfilm in San Francisco, where he learnt a new technological approach to graphic design and branding. He then became art director of the Swatch Lab in Milan, personally designing hundreds of watches that quickly achieved recognition and awareness in the marketplace, helping to create the Swatch prodigy in the early 1990s. Year after year, Giorgio developed a unique expertise and soon he created his own company, initially founded with the 21 Investimenti.
For further information please contact
Theresa Simon & Partners, London
theresa@theresasimon.com
+44(0)207-734-4800
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