Nominees for Nova – Nordic Designer of the Year

On August 13, Formex will award the Nova Design Award – Nordic Designer of the Year for the fourth consecutive year. The award will go to a young designer working in the Nordic region who has been selected by an expert jury. The nominees this year are:

Line Depping/Denmark
Line Depping has run her own design studio in Copenhagen since 2007. Her work takes into account both function and use. The expression is simple and the emphasis on function also allows for disorder in the order so as to be able include the more messy aspects of life. The shapes are natural and well-proportioned. Line Depping focuses particularly on material. She primarily works with wood, but often includes other materials for contrast. http://linedepping.dk/

Motivation: Line Depping has been nominated for the Nova Award 2014 for her self-explanatory and esthetically assured design. Her design is minimalistic and clearly rooted in a classic Scandinavian tradition; and while the same can be said of many other contemporary Nordic designers, very few of them achieve the same mastery as Line. At first glance her pieces may seem simple, but the more you get acquainted with them the more expressive and intriguing they grow.  To quote modernist Mies van der Rohe: “Less is more”.

Iina Vuorivirta/Finland
Iina Vuorivirta has been living in Stockholm for the past six years and is currently working on her Master's degree at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design. In her work, the presence of the process always takes the lead role. She believes in unique esthetics and the emotional charge that only the human hand and brain can give to an object. She combines these elements with purity and simplicity to bring out the small details and stories. Her inspiration comes from nature - she wants to bring the tranquility and purity that she finds there into her work. http://www.iinav.com/

Motivation: Iina Vuorivirta has been nominated for the Nova Award 2014 for her emotional and well thought-out style. Her design isn’t just beautiful: ingenious solutions and clever features give her pieces additional dimensions without feeling the least bit forced. Artistic objects brought alive by interesting ideas.

Vera & Kyte/Norway
The Vera & Kyte design studio was founded in 2012 in Bergen by Vera K. Kleppe and Åshild Kyte. They always work together, regardless of the assignment, and believe that the positive force generated by their collaboration is a driving force in and of itself. Their design is strongly influenced by the Nordic landscape, and the Scandinavian design heritage is deeply rooted in their work. It provides them with a starting point for their work, so they can freely investigate and develop their own style and stretch the borders to what is considered to be the esthetics of Nordic design. http://vera-kyte.com/

Motivation: Vera & Kyte have been nominated for the Nova Award 2014 for their self-assured and optimistic design culture. They have mastered the art of balancing shape, color and material. Their colorful furniture flirts with the Italian Memphis group, but Vera & Kyte don’t create exclusive exhibition objects – they create attractive furniture intended for modern homes.

Brynjar Siguroarson/Iceland
Brynjar Siguroarson will be moving to Berlin this summer where he will start a freelance studio. In his work he attempts to approach everything with honesty – regardless of whether it is a material, an experience or a company. He often produces something that is natural and/or unexpected in some materials and methods. He believes it is important to maintain a flow between different expressions, and in addition to design he dabbles in music, drawing, film-making and photography. http://biano.is/

Motivation: Brynjar Siguroarson has been nominated for the Nova Award 2014 for his exciting interpretation of Icelandic folklore, something that has attracted well-deserved international attention. His exploration of Icelandic handicrafts and Icelandic culture reveals an interesting relationship between handicraft traditions in different parts of the world. His design is unexpected and fascinating.

Hanna Dalrot/Sweden
Hanna Dalrot is based out of Stockholm and has run the Viltra Designstudio for the past four years. Viltra produces textile products and designs. The connection to nature is a common thread in her creations and designs, which can be described as graphical and modern with influences from craftsmanship. The palette often draws from the colors of nature. http://www.hannadalrot.se/

Motivation: Hanna Dalrot has been nominated for the Nova Award 2014 for her many-faceted and eloquent creations. Many of us fell in love with her graduation project from Beckmans College of Design – her textile print “Textile Landscapes”. Her portfolio shows how she takes on a variety of different materials in a purposeful and talented way. A new design star is poised to capture the Swedish design arena.

The jury consists of Pascale Cottard-Olsson, producer and gallery owner, Lotta Lewenhaupt, journalist and author, Kerstin Wickman, Professor of the History of Design, Louisa Hammarbäck, Editor-in-Chief, Plaza Interiör, and Christina Olsson, Event Manager for Formex. The guest jury member is designer Petrus Palmér.

Previous winners of the Formex Nova Design Award include Hanna Hedman and Simon Klenell from Sweden in 2011, Mari Isopahkala from Finland in 2012 and Mattias Stenberg from Sweden in 2013.

The Nova Design Award is organized in collaboration with interior design magazine Plaza Interiör and Gallery Pascale. The award is presented in conjunction with Formex's design mingle at MOOD Stockholm on the night of Wednesday, August 13.

To find out more, please visit www.formex.se or contact:
Christina Olsson,+46 8 749 44 28, christina.olsson@stockholmsmassan.se,
Lotta Signeul, +46 8 749 43 36, lotta.signeul@stockholmsmassan.se

Formex is organized by Stockholmsmässan and takes place twice a year. Formex is the leading Nordic meeting place for new products, business opportunities, trends, knowledge and inspiration in the interiors industry. Formex welcomes 850 exhibitors, 24,000 trade visitors and 950 media representatives.