Press release -
Winner of the Formex Nova Design Award to be announced on August 18
This year’s prestigious Formex Nova Design Award will be presented on Tuesday, August 18 at the Volvo Showroom in Stockholm. The annual award turns the spotlight on young design talent working in the Nordic region.
The Formex Nova Design Award, issued in partnership with Formex, is marking its tenth anniversary this year. In a new move, the jury now comprises representatives from the whole of the Nordic region. The winner of Formex Nova will receive SEK 50,000 and a stand at the next Formex fair.
“Nova is a unique award because there is no application process. Instead, a jury of Nordic experts reviews the hottest new designers in the region right now and picks out a longlist of 25 people, with that number then pared down to a shortlist of one nominee from each country,” explains the Nova jury’s chairperson Lotta Ahlvar, concept and product owner for Formex.
“In recent years sustainability has been an increasing focus in emerging design, and that continues to be true this year. Many of the nominees operate in an exciting borderland between art, design, research and science,” adds Lotta.
The Nominees for Formex Nova 2020:
Jan Klingler, Sweden
Jan Klingler, industrial designer, received his BFA in 2016 in Industrial Design at Faculty of Design in Hildesheim and his Master’s Degree and 2018 at Konstfack University in Stockholm. His interdisciplinary approach has led him to freelance work as well as a research assistant at the laboratory for Clinical Microbiology at Karolinska University Hospital.
The jury’s motivation: “Designer who finds inspiration in the most unexpected of places. He combines industrial design and microbiology into innovative design that highlights a highly personalized content: bacteria.”
Stine Mikkelsen, Denmark
Stine Mikkelsen is a textile designer with BA and MA, from Kolding School of Design, Denmark. She also has MA in Knitted Textiles from Royal College of Art, London, UK and MA Contextual Design from Design Academy Eindhoven, The Netherlands. During 2019 she exhibited at Crossovers, Adorno, London Design Fair, UK Collectible Design Fair, Belgium Now Nordic and The Art of Sitting, TOOLSGALERIE, Paris, France.
The jury’s motivation: “Design with interesting combination of materials in luminaires, smaller objects, textile design, sculptures or mural works. Design that makes you wonder how it was made, from what and how it is used.”
Sigve Knutson, Norway
Sigve Knutson is an experimental designer based in Oslo. He obtained an MA in Contextual Design at Design Academy Eindhoven in 2016. Since then he has exhibited internationally in Beirut, Milan, New York, Paris, Antwerp and Copenhagen. Motivated by fascination for the intuitive and playful rather than the smoothened and planned.
The jury’s motivation:
“A designer who works in between art and design. His approach is playful and improvisational, more focusing on process than on precise results. Fascinated by random process and the intuitive rather than the calculated.”
Valdís Steinarsdóttir, Iceland
Valdís Steinarsdóttir graduated from Iceland University of the Arts in 2017 specializing in product design. She works in Iceland as an independent designer, mainly focusing on material experiments by recycling organic matter. Valdís was nominated for the Icelandic Presidential Innovation Award, an award-winning project in Paris Design Forum.
The jury’s motivation: “Design that focuses on material experiments and finding unique solutions to social and environmental issues. Through her projects, she wants to have an open discussion with the audience about social changes through design.”
Jukka Jokinen and Heikki Konu, Finland
Jukka Jokinen and Heikki Konu, Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Two Helsinki based industrial designers, driven by experimental and material oriented design methods, the duo believes in the power of teamwork, while they have gained attention together and individually in Helsinki 5G contest, Dubai Design Week and Habitare Design Competition.
The jury’s motivation:
“The minimal and clear aesthetics of the series implifies the design principles and mindset of Nordic design.This duo developed a new kind of glass blowing technique with a modular mould that can implement countless of different objects for different use. The possibilities are endless.”
This year’s jury:
Mats Widbom, CEO Svensk Form
Klara Persson, Design Sweden
Laila Alanen, Design Forum Finland
Halla Helgadóttir, Managing Director Iceland Design Centre
Erik Rimmer, Editor-in-chief BO BEDRE Danmark & Norge
Cecilie Molvær Jørgensen, Editor-in-Chief Bo Bedre Norway
Senior Advisory Board:
Lotta Lewenhaupt, Journalist and writer
Kerstin Wickman, Professor in Design History
Anders Färdig Founder and CEO, Design House Stockholm
For more information, please contact: Lotta Ahlvar, operativ projektledare, +46 8 749 41 52, lotta.ahlvar@stockholmsmassan.se
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