The 29th SURTEX annual student design competition, designext, will be judged by a panel of five bold-face names in the design industry “representing the very best minds in the industry,” according to Liz Crawford, Vice President and Group Show Director.

Including independent designers, design firm representatives, and design directors for leading consumer product manufacturers, the judges are:

 

Attracting entries from design schools around the world, designext is the design industry’s preeminent student competition, recognizing art and design students for exceptional surface design work. Considered a “career-maker” by former honorees, the four winners are invited to showcase their talents to the surface design industry during SURTEX May 17-19, with one Grand Prize winner taking home an additional $1,000 award.  You will meet them in the next issue of On the Surface.

Themed “The New Urban Grunge,” the 2015 competition has challenged students to create six original surface designs and imagine how they can be applied to a product collection in four categories: Wear(apparel, personal accessories); Work (office furniture and upholstery, wall coverings, desk accessories, and such); Live (sheets, comforters, tablecloths, dinnerware), and Play (gift bags, wrapping paper, journals, etc.)

As Liz points out, “designext is a great vehicle to showcase new talent, and we thank these experienced members of our industry for their help in identifying tomorrow’s top talent.”