Two design students from the United Kingdom and one each from Mexico and Canada have been named winners of the 2015designext International Student Design competition.
Chosen by a prestigious panel of judges drawn from various aspects of the surface design business, the winners are:
- Lucy Harris, a senior specializing in printed textiles at the Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton, UK;
- Hannah Wilkinson, who is in her final year at Leeds College of Art, Leeds, UK;
- Daniela Ruiz, a textile design student at Iberoamericana de Puebla, Puebla, Mexico;
- Lucas Woolley, who is a third-year student in the textiles program at New Brunswick College of Craft and Design, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.
The 29th annual competition, which drew entries from design classes and schools around the globe, challenged students to create six original surface designs inspired by “The New Grunge,” the hard-times style that originated in Seattle, WA, and featured such fashions as plaids and ripped denim, baggy clothes, and inexpensive fabrics.
The students applied “The New Grunge” to designs for products in four categories, Wear, Work, Live, and Play. The four winners have been invited to New York to display their design solution in a booth setting during SURTEX, where they will be seen by thousands of attendees, press, and other industry players during the show. One of the four will be named Grand Prize Winner, netting a $1000 bonus and special promotional attention.
Each winner’s portfolio will also be professionally critiqued by the stellar panel of judges, which includes Nancy Fire, founder and creative director of Design Works International; Ronnie Gold, vice president of design, Home Accent Fabrics; David Laubach, design director for Avanti Press Inc.; Bryan Parker, vice president of design at CHF Industries, and Diane Piemonte, vice president of creative services for Revman International.