SURTEX® designext® Student Competition
Grand Prize Awarded
White Plains, NY (May 22, 2017) — Jiran Xia was named the grand prize winner today of the designext® international student competition, sponsored by and held at SURTEX, honoring art and design students for exceptional surface design work. The four competition finalists, chosen from nearly 200 entries submitted from colleges and universities all over the world, attended and were given a display space at the show, running at the Jacob K. Javits Center, New York through tomorrow.
Jiran Xia, was born and raised in Jin Jiang, China, and has a background in Chinese painting and calligraphy. She is currently a senior pursuing a BFA in fashion and textile design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
“The designext competition is a recognized avenue for students to gain exposure in the professional arena, network with other artists and gain valuable exposure to buyers and agents from around the world,” said Jill Campbell, vice president of marketing, Emerald Expositions. “We are continually amazed at the level of talent and creativity displayed by the entrants.”
Other finalists included:
• Louise Towers, a third-year student majoring in printed textiles and surface pattern design at Leeds College of Art in the U.K.
• Meredith West, a graduate student in the fibers and surface design program at North Carolina State University, College of Design.
• Cassie Suche, a junior attending Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario, who previously pursued a fine arts degree at Mount Allison University before moving into graphic design at the Rhode Island School of Design as a trustee merit scholar.
This year’s theme was GEO – a combination of natural geode stones and modern geometric shapes. The challenge was to create six original designs to be applied to the surface of products and presented as a collection from one of the following categories: Wear, Work, Live or Play. This popular design style became an important trend this year and will continue to be seen throughout the fall of 2018.
Judges for the competition, now in its 31st year, were: Nancy Fire, creative director and founder, Design Works International; Bonnie Mackay, creative consultant, BMackay Consulting; Stacy Garcia, founder and chief inspiration officer, Stacy Garcia, Inc; and Diane Piemonte, independent design consultant.
Artists and designers from around the world gathered at SURTEX May 21-23. Manufacturers, retailers and licensees attending the show look to these artists, global design studios and licensing agents to source surface art and textile designs for products in virtually every category.
For more information on SURTEX, visit the website.
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About SURTEX
SURTEX is the annual tradeshow for the surface design industry, bringing together owners and creators of surface design (artists/designers/studios/agents/brands/licensors) with manufacturers, retailers, licensees and marketers utilizing surface design for product development needs. Since 1986, SURTEX has been the single event and global resource offering the full scope of art selling and licensing under one roof. The show connects nearly 200 exhibitors featuring thousands of creative works by artists and designers from around the world, with more than 4,500 total attendees, including crossover attendance from the co-located National Stationery Show® and ICFF®. For information and registration, visit www.surtex.com.
SURTEX is owned and operated by Emerald Expositions, the largest operator of business-to-business trade shows in the United States, with most of our shows dating back several decades. country as ranked by TSNN, as well as numerous other events. Our events connect over 500,000 global attendees and exhibitors and occupy more than 6.5 million NSF of exhibition space. We have been recognized with many awards and accolades that reflect our industry leadership as well as the importance of our shows to the exhibitors and attendees we serve.
For Media Inquiries:
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