Design Miami/ and Swarovski have announced the recipients of the 2016 Swarovski Designers of the Future Award: sound artist Yuri Suzuki from Japan, based in London; glass artist Anjali Srinivasan from India, based in Dubai; and German-Icelandic design duo Studio Brynjar & Veronika, based in Berlin. New works by the winners, commissioned by Swarovski, will debut at the 11th edition of Design Miami/ Basel held June 14-19, 2016.
Drawing upon the current need for designers to address the quality of interaction between people and the designed world around them, the winning designers in 2016 must interpret “betterment” as part of their Swarovski commissions. The ultimate aim of their piece is to create an experience at Design Miami/ Basel that offers an ideal proposal for designing for life and future living.
This is the second time Swarovski and the fair have collaborated on this prominent contemporary design award, which was first established in 2006. The Swarovski Designers of the Future Award acknowledges emerging studios and designers who are actively expanding design culture through experimentation with cutting-edge technologies.
The award offers a new generation of talent the opportunity to develop projects on a large scale and to explore resources that are often unattainable for emerging practices. Supported by Swarovski, the designers are given free rein to explore imaginative new design solutions.
The resulting works will be unveiled to an influential audience of collectors, curators, designers, critics, gallerists and journalists at Design Miami/ Basel 2016 which runs June 14-19 in Hall 1 Sud, Messeplatz, Basel, Switzerland. Previous winners include Studio Swine, Tomás Alonso, Elaine Yan Ling Ng, Max Lamb, Asif Khan, Philippe Malouin, Raw Edges, Random International, Martino Gamper and Bethan Laura Wood.
Yuri Suzuki commented: “I’m really looking forward to working on my commission. My audience can be quite wide-ranging, from very tech-focused people to musicians, but this is a precious opportunity for me to show and exchange ideas as part of a global design platform. I’m very excited to start investigating how the vibrations in crystals can be interpreted as sound. Exploring the Swarovski archives to look at past innovations has been invaluable research.”
Studio Brynjar & Veronika commented: “It was so exciting to visit Wattens and we loved seeing how the crystal was made. It’s a sort of a form of alchemy, the way Swarovski creates this really beautiful substance from natural materials, yet using these high tech processes. It’s a mystical, magical place, and it has left us feeling really inspired for this project. We love to dive into new mediums and crystal is a whole new challenge.”
Anjali Srinivasan commented: “Crystal is a highly engaging material because it is a solid object that creates visual effects that you cannot touch. I’m looking forward to continuing to explore this crossroads between physical and optical phenomena in my work. I’m also fascinated by the challenge of creating human-centric design, so I’m excited to further explore this relationship between material and data and people”.
Rodman Primack, executive director of Design Miami/ stated: “The Swarovski Designers of the Future Award aims to highlight diverse and technologically vanguard approaches to design through the work of designers that are not yet household names.
“This year’s laureates speak to the breadth of the field, with explorations into sound design, glasswork and the act of storytelling through design. We are very excited to experience the results of Swarovski’s commissions and look forward to seeing how this award will impact their individual practices and their trajectory.”
The 2016 Swarovski Designers of the Future Award winners were selected by a jury of leading figures in the design world, including Nadja Swarovski, Member of the Swarovski Executive Board; Deyan Sudjic, Director of the Design Museum in London; Zoe Ryan, Curator of Architecture and Design at the Art Institute Chicago; Li Edelkoort, trend forecaster and Director of Parsons Interdisciplinary Design Program; Asif Khan, Architect; and Alexandra Cunningham Cameron, Special Projects, Design Miami/.
