The Nocturnal Beasts collection for outdoor spaces by Yohay Alush, the Fold it table by Alissa Arends, Leon Bucher and Yelim Kim, and The once liquid plastic by Julien Manaira, a poetic project about a time-intensive technique. These are the winners of the Pure Talents Contest respectively first, second and third prize announced on January 15th and chosen from a shortlist of 20 entries among a group of twenty finalist products selected by the jury of the competition, which was composed by Sophie Lovell, journalist, Rianne Makkink, from Studio Makkink & Bey, Tobias Lutz, Managing Director of Architonic, Sebastian Herkner, designer, and Harry Paul van Ierssel, from Studio Harry & Camila. There were also three special mentions: the Liga series, metal storage units by Matthieu Muller and Pierre Alexandre Cesbron, the Varjo lamp system by Umberto Garcia, and Hyperreal by Pia Regenbrecht, a conceptual project on the function/disfunction of objects.
The Annual contest, organized and totally funded by Koelnmesse, offers to students and new graduates of design schools the opportunity to be introduced into the world of production, and has been confirmed over the years as a springboard for young designers, as it was for Sebastian Herkner, this year a member of the jury. The prototypes of the selected projects are exposed to the large audience of professional operators in Hall 3.1. "The history of the competition and the direct contact with the industry are the great advantages of the Pure Talents Contest", says Harry Paul van Ierssel. "After the show, participants immediately confront the companies and the public's judgment".
This year's edition, which celebrates the 15th anniversary with 671 designers from 53 countries, is a comprehensive representation of the international scene, of a generation of upcoming designers from all over the world, RCA London, Design Academy Eindhoven, LASALLE
Singapore, ECAL, Aalto University, Konstfack Stockholm, Pratt Institute NY,
ArtCenter Pasadena, Karlsruhe University of Art and Design, Kassel College of Fine Arts (KHK), UdK Berlin and so many others, who presented projects and prototypes not yet in production in the categories of furniture, home accessories, lighting, upholstery and fabric, kitchen, and home automation.
