The Rising Talent Awards is one of the most important and anticipated events of Maison&Objet. Organised with the collaboration of DesignChain, it offers young designers a launch pad to make themselves known throughout the world by showing their works.
In the past the protagonists of the competition have been dedicated to aspiring designers from the United Kingdom, Italy and Lebanon, while the 2019 edition is dedicated to China. The expositions will be held at the Parc des Expositions in Paris Nord Villepinte and the jury is composed of six well-known professionals: Neri&Hu, Luca Nichetto, Tom Dixon, Liu Xu, QU GuangCi and XING Tong-He.
The Asian market is in rapid growth and appreciation of design is intensifying year after year, with an ever surging demand and an increase in young people approaching this sector. Among the participants, different philosophies and approaches are intertwined, but they are always on the lookout for innovation without neglecting the roots deriving from the Chinese tradition.
Jury member Lyndon Neri from Neri&Hu says: “With the rapid growth of the Chinese economy and the need for a specific cultural expression, we are seeing a large number of emerging designers who are starting to use their own language to deal with the issues of cultural heritage and identity.”
There are a total of six participants in Rising Talent 2019, five of them selected by the jury of the award and one chosen through a ‘Call For Entry’.
Frank Chou, Chen Furong, Mario Tsai, Hongjie Yang, Ximi Li and Bentu are some of the brightest names in Chinese design today.
The Italian designer, on the other hand, reveals: “The most interesting thing is the search for identity by the Chinese designers, who refuse to assimilate to the canons of western design and prefer to explore the rich and centuries-old heritage of the tradition of local craftsmanship. Many clues – concludes Nichetto – indicate that this could be the right direction: I am very curious to see the future developments.”
