The annual award celebrates forward-thinking design talent breaking boundaries within the categories of Lighting, Home Décor and Architectural Surfaces and Building Materials.
Announced today (11 April), this year’s winners are Shanghai-born installation artist Juju Wang; Netherlands-based designers Studio Klarenbeek & Dros; and London bespoke lighting designer Raffe Burrell.
The designers were invited to Swarovski Kristallwelten in Austria, and granted free reign of the crystal innovator’s resources to design newly commissioned works. Working closely with Swarovski’s engineers and master cutters, the works will embody the brand’s latest crystal technologies.
‘Working with the Swarovski experts is something invaluable, it’s not really an opportunity that comes along every day,’ Raffe Burrell explains. ‘It’s incredible working with people that know exactly what they’re talking about.’
Studio Klarenbeek & Dros will challenge the use of space with their installation, experimenting with 3D crystal printing. ‘In this time of big changes, we’re not only developing materials, we’re not only developing products, but we’re also developing the whole infrastructure and the social coherence around it with the aim of positive change, and that’s thrilling,’ finds the Danish design duo, whose designs seek to ‘bring together local production, people and their environments.’
Juju Wang, meanwhile, took inspiration from Swarovski’s sustainable ethos. ‘I know that [sustainability is] embedded in the DNA of Swarovski, but I think it just makes the brand really attractive,’ she finds.
The new pieces will debute for the first time at Design Miami/Basel in June. They will demonstrate an investigation into sustainability, but will also highlight the scientific and visual value of the crystal.
Writer: Luke Halls
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