Update!! The 20 finalists are: Sofie Aschan (Lund School of Industrial Design, MFA), Dirk Vosding (Schulen für Holz und Gestaltung), Tatu Laakso (Aalto University), Albane Hundevad (Hochschule Kaiserslautern), Axel Hauk (FH Aachen), Elie Fazel (ECAL), Francesca Giulia Poli and Seppe Van Heusden (Lund University School of Industrial Design), Haiming Li (Central Saint Martins), Jacob Starley (Brigham Young University), Johannes Valentin Breuer (ECAL), Kieren Swinden (Kingston University), Konrad Jünger and Verena Kühn (Kunsthochschule Berlin Weißensee), Lizzy Stuyfzand (Royal College of Art), Luiza Guidi Tomio (Design Academy Eindhoven), Matteo Bauer-Bornemann (Hfbk Hamburg), Nils Ahrenberg (Design Academy Eindhoven), Steven Dahlinger (University of Applied Arts Vienna), Studio Ertel & Oberkrome (Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe), Tomi Laukkanen (Royal College of Art), and Yasemin Songur (The Swedish School of Textiles).
New living environments post-corona
The coronavirus pandemic poses new challenges for the Pure Talents Contest (PTC), the competition for up-and-coming designers hosted by imm cologne. These are challenges that the organisers are happy to face with the assistance of all those involved in the competition as an opportunity for the trade fair to give the creative economy its full backing in making a fresh start.
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and it will be a very special design contest that reflects the accelerated evolution of a digital future. Once again young creatives from across the world are invited to submit their individual or group works for a highly diverse range of furniture categories. The Pure Talents Contest can serve as the springboard for a successful career for them. Many former contestants have launched their design careers via the Pure Talents Contest. Given the challenging conditions under which the current competition will be held, ensuring a strong international dimension is a particular concern for the organisers.
As the organisers are striving to ensure equal opportunities for all contestants and they currently have to assume that travel will be subject to different restrictions in different regions of the world, competition entries will be submitted digitally, and the presentation of the nominees to the jury and at the event will also take place exclusively via digital media. In addition to the prize money for the winners and the fully sponsored presentation of their designs at a special exhibition at imm cologne and LivingKitchen 2021, the nominees will benefit from additional PR measures and will be granted access to the trade fair’s exclusive networking tools. This will allow them to strengthen their presence at the trade fair and guarantee them opportunities to successfully make contact with potential producers.
The Pure Talents Contest, organised by imm cologne, one of the largest tradeshows for interior design worldwide, is one of the most prestigious awards for young product designers.
In the past seventeen years, a total of 476 products by 526 designers from all over the world have been presented at imm cologne as part of the contest exhibition.
The renowned jury will review the applications and nominate a shortlist of up to 20 products, which will be presented in an exhibition at imm cologne 2021.
For the LivingKitchen Selection, up to six kitchen concepts will be chosen and showcased in a separate exhibition as part of LivingKitchen 2021.
The day before the fair opens, the jury will crown the top three shortlisted entries to the Pure Talents Contest 2021 and the winner of the LivingKitchen Selection competition.
Product categories: Furniture | Home Accessories | Lighting | Floor Coverings, Wallpapers and Textiles | Smart Home
The following categories will be open for submissions for the LivingKitchen Selection: Kitchen Concepts | Concepts for Electrical Appliances | Kitchen Accessories and Kitchen Utensils
Jury
- Eva Marguerre, INTERDISCIPLINARY DESIGN STUDIO, HAMBURG
- Sebastian Herkner, Designer, Offenbach
- Jennifer Reaves, Geschäftsführung DesignFest
- Johannes Hünig, Editor at IDEAT Magazine, Hamburg
- Ana Relvão, RELVĀOKELLERMANN, Designer München
- Norbert Ruf, Creative Director, Thonet, Frankenberg
Participation
- The competition is open to design students and designers that graduated within the last three years (after January 1, 2017).
- Design teams are also invited to participate however each team may only have a maximum of three members and all members of the group must be named during the online registration on the website of imm cologne and have to fulfil the requirements of the competition.
- There are no limitations regarding the age or origin of the designers applying for the competition.
- It is only allowed to enter prototypes for the competition, concepts or rendered models will not be taken into account during the selection process for the exhibition.
- The participation in the Pure Talents Contest is free of charge.
For further details please see the ‘conditions of participation’ published on the website of imm cologne.
Award and prize money
- Within the final jury the first three winners of the competition are selected and awarded with a prize money of -
€ 3,000 for the 1st Prize
€ 2,000 for the 2nd Prize
€ 1,000 for the 3rd Prize
€ 3,000 for the 1st Prize for the LivingKitchen Selection
Plus -€1,000 for the Audience Prize
- Koelnmesse makes reasonable financial and organisational support available to the exhibition participants for the transport of their products.
- Koelnmesse bears the costs for insuring the products that are presented in the exhibition.
Important Dates
- Closing date for application: September 17 2020 - extension until Thursday September 24 2020
- Nominee selection: Early October 2020
- Announcement of the nominees: Mid-October 2020
- Jury Session: January 17 2021
- Award Ceremony: January 18 2021
- Duration of the exhibition: January 18-24 2021
Contact address for enquiries and submissions:
Beyer Roth Weis GbR
Mrs. Natalie Weis and Mrs. Antonia Roth
Krieler Strasse 56, 50935 Cologne
Tel. +49 221 64 00 93 80
award@beyer-roth-weis.de
Link for submitting entries imm-cologne.com/puretalentscontest
