4th CAESARSTONE DESIGN AWARD COMPETITION
Real & Simple
A place for the range of what our lives are about
The final set of entries showcased in Caesarstone’s 4th Design Award unearthed the dynamic and innovators designers of South Africa’s design future. Students excelled in honing their acquired design skills to create a place for the range of what our lives are about. CaesarStone, leading quartz surface pioneers, announced the winner of the competition on 1st September 2011 at The Venue in Melrose Arch.
The Caesarstone Student Designer of 2011 is Wouter Basson, student from Tshwane University of Technology, Department of Interior Design. Winning lecturer is Rene Kotze. The winner and the lecturer of the winning student will be winging their way to Israel, home of Caesarstone. The prize, handsomely valued at R50,000.00, includes airfare, accommodation and spending money. iRender awarded the winning student with software to the value of R20,000.00.
A merit award of R5000.00 was the prize for the second prize winner. This year the merit award winner was awarded to Tarquin Van Der Westhuizen from BHC School of Design Department of Interior Design, the lecturer being Marga Nagel.
A special mention award which was given to Eloise Van Dyk, from Tshwane University of Technology Department of Architecture her lecturer being Marinda Bolt. The winner of this award received a cheque for R3 000.00.
The brief for Real & Simple was conceptualized by Janina Masojada of designworkshop:sa. As the original inventor and first global company to use natural quartz in the manufacture of its surfaces, Caesarstone’s brief had to reflect the perfect harmony between sustainability and style.The brief did not dictate maximum or minimal usage of the Caesarstone product but asked students to create spatial and visual solutions by breaking preconceptions.
Trevor King, marketing director of Caesarstone comments: “The emerging design talent is an inspiration for the industry and this year the entries set a new benchmark. The thought processes and respective applications stretch beyond the expected work of tertiary design students.”
JUDGES’ COMMENTS
Janina Masojada of designworkshop:sa coments on the winning entry
In the winning scheme the strongest thing is how simple the big idea was and how it has been carried through in the outcome of the detail. There is not a huge range of materials which is one of the judging criteria. We wanted the space to be the primary experiential generator. This scheme is clever because it does not respond most obviously to what the brief has set out. The strong points of this scheme is the social conscience and individual choice.
Dorothy Van’t Riet of DVR comments on the merit award
Very interesting and well articulated. The design issues were resolved extremely well and that it met the brief in an uncluttered process. The client and designer met because the client was a piano player and a professional surfer. The two peoples minds and souls coming together under one roof. The black and white piano keys were so cleverly used in the architectural scheme in horizontal and linear lines. There was a wholeness in design.
Darren Bester of It Is Design comments on the special mention
This is a concept of a client who is an environmentalist and a civil engineer and taking the two different spheres and bringing them together. This project is architecturally very sound. It is built up of the five boxes but it has taken Caesarstone to the next level. So basically it was with the experimentation of Caesarstone and hatched to develop a certain product so within each one of these spaces Caesarstone had been used to the optimum to actually give the experience.
