Surtex student winners announced  

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 3/18/2008 12:44:00 PM

White Plains, N.Y. – From more than 100 student entries stemming from 22 schools worldwide, a jury of design industry professionals has selected the Surtex 2008 International Student Design Competition winners.

All winning entries and honorable mentions will be featured in a gallery display at the upcoming Surtex show May 18-20 at New York’s Javits Convention Center.

The $1,000 grand prize was awarded to Zoe Nemetz, who is enrolled in Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, for her personal stationery design titled Fly Away. Her inspiration, she said, came from travel and flight and “the more personal connection” embodied in letter-writing.

First place in the Home Elements section was won by Katrina Cordiale from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, for her Eau-de-Vie collection of window shade, wallpaper, towel trim, tissue box, tiles and bath mat items. She said she was influenced by “the rapid movement of life underwater causing the flashing, overlapping and interlocking of colors.” Judges cited her design’s clean lines, timely colors and appropriate scaling, and overall for its “fresh and inviting” feel.

First place in Commercial Interior went to Phil Grindley of Stockport College, Design and Visual Arts, in Manchester, U.K. for Contemporary Spaces, a collection of wall mural designs with decorative motifs. Grindley’s design was cited for its “sophistication, scale and outstanding execution” of suggested motion and play on perspective.

First place in Stationery/Paper Products/Craft went to Emily Cox from Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Ga., for her Traveling Circus. This collection of what she said are “celebration” paper products was inspired by Victorian circus imagery that judges described as “reminiscent of a French storybook.”