Bombay Sapphire Design Discovery Award '08

When it comes to design awards, the Bombay Sapphire Design Discovery Award is among the most distinguished on the international scene.
“It’s the richest design prize in Australia and has become the most prestigious within the design community,” says Brian Parkes, associate director of Object Gallery, host to the 2008 awards. With a first-place prize of $30,000 and the opportunity to exhibit at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile (a furniture design fair in Milan), the prizes easily outstrip their competition counterparts. And Parkes believes the opportunity rather than the cold hard cash presents the ultimate prize.
“The extraordinary international exposure is worth a great deal more than the $30,000 cash prize in relation to networking and connections,” he says. Here, the 2008 Sydney finalists talk us through their entry works.

MATTHEW CONWAY - 2LIVESLIGHT

2liveslight is a hanging light formed from a mould, beautiful and balanced. When ‘on’, the light charges swirling line work executed with a glow-in-the-dark pigment on the interior of the shade. When the light is no longer needed it can be dimmed or turned off to reveal the line work form, the second life – a personal work that is innovative and beautiful.

ILIAS FOTOPOULOS - LISTEN AND RECORD:WALLPAPER IN BRAILLE

Listen and Record (on wallpaper in braille) uses role reversal to question ideas of the accessibility of ‘design’. In this instance, once a visually impaired person is used to the size of the typeface, they would be able to read the story told in the wallpaper, whereas a person with sight is excluded from this level of interaction: they remain observers of a tactile pattern that they will touch.

TRENT JANSEN - KISSING PENDANTS

The Kissing Pendants were designed as an expression of the beautiful intimacy that exists between two people when they kiss. When two people kiss they are completely engrossed in each other, each person giving themselves emotionally to the other and losing all concern for what is happening around them.

OLIVER SMITH - ONE: UNIVERSAL UTENSIL

ONE is a fusion of knife, fork and spoon. Conceived through environmentally responsible production processes using a range of materials, this is truly an object for all occasions. Strikingly sculptural on the table, a balanced jewel in the hand and a pleasure to eat with, ONE is functionally and aesthetically an expression of freshness, simplicity, harmony and clarity.

HENRY WILSON - BEDROCK FLOAT

In the Bedrock Float I’ve chosen to use and highlight a low-tech cotton and polyester weave electrical cord, which when impregnated with resin, blends the seemingly soft friendly concrete bagging technique as a base with the lamp cord and stem. The silver crown bulb and in-line dimmer switch gives the lamp both practical applications and a playful energetic nature.