Design Miami/ Basel and W Hotels Worldwide Name Second Annual Award Recipients
Official Announcement of the Award Winners for 2011 Took Place This Morning at Salone del Mobile
MILAN, Italy, April 25, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- W Hotels Worldwide continues its successful collaboration with Design Miami/ Basel with the announcement of the 2011 Designers of the Future Award. This event marks the second occasion that the two organizations have collaborated on the award, having announced the coveted award along with their partnership at Salone del Mobile in Milan one year ago.
The Designers of the Future Award, originally launched by Design Miami/ Basel in 2006, recognizes young, emerging designers whose work reflects exceptional innovation and beauty in limited-edition design. The winners named today will go on to present their work at Basel in June. W Hotels, a leader in design and innovation, further backs the award by allowing for the award winners to carry out their legacy in various W Hotels around the world.
“We are very excited to take the partnership with Design Miami/ Basel and the W Hotels Designer of the Future Award into its second year,” said Eva Ziegler, Global Brand Leader of W Hotels Worldwide and Le Méridien. “Salone del Mobile exhibits the design world’s finest, and recognizing the W Hotels Designer of the Future here at the 'Global Mecca of Design' is a great introduction to the next stage of their careers.”
The 2011 “W Hotels Designers of the Future Award” looks beyond traditional product and furniture design, seeking work that is truly groundbreaking and innovative. This year, the recognized designers draw inspiration from “Conversation Pieces,” a theme provided to the design candidates by Design Miami/ Basel. The 2011 Award winners include: UK-based designer Asif Khan, Austrian design team Mischer’Traxler, and Studio Juju in Singapore.
The 2011 Designers of the Future international jury was comprised of Wava Carpenter, Associate Director, Design Miami/; Aric Chen, Beijing Design Week; Li Edelkoort, Edelkoort Inc.; Marcus Fairs, Editor-in-Chief, Dezeen.com; Alexis Georgacopoulos, Director of the Ecole cantonale d'art de Lausanne; Constance Rubini, School of Decorative Arts, Paris; Kenya Hara, Creative Director, Muji; Konstantin Grcic, KGID; Zoe Ryan, Art Institute of Chicago; and Mike Tiedy, SVP, Global Brand Design & Innovation, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc, the parent company of W Hotels.
2010 W Hotels Designer of the Future Awards were presented to Beta Tank, Graham Hudson, rAndom International, and Zigelbaum + Coelho. W Hotels created a global platform for these designers, helping them take their work from a conceptual stage to a level where they can expose their work to consumers and design enthusiasts alike. The winners traveled to W locations across the globe during key design weeks, setting up on-site installations at W Barcelona, W Doha and showcasing their work at Istanbul Design week.
Zigelbaum + Coelho and rAndom International, were also integrated at the W Taipei Premiere Event (W Taipei’s Grand Opening Event) in March 2011, where rAndom International created a permanent installation for this hotel. For the months ahead, Zigelbaum + Coelho has been commissioned for the St. Petersburg Premiere Event in June 2011.
When the W brand opened its first hotel in New York in 1998, it transformed the meaning of hotels and established itself as the clear leader in the contemporary lifestyle hotel space. W Hotels strives for cutting-edge, future-forward design, inspired by the location and executed through unique collaborations with upcoming and well-known creative talents. From the Ottoman-referenced glam of a jewel box of W Istanbul to the design inspired by the dual personality of the British man at the recently-opened W London - Leicester Square, each new W Hotel is guided by Starwood’s in-house design team and is then fueled and delivered by a unique collaboration between designers, architects, graphic designers, photographers, stylists and W’s Global Fashion and Music Directors.
The W brand’s global growth fosters opportunities for new design partnerships with established as well as upcoming designers. For W St. Petersburg, which will mark the debut of W Hotels in Russia when it opens this spring, W partnered with acclaimed architects and designers Antonio Citterio & Partners to blend contemporary style with Russia’s elegant traditions. The first W Hotel in Paris, W Paris - Opera debuts in early 2012 with interiors by Rockwell Group Europe (RGe). Diego Gronda, Managing and Creative Director of RGe, the Madrid satellite office of New York’s Rockwell Group founded by David Rockwell, is leading the design, which takes its inspiration from Paris, the City of Light, combined with the energy of New York, where W Hotels was born resulting into a creative idea called “The Spark”
These new hotels join the W brand’s already prestigious European and Middle Eastern portfolio, which includes W Istanbul by architect/designer Geomim and W Doha Hotel & Residences, which merges traditional Arabian imagery with the signature contemporary cool of W Hotels, by London-based United Designers. The W brand’s European flagship and first hotel in Western Europe, W Barcelona, was designed by Ricardo Bofill and is already established as a modern-day landmark with its signature full-sail architectural shape.
Rounding out the brand’s stellar design partner roster is Clodagh (W Fort Lauderdale); Tony Chi (W Santiago); Glamorous Corp. and g+a (W Hong Kong); Graft (W New York - Downtown); Yabu Pushelberg (W New York - Times Square renovation); Thom Filicia (W Atlanta – Buckhead and W San Diego and W Los Angeles - Westwood renovations); Patricia Uriquola (W Retreat & Spa - Vieques Island);
About W Hotels Worldwide
W Hotels is a contemporary, design-led lifestyle brand and the industry innovator with 41 hotels and retreats in the most vibrant cities and exotic destinations around the world. Inspiring, iconic, innovative and influential, W Hotels provides the ultimate in insider access, offering a unique mix of cutting-edge design and passions around fashion, music and entertainment. W Hotels offers a holistic lifestyle experience that is integrated into the brand’s sensibility through contemporary restaurant concepts, glamorous entertainment experiences, stylish retail concepts and signature spas. With more than 12 years of proven success, W Hotels is on track to reach more than 50 hotels by the end of 2012. W Hotels and W Retreats have been announced for Paris, St. Petersburg, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Abu Dhabi, Bangkok, Athens – Astir Palace, and Verbier, among other international destinations. For more information, visit www.whotels.com.
About Design Miami/
Design Miami/ is the most prominent and substantive forum for collectible design, representing a convergence of commerce and culture. Its annual shows in Basel, Switzerland (June) and Miami, USA (December) bring together the most influential galleries, collectors, designers, critics and curators from around the world. For more information please visit www.designmiami.com.
