The Ridou Report

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Just Noticed: A Full Moon Rising

More Recent Prizes for Finnish Designers

From Aalto University website(http://www.aalto.fi/en/current//news/view/2013-04-29-003-01/):

Satu Maaranen wins first prize at Hyères Fashion Festival competition
29.04.2013

Master of Arts Satu Maaranen, who graduated from the Department of Design of
the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, has won the Grand
Prix at the Hyères Fashion Festival with her collection for women. The prize is
worth EUR 15 000. The inspiration for Maaranen's Garment in Landscape
collection was landscape and its artistic interpretation. In addition, the prize
includes EUR 3 000 from the Ra concept store and a collection to be produced in
cooperation with Petit Bateau. The top fashion houses are interested in
Maaranen and her collection.

The judges were unanimous in their view that Satu Maaranen’s collection was

superior. They were also unanimous in their decision of the winner.

“Satu Maaranen’s work with the material that she uses completely convinced us.

Her use of colours is also strong”, said Felipe Oliveira Baptista, the head

of the panel of judges.

“Aalto University has made it to the top tier of the most internationally

interesting fashion schools! Aalto University is the first school whose students

have won this competition in two consecutive years. Our success is the result of

persevering and goal-oriented teaching and development of education. We give

our students creative freedom, support, and encouragement, but much is also

demanded of them”, says Professor Pirjo Hirvonen, Head of the Department of

Design.

One of the most prestigious competitions in the field

The event, which has been held at the famous Villa Noailles in Hyères on the

French Riviera already since the early 1980s, is considered one of the world's

most prestigious competitions in the field. The contest is organised by the same

producers and casting directors who are behind shows put on by large fashion

houses such as Chanel and Balenciaga at Paris Fashion Week.

Each year the panels of judges in the competition are composed of some of the

most influential international figures in the fashion business. This year, the

panel was presided over by Felipe Oliveira Baptista. The works in the

competition were showcased on three different days in three different shows to

fashion professionals, experts, and the public at large.

The competition has served as a springboard for many international names in

design, such as Viktor & Rolf, the main designer of Thierry Mulger Romain

Kremer, Felipe Oliveira Baptista, and Henrik Vibskov.

Satu Maaranen was chosen as one of the ten finalists, who had been chosen

from among 355 entries. The 28e Festival International de Mode & de

Photographie Hyères 2013 took place on 26 29 April 2013 in Villa Noilles,

France.

Prize in 2012 as well

In 2012, three young clothing design students from the Aalto University School of

Arts, Design and Architecture won the main prize at the Hyères Fashion

Festival. At that time second-year students Siiri Raasakka, Tiia Sirén and Elina

Laitinen won the Grand Prix for their men's fashion collection, whose

fundamental idea was an imaginary urban tribe of nomads. Now the three

had been invited to display a collection that they had been working on in the

past year called “The Voice of Unheard”, which the head of the festival Jean-Pierre

Blanc said was “full of creative energy” and ready for commercialisation.

The collection will be displayed again at the Paris Men’s Fashion Week

in the summer of 2013.

Left: Satu Maaranen design,
Right: Ruusakka, Sirén, Laitinen design
.

Above: Satu Maaranen design,
Below: Ruusakka, Sirén, Laitinen design
.

In Need of Paint

Premio Faenza Contemporary Ceramics Prize

Artist Päivi Rintaniemi from Finland has just won the Faenza Prize for the 'Over 40' category

(- I must say I do not really like this kind of sectioning -):

from http://www.micfaenza.org/en/mostre/257-58-premio-faenza.php :

"On 15^th April 2013 the Jury meet to select the awarded works among about one hundred finalists,

coming from all over the world. All the works represent the contemporary languages

and face the subjects of nowadays themes.

The Faenza Prize for the Section “over 40” has been awarded to the Finnish artist Päivi

Rintaniemi with the work Avis (2012 ) for the following reason: “The purity of the work Avis,

an excellent result between essentiality and refinement, focuses the deepness and maturity of

the research of the Finnish artist. She found inspiration in the primordial shape of the vessel and found

an effective synthesis between fragility and strength, between formal and informal”

The Faenza Prize for the section “under 40” has been awarded to the Italian Nero/Alessandro

Neretti with the work The new Apostles that is economical and structural landscapes (2012)

for the following reason: “the work is fully contemporary in the shape and poetic. The artist’s

skillfulness to combine different material, together with his aptitude to face nowadays social

subjects, offer several and new possibilities to understand the work. It is characterised

by the cohabitation of different languages and artistic experiences,

underlying the maturity of the artist”."

(I'm a bit cranky today; I wish they'd spent some of the considerable prize money on decent translation...)

Faenza Prize for the Section “over 40” -
Päivi Rintaniemi (Finland) with the work
Avis (2012 )
.

Here are my favourites from the many other special prize winners:

The medal of the President of the Italian Senate -
Jane King (UK) for the work
Untitled (2012)
.

Faenza Prize for the section “under 40” -
Nero/Alessandro Neretti (Italy) with the work
The new Apostles that is economical and structural landscapes (2012)
.