Upcycling and the closed-substance cycle: Heimtextil underscores the importance of sustainability for interior design
Holistic room concepts included for the first time
From upholstered furniture, via wall coverings, to complete room concepts: with the results of the ‘Young Creations Awards: Upcycling’, Heimtextil (12 to 15 January 2016) demonstrates the multifarious applications open to creative upcycling. On the first day of the fair, 12 January 2016, the international trade fair for home and contract textiles in Frankfurt am Main presented this award for young talents focusing on the closed-substance cycle for the fourth year running. The awards went to five young designers from Italy, Great Britain and Germany. Chosen by a jury of upcycling and design experts, the winners are Katrin Krupka from Potsdam and Marina Varfolomeeva from Milan.
“The subject of sustainability has also been an important aspect of the fair for some years and is more than just a short-lived trend for us. With the competition, we have once again succeeded in creating a platform that draws the attention of trade and industry to young designers”, said Ulrike Wechsung, Heimtextil Director, during the awards ceremony. With over 26 entries, the competition proved very popular among up-and-coming designers, interior architects and interior decorators – especially from European academies.
Winner of the new ‘Room concept’ category from Milan
A new feature of our award is the opening of the competition to master students and young master craftsmen from the interior-decoration trade. Accordingly, Heimtextil has expanded the competition to include the ‘Room Concepts’ category. The first winner of the new category is Marina Varfolomeeva of the Domus Academy in Milan with her project entitled ‘Renewal Room’. She skilfully took up the challenge of creating a complete room under the upcycling motto.
Celebrations in London, Oldenburg, Potsdam and Schneeberg
The winner in the ‘Contract’ category is Katrin Krupka, a graduate student of Potsdam University of Applied Sciences for her project entitled ‘Recreate Textiles – Collection of Materials made from Industrial Cotton Waste’. “The successful project is based on uncompromisingly applied scientific principles and extensive research into materials”, said the jury. “In the final analysis, the designer focused her material study on industrial waste. In this way, she has formed a creative basis in the sense of upcycling with a wide variety of potential new applications.”
Second prize went to Detlef Nordemann of Oldenburg Chamber of Commerce for his project, ‘Loom’, an armchair creation based on the backrest of a chair and a big cushion. In third place came Wuthigrai Siriphon of the Royal College of Art in London with his project, ‘Hand-woven textiles for next-generation craftspeople’. With recycled plastic threads, he has breathed new life into an almost extinct handicraft whereby, fully in the sense of upcycling, he replaces yarn with plastic threads to create a multi-functional 3D fabric that can be used, for example, as a room divider or wall.
Additionally, the Heimtextil management gave a special award to Lars Dahlitz of the Faculty for Applied Art in Schneeberg for his project entitled ‘Furniture from old wood. An experimental furniture series with individual pieces’ in which he transformed old wine barrels into new seats.
Upcycling special show: inspiration for the taking until Friday!
Heimtextil visitors and exhibitors can still gain inspiration from the ideas of the young designers. The creative projects are to be seen in a special exhibition in Hall 4.2 (Stand G91) until Friday.
Further information about the ‘Young Creations Award: Upcycling’ and Heimtextil at:
www.heimtextil.messefrankfurt.com
Information about the worldwide textile fairs of Messe Frankfurt: www.texpertise-network.com
