We get to be involved in many exciting projects that range from sitting on panels to discuss an emerging generation of jewellers to working with companies to help establish their brand architecture and develop strategies to inspire growth within particular areas of their jewellery business. We also get to set design briefs for jewellery competitions and earlier this year, we were asked to set the design brief for the Lonmin Design Innovation Award 2013. We settled on one of our Adorn Insight Urban trends, New Frontiers, as we felt this would best showcase the intrinsic values of Platinum. The trend itself was inspired by groundbreaking design movements such as Modernism, Bauhaus and Art Deco which looked to a bright new future whilst producing design relevant to contemporary lifestyles.
The designers were asked to design a piece of jewellery with platinum as the hero of the story. We suggested that they push both material and medium forward by subverting or evolving the conventions of traditional platinum jewellery. We asked the entrants to consider the overall impact of their final piece with a particular focus on form and silhouette and also consider the idea of movement. We wanted function (fastening, mounts, claws etc) to be important and aesthetically satisfying and not purely decorative.
We were delighted with the results but together with a panel of discerning judges decided on our finalists.
In the ‘Emerging Designers’ category- for jewellery designers with less than five years’ commercial
experience the three winners were: Siobhan Mayer, from Domino Jewellery, Sarah Heulwen Lewis, from Weston Beamor and Craig & Rebecca Struthers, from Struthers London.
In the ‘Established Designers’ category – for jewellery designers in the business for more than five years – the winners were: Luke Rose, from Luke Rose Jewellery, Rachel Galley,from Rachel Galley Jewellery and Kasun Ekanayake, from Kasun London.
The finished pieces were on show at IJL in September 2013
Wilma Smarts, Head of Marketing at Lonmin, was equally thrilled with the results.
“The theme ‘New Frontiers’ broke new grounds in originality for the Design Innovation Awards this year offering the designers just the right balance of direction and freedom to fashion extraordinary beautiful pieces, showcasing our hero metal, platinum, at its best. The winning designs are sensational and inspirational but at the same time wearable, which we were absolutely delighted to see. Every year we are delighted to see that the standard of the designs get better and better, and 2013 was no exception. I believe the additional guidance on theme by Adorn Insight has lead to this year being one of the strongest years for design in the 11 years the award has been running”.
Designer: Siobhan Maher
Designer Rachel Galley
Designer: Luke Rose
Designer: Kasun Ekanayake
Designer: Sarah Heulwen
Designer: Craig & Rebecca Struthers
Words: Juliet Hutton-Squire
Images: Lonmin
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SOURCE:http://www.adorn-london.com/jewelry-trends/lonmin-design-innovation-award/
