Wilkhahn had three reasons to be delighted about the INDE.Award 2017, which was held for the first time in Asia Pacific. Architect William Smart and his team, who won the Wilkhahn-sponsored The Luminary people’s choice prize and The Building accolade, also collected the event’s main Winner – Best of the Best award for their Indigo Slam project.
The Indigo Slam project concerns a villa for the Australian art collector and gallery owner Judith Nielsen whose White Rabbit gallery specialises in Chinese art. Smart Design Studio turned the former warehouse into a house that could be interpreted as a piece of sculpture to be lived in. Sculpturally shaped openings to let the daylight in showcase the generous-sized rooms in an exciting way. Indigo Slam refers to the thriller of the same name by American author Robert Crais.
The gala event was held in the Carriageworks arts centre in Sydney on 30 June 2017 and attracted the who’s who of the Australian design scene. But the prestigious panel of judges also added a touch of glamour and charisma to the proceedings with creative stars from throughout the world such as American designer Stephen Burks (Stephen Burks Man Made, New York), Chinese designers Lyndon Neri and Rosanna Hu (Neri&Hu, Shanghai) or Danish architect Jan Utzon (Utzon Architects).
The INDE.Awards took place for the first time in 2017: hosted by the region’s major design media house, Indesign Media Asia Pacific, 11 awards were presented in nine themed and two regional categories alongside the main Best of the Best award. Over 400 submissions were sent in. The goal of the awards is to boost the region’s creative potential and standard of design and make them better known to an international public. Or to put it in Indesign Media’s words: “We want to place the Asia Pacific region’s design on the global stage”.
The following prizes were awarded:
Winner in The Luminary category (sponsored by Wilkhahn): William Smart, Smart Design Studio
Winner in The Building category: Indigo Slam, Smart Design Studio
Winner in The Design Studio category: Austin Maynard Architects
Winner in The Object category: Hup Hup Chair, SKEEHAN Studio
Winner in The Influencer category: Central Seat & Drinking Fountain, Steendijk for Embassy Living
Winner in The Work Space category: Slack Melbourne Office, Breathe Architecture
Winner in the Launch Pad Australia category: PLICO, Dora Ferenczi
Winner in The Living Space category: Cornwall Gardens, CHANG Architects
Winner in the Launch Pad Asia category: Never Mind Tableware Series, Jonathan Saphiro Salim
Winner in The Social Space category: Humming Puppy, Karen Abernethy Architects
Winner in the Best of the Best category (across all categories): Indigo Slam, Smart Design Studio
The judges comprised:
Sue Carr (Carr, Australia), Chan Ee Mun (WOHA, Singapore), Paul McGillick (design editor-in-chief and author, Australia), Adele Winteridge (Foolscap Studio, Australia), Tim Ross (design enthusiast and entertainer, Australia), Raj Nandan (Indesign Media Asia Pacific, Singapore), Stephen Todd (design editor, Australia) as well as Stephen Burks (Stephen Burks Man Made, US), Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu (Neri&Hu, China), Jan Utzon (Utzon Architects, Denmark) who were mentioned in the post.
Click on this link for more information on the INDE-Awards: www.indeawards.com
