Entries Called for ECC NZ Student Craft/Design Awards

4 July 2014

Entries Called for ECC New Zealand Student Craft/Design Awards

The call is out for tertiary design students and 2013 design graduates to enter the 2014 ECC New Zealand Student Craft/Design Awards. These prestigious annual awards, run by The Friends of The Dowse and hosted at The Dowse Art Museum, have been supporting the careers of designers and crafters for over 25 years.

Entries are welcome in the fields of furniture, product and lighting design, jewellery, glasswork, textile and craft and close at the end of the day on Sunday 3 August. A formal awards ceremony will take place at The Dowse on 29 August.

The ECC NZ Student Craft/ Design Supreme Award is $3,000 in prize money. The Supreme winner will have their work exhibited at The Dowse and be flown to Wellington for the awards evening. There is one ECC NZ Student Craft/Design Runner Up prize of $1,000 cash and one ECC NZ Student Craft / Design People's Choice Award prize of $1,000 cash. Ten highly commended will receive certificates and imagery of their work placed on the The Dowse website.

Leading lighting and furniture design company ECC have once again come on board as the naming partner for the awards and in 2014 Urbis magazine have joined as a media partner. Heather Crichton, President of the Friends of the Dowse says connecting with ECC and Urbis allows the awards to grow in prominence.

"ECC and Urbis are conduits for bringing exceptional design from all over the world into our homes and commercial environments. They share our vision for the awards, which is to support innovative new designers gain recognition for their work. This year, as a result of our relationship with Urbis Magazine, The Supreme, Runner Up and People's Choice award winners will have the opportunity to display their entries at Urbis Designday headquarters in Auckland in March 2015, which will further the exposure of their designs."

2008 Supreme Award Winner Genevieve Packer had her wallpaper design picked up and commercially produced by Pacific Wallcoverings as part of their Pasifika range as a result of the awards.

Genevieve's advice for those considering entering is, "Do it! There are not many local awards (if any) tailored specifically to student-based craft and design, yet allowing for broad interpretation and application within this."

Director of The Dowse Art Museum, Courtney Johnston says the ECC New Zealand Student Craft/Design Awards are an integral part of The Dowse's long term commitment to craft and design. "The awards are a great way of connecting new designers and crafters into our history. We have a national reputation built on the strength of our craft and design collections and we are pleased to support The Friends of the Dowse to shine the light on emerging talent in these areas".

The judges for 2014 are Courtney Johnston, director of The Dowse Art Museum, Richard Crane from ECC,Kirsten Matthew, editor of Urbis Magazine, Fiona Campbell of the Real Art Roadshow and Tim Wigmore designer and co-director of Design Tree.

Entries close: 3 August 2014

Awards Ceremony: 29 August 2014, The Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt
Display Weekend: Friday 29 August until Sunday 31 August 2014, The Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt
ECC Wellington Store Display: 2 - 12 September 2014
Urbis Design Day: March 2015

www.dowse.org.nz
www.facebook.com/thedowseartmuseum
www.petonesettlers.org.nz

ENDS

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