In this special report, we are very happy to present the top three winners of the Faces of Design Awards 2010. They are the three candidates who received the most panel votes overall, and they are three candidates who show the great diversity of the competition all by themselves. A great success for three very international young designers, who are about to get a chance to each speak directly with representants of one company of their choice. I can't even begin to say how pleased we are for them, and how proud we are to have the chance of promoting such wonderful talent!

Love from Berlin,

*Anna

CLAUDIA CAVIEZEL

Unterkulm, Switzerland

What inspires you?
Nature, everyday objects, Art, Music, Movies and Fashion, Architecture, techniques and materials.

What do you most like to work with, what is your preferred medium?
I like to work directly with the Material in Product such as Textile design, but nevertheless really love having the possibility of putting it all together and pushing it one step further in a digital way.

What are your goals, what do you want to achieve?
As a designer I would like to work together with companies from different design/fashion/architecture fields on a freelance or project basis, and I also want to launch my own design ideas and products.

Why did you pick the companies you chose?

KVADRAT:
I find it really interesting how this company is situated within Textiles and Interiors. I like their northern aesthetic, the technological innovation of the products and the way KVADRAT collaborates with Designers and Artists. I would love to have the chance to get to know the company and its people, and be able to start a project together!

IKEA:
I like the basic idea of Ikea and that their design is affordable to not just one high society class. Everyday objects for a big consumer group is what interests me. It would be interesting to present my cc case study collection and also think about curtain-, furniture- and bedding design patterns for IKEA!

MUJI:
I have got some specific ideas in mind, ... . and like their simple, Asian style and also really love all their gadgets. It would be really interesting for me to be able to present my work, and maybe find some products or prints to develop for the MUJI collection.

Check out Claudia's profile here:  http://facesofdesign.com/claudia-caviezel

and a detailed article about her work here: http://facesofdesign.com/report/fod-spotlight-claudia-caviezel

ELISA HONKANEN

Paris, France

Please describe your background for us.
I'm from a small town called Imatra in Finland, my dad worked as an electrician for Finnish army and my mum was a nurse, first time I heard about 'design' was when I was about 18 and was trying to find out where to go after upper secondary school... I'm not one of those lucky ones who know what they want to do already in the kindergarten, so I did the suitability test to see what would be the best for me The first option was an artist, but as I wanted to have a 'real' job we found that design could be worth of trying (practical but where good sense of aesthetics is useful).

What inspires you?
Almost everything, I like keeping eyes open and just studying the world around me. I think life itself is really inspiring though it is quite hard (if not impossible) to turn into a designed object :) And I really love history, the old objects, the clumsy form language from the very first industrial revolution, the artisan pieces full of beautiful details, the primitive ceramic vessels... I like tracking both the new innovations and the old 'ruins' and if possible to combine the results. There is this old saying that if we forget our past we are doomed to repeat it and I would like to avoid repeating.

What do you most like to work with, what is your preferred medium?
It depends of the project; some concepts are easiest to try out immediately with mock-ups (scale 1:5 or 1:10) to be able to test the structure, but I've grown up working with computer... I always start with sketches and I think sketching is important when you are still searching the idea, but to get realistic its good to start adapting it to 3d in a very early stage (so I usually do the sketches only for myself and then I continue with the computer).

What are your goals, what do you want to achieve?
Well, we all know that we have to do radical changes in our modern lifestyle did we like it or not. The Ikea-style is not an option (=changing the furniture every second year) so I would rather vote for less but with better quality. That anyway is not enough; we also have to study the existing objects again and find out the best way of giving the maximum usability and comfort with the minimum amount of materials. It is a continuation for the work that Aalto and Castiglioni among the others started already at the fifties but we have to go further. So I hope to be a part of this change and I hope to be able to create objects that are not just part of the hype but give sustainable solutions for a long run.

Why did you pick the companies you chose?
Magis and Vitra are both famous of good quality, using exceptionally good designers and of being the cutting edge of the design industry. Chanel is also a leader in its sector and I've been always fond of the way they design the products; packings, stores and so on. I think they have created a specially beautiful brand.

Check out Elisa's profile here: http://facesofdesign.com/elisa-honkanen

ANON PAIROT

Bangkok, Thailand

What inspires you?
What inspire me comes from around me, my stuff and the people I meet. Also books I read, most of them coming from other industries not based on design. Most of my ideas come out instantaneously from my intuition, and we come to execute them with my stuff and technician, and we develop it until it can be produced with the available materials and technique. The most important principle in which I believe is that my work mustn't have been done by anyone before, I will try to check it out very thoroughly; and if it did, we need to start afresh again....

What do you most like to work with, what is your preferred medium?
I like to work with the people. People who know our background a little bit and follow our idea which I want to represent along with their company, and of course that company should be ready to produce the product we will design for them, not just let us design and sketch only in the paper.
The medium for communication must be the right one: I want the right audience. I wouldn't want to make a sculpture of the country but just to be shown in twitter or facebook; the appropriate channels might be books, notably magazines, or in national television. It would be ok if I just design a hideous postcard and show it in unknown websites or free upload media...

What are your goals, what do you want to achieve?
My goals is not to achieve wealth or power, but my dream is to design what I want and what is being used by everybody in a state such as telephone booth, electronic post, or even roads as a major facility of state. Designing things which could significantly change the way of normal life to become better, beneficial for civilians all over the world.

Why did you pick the companies you chose?
What I desire is an equilibrium between each other, I want to work with you, and you like me!

Check out Anon's profile here: http://facesofdesign.com/anon-pairot

About the Faces of Design Awards:

The Faces of Design Awards were created to help designers achieve additional exposure with their potential clients: an international, interdisciplinary design competition based upon the candidates' existing portfolios and experience, to present design talent to industry in a new, accessible format.

Just very recently launched, the Faces of Design TALENT Awards are the 'little sister' of the Faces of Design Awards: a new competition exclusively for the youngest design talent, straight from university. They are an ideal opportunity for students and recent graduates (2009&2010) to present themselves to their future clients and employers.

Click on the logo below to find out more!