The most creative and innovative designs have emerged as the winners of the latest Ceramic and Bathroom Design Competition organised by CevisamaLab, Cevisama’s ideas laboratory. The designs have been assessed by a multidisciplinary jury comprised of Pablo Peñín, of the Official College of Architects of the Comunidad Valenciana; Rafa Muñoz, of the Comunidad Valenciana Guild of Interior Designers, designer Vicent Clausell; researcher, trends specialist and founder of future-A, Pepa Casado, and journalist Eugenio Viñas., giving fine ceramic a ne useThe assessments of the projects were carried out at Feria Valencia where the jury, led by María Fontes, selected the winners from amongst “a large number of entries of a very high standard,” they explained.
In Category A of the Ceramic Design class, for ‘Ceramic products shaped by semi-dry pressing’, the jury decided to award the first prize of 2,000€ to Miriam Olivares Rambla of the Advanced School of Ceramic of Alcora (ESCAL), for her collection of floor tiles titled “Colaje”. The recognition was awarded for her original reinterpretation of continuous terrazzo “which, as well as constituting a well-conceived application, also reflects the most current trends in design in ceramic.”
Second prize, of 1,000 €, went to Kay Curtis, of the International University of Catalonia (UIC), for “Tritela”, a technical solution that posits “an adaptable design like a second skin”. The jury highlighted that “the value of this design for exteriors is that it can create organic surfaces and also serve as the basis for projects requiring high technology ceramic.”
The jury also decided unanimously to award a runner-up prize, which has no monetary value, to
Ignacio Morente-Gemas, of the UIC, for “Pla/cer”, a ceramic panel sandwich system, “for the flexibility the compartmentalization offers, using a ceramic panel that can become a self-supporting system and can be either a temporary or a permanent structure.”
In category B, ‘Ceramic products shaped by other methods’, it was agreed to award equal first prize to “Ceramic Squama” by Guillermo Marfà Permanyer, of the UCI, and “Neo Blind”, by Ariadna Rodríguez de San Gregorio, of the same university. Both won the full amount of the prize, 1,500€, for their design. Regarding “Neo Blind”, the jury drew attention to the accuracy with which the design replicates an Alicante-style blind by combining laminated ceramic and wood, giving fine ceramic a new purpose.” As to “Ceramic Squama”, a system that uses ceramic to give a façade a sense of movement, the winning feature was “the way it gives ceramic a degree of versatility that opens a door to future applications that will be led by high technology.”
The jury also awarded a runner-up prize in this category, again with no monetary value, to Adriana Isabel Machado of the Francisco Alcántara School of Art, for “Sirimiri”, a ceramic wall cladding, “for the way it slightly alters the shape of a traditional material and the advanced development of the design.”
In the Bathroom Design category, the first prize of 2,000€ was won by Ignacio Gómez Benavente and Tania Molina Salazar, of the Escola d´art Superior de Disseny de València (EASD, Advanced School of Art and Design of Valencia) for “I want to go to the bathroom!” According to the jury, “this is a brilliant addition to the concept of customized, adaptable bathrooms, a solution where the designers have thought not just about aesthetics but also about the technology within different pieces of sanitary ware.” In this instance, the prize was not awarded for aesthetics alone but, mostly, the system and the potential inherent in the idea as the starting point for future developments.
Irene Benavent Valls and Lucía García Martínez, also of the EASD, won second prize in this category for “Go Bath”, that promotes the development of a mobile service for public use with a format that is more novel and attractive than what is currently available. For the jury “it is an interesting modular system that alludes to prefabrication and also aims to deliver a solution using just one material.”
Lastly, another two students from the same school, the EASD, were recognized with a runner-up prize, of no monetary value, for “Happenint’, an original, daring design “that understands the bathroom to be a unit in which the various items of sanitary ware are arranged like sculptures.”
The winning work will be on show in pavilions 2 and 4 at Feria Valencia during Cevisama, which next takes place from 5^th to 9^th February. The award ceremony will be on the last day of the fair, Friday 9^th, at 13.00, in the venue’s central lobby area (where the Trans-hitos exhibit is staged).