Colour in Design Awards
Colour is one of the most fundamental elements of design but its power to transform is often overlooked or dismissed as simply decoration. Colour demands our attention, communicates ideas, connects us together and offers a richer experience of the world around us.
Matt Turner
Colour’s ubiquitous nature creates a paradox for itself, its continuous presence in our daily lives often making us blind to its very existence. Even as a fundamental tool in the designers kit, it is sometimes overlooked or undervalued in the creation of new products, buildings and visual identities. But as the above statement so rightfully states, when carefully selected and applied, colour has the power to move us in myriad ways. Those are the words of lifelong colour lover and experienced expert, Marianne Shillingford, the long-standing Creative Director of Akzonobel Dulux UK and founder of the Colour in Design Awards.
Sze Wan
Having grown up in a rose nursery, Marianne has always been immersed in the world of colour and rather uniquely developed her skills in mixing and applying it as paint, first as a fairground artist in her early twenties, before moving into the world of interior makeover television. Those roles ultimately led to Dulux bringing her in to help guide their creative endeavours will all things colour and paint – a relationship that has flourished ever since. It’s a winding and ever-eventful career path that has blossomed as a result of her swashbucklingly bubbly and risk-tolerant approach, along with the influence and support of many along the way.
New Designers. Photo by Sam Frost
And as the commencement of the award suggests, it’s not something that she takes for granted. First conceived in 2018 and launched at New Designers – which it has called home ever since – the awards are intended to recognise outstanding uses of colour in graduate projects from across each week of the event, with 2 worthy winners and a group of ‘ones to watch’ picked out by an array of judges (on occasion including myself). But the awards are about more than just recognition, with a cash prize and the promise of ongoing support up for grabs, as Marianne herself explains:
“The Colour in Design Award recognises that colour is more than skin deep. It is a fundamental element of design that changes the way we respond to the materials, products and environments in which it is used. This year the talent and use of colour at the event was exceptional, every corner of the event burst with a vibrant spectrum of hues represented in every media across multiple creative disciplines. It was very hard for the judges to make their choices – but happily they eventually agreed on who got the big prizes which include £1000 towards a future project and ongoing mentoring throughout their careers from the founder and judges.”
Al Bates
Previous winners of the award have included Phoebe Lewis for her sustainable colour project, in which she built relationships with coastal communities in order to develop a macro algae industry from which she created ethically produced inks. Textile designer Al Bates was recognised for her sophisticated palette used in the creation of the Curious While Calm collection, while illustrator Chloe Watts’ use of colour in her Messy Brain project helped to convey the raw emotions of her personal mental health.
Phoebe Lewis
This year New Designers continued to attract some 3000 graduates to the Islington Business Design Centre with a range of awards handed out. The CIDA is the only one to focus solely on the application of colour and as Marianne explains, it takes a team of chromatically inclined judges to look at and pick out notable projects from the sea of work, “We had another stellar lineup of judges volunteered their eagle eyes and expertise this year to find two winners, one from each of the 2 New Designers events.”
During week one, which covers fashion, textiles, jewellery and crafts, the judges selected Matt Turner from the Manchester School of Art as the overall winner. His inspiring and visually spellbinding project Lunar Harvest explored the use of potential mined materials from the moon and introduced colour through light which transforms the familiar grey barren landscape into a playground of possibility.
Matt Turner
The winner from week 2, which includes graduates from 3D-based design courses along with graphics and illustration, was Sze Wan from Nottingham Trent University. Her project My Favourite Medium is Oil Pastel involves a packaging design for a new range of Tate Gallery branded art materials aimed at young people which was inspired by distinctive palettes of colours in famous paintings. The judges were particularly enthusiastic about an interactive colour wheel built into the final packaging, which showed the effect of different colours when you mixed them together, a fine detail amongst a score of amazing talent and proof of the judge’s rigorous approach!
Sze Wan
The awards and their scope beyond colour alone are perhaps best summarised by a judge who has been there right from the start, The Times design journalist Katrina Burroughs:
“I’m always bowled over by the creativity at New Designers. What CIDA contributes to the raw talent of the exhibitors is mentorship and encouragement from industry insiders. This year I was writing a piece for The Times on ND alumni and took time to look back at some CIDA winners over the years, and how they have flourished with the help of the brilliant Marianne Shillingford. Having been involved in the awards for several years I’m unfailingly impressed with her commitment to help build careers for the young designers.”
Colour Design Award Judges
We look forward to seeing what this years winners will do with that support, along with the worthy ‘ones to watch’ and hope that they will continue their colour journey for many years to come.
Along with two winners the judges also chose 6 talented ‘Ones to watch’ who also benefit from ongoing support and mentoring from the awards they are: Liam Scott @liam.scottdesign, Julie Farre @juliefarre, Aarka studio @arkastudio, Helena Powell @helenapowell_textiles, Anna Rooney @annaroooney and Siri Hansen @sirihansen2
To find out more about the winners and ones to watch please visit: www.colourindesignawards.org
Instagram: @colourindesignaward