Exhibition & Award Ceremony of Craft and Design Challenge 2017
20 young designers and entrepreneurs participated in Craft and Design Challenge 2017 by British Council. The award ceremony which also serves as the exhibition opening took place on 12 Jun at Hanoi Old quarter Culture exchange Center (50 Dao Duy Tu).
The top 3 contestants announced in the ceremony include : Vi Thi Thu Trang, Nguyen Hoang Huy and Nguyen Song Thanh Tram.
The first-prize winner is Vi Thi Thu Trang, a female architect specilized in design & civil architecture. Born and raised in Mai Chau and of Thai ethinicity, Thu Trang was familiar as well as fascinated with her people’s pattern designs. Yet in this collection with a variety of purses, scarfs, handbags, and pillow cases, she took her inspiration from the linen textile traditional to the H’mong people in Lao Cai province and combined them with decorative designs in Hang Trong folk paintings. . “I wanted to create something different, that’s why I experimented with something other than my people’s textiles and designs”, said the laureate. After this exhibition, she planned to come back to Mai Chau and start her own business with her creations.
The first runner-up is Nguyen Hoang Son, a young interior designer with his collection of armchairs made from oak wood with wicker-woven back – a simplistic, modern, “East meets West” design.
Nguyen Song Thanh Tram is the second runner-up – a young designer from Hue currently based in HCMC. Her collection were an blend of modern, minimalistic and sophisticated, romantic designs – from flowers baskets in a shape of human-like sitting posture, to leaf-shaped flat baskets.
The winners receive 60,000,000 VND for first prize, 50,000,000 VND for first runner-up and 40,000,000 VND for second runner-up as a fund to continue their craft and design projects. British Council wishes to support these talented designers after this competition.
Craft & Design Challenge 2017 by British Council was launched in October 2017. 20 most promising contestants were chosen from applications submitted from all over the country.
The exhibition lasts until 30 Jun. This is an opportunity for the contestants to introduce their products and raise funds for their business.
Ut Quyen reported. Photo: Tung Le
Translated by Hanoi Grapevine
